Unimaginative Romantic Comedy.

Rating: 4/10 (17 October 2013)

Sandra Bullock is some editor at a tony publishing house and Ryan Reynolds is her assistant who "loves her from afar." A few simple mistakes by Bullock during a visit to Frankfurt and she is threatened with deportation to her native Canada -- unless she marries an American citizen pronto. The significance of Ryan Reynolds rises. The immigration agency will be checking every detail of this possibly fraudulent marriage so everything must look kosher -- Reynolds' family in Alaska must have met the bride-to-be and so on.
The elements of an amusing plot may be there but the inspiration isn't. Amusing incidents aren't that amusing. The dialog says nothing remotely memorable. The scenes slow down for laughter but little is likely to be forthcoming.
Here's an example. After Reynolds drags Bullock off to Sitka to meet the family, we have the mismatch between the city mouse and the country mouse. She's wearing heels and has to climb down a ladder in order to enter a boat. It seems to take forever, while the boat crew watch her waving her shoe around, searching for the next lower rung. "I'll help you," says Reynolds from below, placing a hand on one of her buns. "Hand off ass," snaps Bullock.
The whole affair is pretty predictable. (I'll let the experienced viewer guess the ending.) Award for most engaging personality and best performance goes to Betty White, who must be in her late 80s and can still cause a grin. Introduced to Bullock, whose character's name is Margaret, White asks with a welcoming grin: "Do you prefer being called Margaret or Andrew's mistress?" It may be the funniest line in the movie, and one of its rare successes.