great cast translates to an enjoyable movie

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2009)

I think I'm really starting to love Ryan Reynolds. Every new movie I see him in, I think he's hilarious and not to mention dashingly handsome and rock hard athletic. Sandra Bullock is another under-rated actress who appears here in quite a different role than she's played in the past. Bullock pulls off the "Satan's Mistress," as Betty White puts it early on pretty darn well. I will say that the first scenes in the movie seemed torn right out of The Devil Wears Prada. While I think Bullock in general did a good job of being pretty mean, she definitely did not come across anywhere near as scary as Meryl Streep at the beginning of The Devil Wears Prada. The movie runs at a decent pace, although the ending is a bit rushed in my opinion, and comes in at a typically good time for a romantic comedy (just over 100 minutes). The cast, I think, is really what made the movie an "8" for me and not a 6 -- everyone is SPOT-ON....Betty White as Gammi, the matriarchal grandmother who has Inuit Eskimo background and does a great dance thanking "Mother Earth." Mary Steenburgen turned in a fine performance as Drew's (Reynolds) mother -- she misses her son and blames his over-bearing father (Craig T. Nelson) who has set up a pretty substantial financial empire in Sitka (he basically owns the town). Nelson played the part well as usual. Reynolds and Bullock turned in great performances and had great on-screen chemistry.
My only disappointment was that the movie was not filmed in Alaska and was instead filmed on Boston's north shore. Alaska is a beautiful state and I felt "jipped" that they digitally added all of the mountains.
Overall 8/10, 3 of 4 stars