Pedestrian screwball comedy despite sweet chemistry by Bullock & Reynolds

Rating: 7/10 (8 June 2009)

THE PROPOSAL (2009) **1/2 Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson, Betty White, Denis O'Hare, Malin Akerman, Oscar Nunez, Aasif Mandvi, Michael Nouri. Relatively formulaic fish-out-of-water romantic comedy with harridan boss-from-hell Bullock (cast against type and acquitting herself nicely), an A-type book publisher exec whose expiring visa forces her to imbibe her long-suffering assistant (Reynolds ditto) into a sham marriage to avoid deportation back to Canada with the hitch that she go away to his family retreat for the weekend in the wilds of Africa. While the pedestrian script by Pete Chiarelli, the direction by Anne Fletcher allows her stars – and an able supporting cast particularly veteran national treasure White as Reynolds' feisty grandmother – to stretch their comedic muscles in a rather winning and sweet mix of slapstick and latter-day screwball comedy.