Decent proposal

Rating: 5/10 (13 September 2010)

For at least the first half of its running time, I found this a reasonably amusing rom-com. Unfortunately, the plague of sentimentality sets in for the second half, reducing the laugh count and increasing the cringe factor to the movie's overall detriment.
Those early scenes, almost exactly mirroring the opening shots of the similarly plotted "The Devil Wears Prada", raise a good few smiles as Sandra Bullock's hard-nosed career-obsessed uber-bitch walks all over her winsome P.A., country-boy-in-the-big-city Ryan Reynolds and everyone else in the major publishing house until she gets a call from the Immigration Service on her right to stay in the good old U S of A. Cue her impromptu solution, an immediate engagement to nice-guy Reynolds and their visit to his native Alaska, ostensibly to celebrate his grandmother's 90th birthday but ultimately to break the news of their sudden engagement to his nearest and dearest.
The funniest scenes are those where ice-maiden Bullock gets her iceberg chipped away by the dottiness and homeliness of Reynolds and his family - her meet-up with granny Betty White in the woods chanting out her alternative mantra is hilarious as is her encounter with the only male stripper in town at a girls' night out organised by her to be on-laws.
Of course given that this is a Sandra Bullock starring vehicle, I should have accepted her thawing out to reveal a marshmallow centre that Reynolds unaccountably warms to - his still-interested old girl-friend seems a much better match for him, plus of course Reynolds gets to sort out his difficulties with his stubborn old dad along the way.
The acting is pleasant enough, Bullock, better when she's playing the toughie than the sap, Reynolds nicely underplaying in the fashion of his near lookalike predecessor in films of this type from a previous generation, Ryan O'Neal. Mary Steenburgen, whom I've loved since her introduction to me in "Tender Is The Night" about 30 years ago, is the best looking female in the film however; although she doesn't get much to do, I'm pleased to see her still getting parts in big Hollywood films.
As I said, it's a pity that the film lost its way for me on its path to the inevitable happy ending, but as modern-day family entertainment, this wasn't bad at all.