"The Proposal" as original as its title

Rating: 2/10 (1 July 2009)

There are 8 other films on IMDb titled "The Proposal," and that seems appropriate. The movie offers nothing new, and doesn't even execute a mildly-interesting concept well.
There's really not much to criticize here; the characters are done-to-death Manhattan Movie Clichés, their motivations confusing and unexplored. The plain fact is that you cannot spend 95% of a film dressed in desperately hip clothing, trading sarcastic barbs and reveling in the awkward pause, and still expect the audience to be "touched" when a few contrived confusing moments of what we're told is sincerity are stuffed down our throats in the final 15 minutes.
Too many scenes begin and stay flat for their entirety. Too many lazy attempts at the ethnically-diverse office mates, the "crazy, liberated and offensive" grandma, close-minded dad, and other tired characters that we've seen over, and over, and over. Also, a woman doing a small handful of amusing or not-quite-antagonistic things, and revealing a very shallow brand of vulnerability for five uninterrupted minutes, does not True Love create.
The worst part about this movie is that it has all these easy romantic-comedy staples, but oddly it tries to preserve some semblance of homegrown dignity by ignoring the punchline, and the result is tame jokes, bored acting and unconvincing heart, all wrapped up in some excruciatingly-long scenes.
Watching this movie felt like the writer and director took a trip to Alaska and had a profound and rejuvenating experience, but when they decided to tell us about it, the story ended with, "Well I guess you had to be there."
Some discipline in the editing room might have gone a long way for this movie, but I doubt it. Perhaps they felt they needed all the length they could get with how shallow the thing is. 108 minutes could easily have been 90.