Could have been great, but doesn't meet potential

Rating: 5/10 (11 March 2020)

The formula of a great romantic comedy certainly exists in The Proposal. You've got big-name attractive stars, who have been successful in rom-coms before. You've got a plot that is reminiscent of other films, where two people who don't get along must pretend to be in a relationship. Why is it that the creative team simply couldn't make all those elements work to form a solid movie? My first guess is that they started with a sub-par script. The comedy never quite works, and I didn't even find myself chuckling at the situations. There are a few moments when Ryan Reynolds will deliver a line that feels like a throwaway joke, and those made me laugh more than anything else in the movie. Even the amazing Betty White didn't get any good jokes, unless you find her dancing around in a Native American headdress to be funny.
I think one of the other things that hurts the Proposal is the fact that it doesn't feel like the right casting. In my opinion, Sandra Bullock has more of a girl-next-door quality, so she doesn't work so well as this hard-nosed workaholic who mistreats all of her employees. We're supposed to see her as the equivalent to Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, and I just don't buy it. This also means that her transformation throughout the film doesn't have a natural flow because she's quick to settle into her comfort zone, and that means the devil-woman disappears too fast. All the flaws don't change the fact that I still enjoy some of the rom-com tropes that are included in The Proposal. It has those moments of conflict and reconciliation that warm your heart and sell you on the relationship. It's not going to be added to my list of favorites of the genre, that I gladly rewatch on a regular basis, but it's certainly not the worst.