Sandra Bullock is Really so Funny!

Rating: 7/10 (31 July 2009)

The main premise is quite far-fetched. Margaret Tate is a cold and bitchy Canadian book editor working in New York. She was not able to take care of some Immigration papers, so she is under threat of deportation. She coerces her assistant Andrew Paxton to marry her, in order to circumvent this problem. So the two of them fly off to rural Sitka, Alaska to meet Andrew's family. There, Margaret rediscovers the warmth of family life and love.
This is a really funny movie. I was actually shamelessly laughing out loud at several parts. Hahaha! Most of the success of this film lay on the star power of its female lead, Sandra Bullock. She is beautiful and classy, yet she is not afraid to play these funny scenes that threaten her dignity. She is really one funny actress. She is still one of my favorite actresses.
The funniest scene was when Margaret needed a towel after her shower but the dog kept on barking at her. There was a scene where she was just covering her essential parts with her arms and a bath mitten! Hahaha! The scene of Margaret fitting the Granny's 1929 wedding dress with her small breasts lost in the fabric is also very funny. There were scenes that that teeter on being flat, like the eagle flying off with her phone, or the scene with Granny (played by scene-stealing Betty White) dancing Eskimo rites in the forest, but it was Sandra Bullock's sheer comic timing that turn them into gems.
It was great to see Betty White again after all these years. I read in an interview that she is already 87 years old in real life. She is still quite sprightly and she looks very good for her age. Her naive Rose Nylund in "The Golden Girls" remain to be one of my favorite TV characters of all time. Too bad she was not given more substantial screen time and dialog here.
I leave the judgment about Ryan Reynolds to the ladies. I felt there was something missing in his chemistry with Sandra Bullock in their scenes together. His character is not as well-written as the Sandra Bullock character.
The most irritating character in the whole movie (even more than Andrew's dad and the INS official) is the multi-tasking Latino neighbor, Ramone (Oscar Nunez). All his scenes (especially the stripper scene) could have been deleted and the movie would have survived. Even his scenes during the closing credits were excruciatingly unfunny.
Overall, we both liked this movie. It was light and hilarious. A good movie for a good date. You can feel that this cast under director Anne Fletcher (Step Up, 27 Dresses) was having fun while they were shooting this. And picturesque Sitka, Alaska seems to be a great idea for a vacation one day.