Nowhere near charming or funny enough to cut it

Rating: Null/10 (9 November 2009)

We all know where we are going here right? When pushy Canadian boss Margaret Tate pretends to be engaged to her assistant Andrew in order to avoid being deported due to a failed visa extension it certainly seems like it is an unlikely coupling – particularly because of how hard-nosed she is about any intimacy or love. The two have to go away to his family home in Alaska for the weekend and keep up the lie – but while it is cold outside, will Margaret begin to warm to this very different life and to the idea of being with Andrew? Hmmmm, I wonder – well, however it turns out I imagine there will be no end of comic misunderstandings along the way.
Yep, it goes just where you expect it to and in terms of how it gets there it goes through all the sort of scenes, misunderstandings and "gradual warming" stuff that you know it has to do. Having absolutely no problem with genre films doing what genre films do and also being someone who likes Sandra Bullock, I had no problem with this film being the way it was in terms of obvious structure and predictable narrative flow. What I did have a problem with was that it didn't actually do much to make it a good film. The most glaring problem with it is that as a romance it just doesn't work. It seems to expect the viewer to just accept that Margaret and Andrew have fallen for each other and that both have undergone some degree of character change during the film because it certainly doesn't show us it happening in any way that is obvious. OK we have the "cocked head soft/sad look" scenes flash up occasionally (to imply Margaret's "true heart" coming out) but otherwise nothing.
This isn't helped by the film simply not funny enough as a comedy. OK there are some bits that show imagination and are funny but equally there are bits that just don't work. The forest chant/dance is embarrassing, seems dropped in out of nowhere and isn't that funny. It doesn't flow particularly well either, so the film doesn't have any sort of build – the funny scenes seem to stand on their own without leading anywhere or being used to strengthen other parts of the film. I laughed several times and chuckled a few more but mostly it just didn't seem like it was particularly well structured as a romantic comedy. It is a shame because Bullock is good in it while she plays against type. She is a good comic actress and I have no problem seeing her work in the genre where her looks and sweet personae make her charming, but it would be nice if she had more to work with than this. Reynolds is OK but cannot get much in the way of chemistry going with her and he is certainly not her equal in terms of the comedy. Steenburgen and Nelson are solid while White tends to scene-steal with some funny moments, although personally I thought she also had her share of moments that didn't work either – moments that seemed to just rely on her being an old woman in situations where one does not expect to see old women. Small turns from Nunez and Mandvi are good though and the film could have benefited from more colour in these smaller moments.
The Proposal is not a bad film by any means. The plot comes with genre territory so should not be dismissed for that alone, but the problems come with the failure to flesh the film out around these standards into a good film. It is sporadically funny but never manages to build or even sustain this, while the lack of chemistry between the lead two characters is part of the reason that the relationship that develops never seem real and never convinced me enough to care about it. A basic genre film that might just have enough about it to please those looking for a basic genre film, but those hoping that it can build on the standards and be funny and charming will be disappointed to find that it falls short in both those areas.