MAKIN’ IT HAPPEN: Ryan Reynolds is the biggest reason The Proposal entertains, despite a weak and erratic script, and faulty direction. The Proposal plays at the Fairmount Cinema 6.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TOUCHSTONE PICTURES
A potentially strong story gets sidetracked by Betty White and her character’s antics in The Proposal, a romantic comedy that stars Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock.
Despite that, Ryans and Bullock shine, particularly Reynolds, whose performance is fresh and nicely nuanced. He delivers his dialog, comedic and dramatic, with a crisp edginess and a modulated sarcasm, that let’s the laughs roll.
We know and love Bullock, and she is as endearing as always. She does not fully convince us of her arrogance and ruthlessness, as Meryl Streep did in The Devil Wears Prada, but go along with her and relish her transition.
The problem is that the movie sidetracks onto matriarchal themes, including wacky Grandma Annie’s Indian spiritism, unfunny sexual escapades, and insufferable manipulation. Frankly, I prayed for Grandma Annie’s violent death, preferably at the hands of Stuntman Mike as she glacially ambled across the street.
The story reaches its predictable conclusion, but viewers are left wondering just how the writers got there so quickly and with so little character development.
Reynolds and Bullock work enough magic, however, to make The Proposal a decent date movie or fodder for a Girls Night Out.
The Proposal is rated PG-13 for brief nudity, sexual themes, and the usual profanity.
Our SEBRING CINEMA AND SPORTS rating, 0 to 5 reels, 5 being a classic:
