Romantic Comedy #1537

Rating: 6/10 (5 January 2010)

I have seen my fair share of romantic comedies, way more than I would like to admit. I have seen so many romantic comedies that I could probably list Meg Ryan's ten last films ... in order. I have definitely seen enough romantic comedies to know the typical format of the genre, considering it never ever changes. Now I know this is true of most genres, but for some reason romantic comedies seem especially bad. I almost wonder if there's a writing-romantic-comedies-for-dummies book out there that all screen writers use that says scene five must be a comedic incident that causes witty banter and scene fourteen must include a deep conversation about love.
Where I am getting with this is that The Proposal is not a bad movie, it's just a typical one. In the film, Ryan Reynolds plays Andrew an Alaskan born twenty-something living in New York City. Against his parents wishes he moved to New York to become a successful publisher, but has spent the last two years as a glorified secretary under the iron thumb of the cold-hearted but successful Margaret (Sandra Bullock, falling way short of Meryl Streep). Margaret however is Canadian and when her green card isn't renewed she risks being deported back to the cold barren waste land ... unless she marries an American citizen. Before you know it Andrew and Margaret are getting married (he get's a promotion for his effort) and they're off to Alaska to meet the parents.
Due to my extensive knowledge in rom-com's I know that the fake-relationship plot line has been used in films such as What Happen's in Vegas, and Failure to Launch (both made in the last three years), so this angle is not new. Neither is the fact that the love interests at the beginning of the film hate each other, or the fact that they end up together at the end (I would've put a spoiler alert in front of that but let's face it we all knew it anyway). Even the scene where Margaret let's the inside-only pet outside was used in Meet the Parents. The jokes are partially recycled and worst of all the new, funny jokes they did have were all given away in the trailer. The movie in short is nothing new.
The good news though is that those of you that like the standard romantic comedies will love The Proposal in the same way fans of Die Hard loved Die Hard 2. This movie has an audience, a specific but dedicated audience. And it's not all bad; Betty White is awesome, and so is the house in Alaska. Some scenes are funny. the acting is good and it's not totally unrealistic (just around the same level as Die Hard ... it could happen).
So in the end I suppose all that really needs to be said about The Proposal is that it's a romantic comedy, and not a totally bad one at that.
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