Review #25: The Proposal

Release Date: June 19th, 2009
Writer: Pete Chiarelli
Director: Anne Fletcher

Logline: A pushy boss forces her young assistant to marry her in order to keep her Visa status in the U.S. and avoid deportation to Canada. (Source IMDb)
Bechdel Test: Passed all three tests

Review

Everyone loves this movie. 

Apparently the statement above is actually incorrect because I just found some negative reviews online.

To the reviewer who says “Believability really goes out the window here”: I’m pretty sure I’m willing to suspend my demand for a realistic plot when in return I get Sandy B dancing around in the woods with Betty White.

To Linda F who says: “A waste of 3 hours of my life - it was stretched out to this long because it was on tv”: You’re awfully picky for someone just flipping through the channels looking for something to watch.  At least you didn’t end up on the W Network watching Georgia Rule for the 18th time.

To Shiela who says: “My favourite romantic-comedy of all time!!!!!”: Whoa there. It’s not THAT good. Calm it down.

As far as romcoms go, this is a good one. The cast is great, the setting is beautiful, and even though the plot isn’t groundbreaking, it’s fun enough to keep us interested through the end.

The only thing that really stuck out to me as an absolute flaw was the way Sandy B says “Toronto.”  Gracie Hart would’ve done her research, you should have too.

Portrayal of Women: Although this movie is pretty formulaic, it differentiates itself by flipping the gender stereotypes when it comes to workplace romances.

Instead of a woman fighting her way to the top and inadvertently falling in love with the attractive male boss, we have the opposite.  Ryan Reynolds is the Melanie Griffith and Sandra Bullock is the Harrison Ford and I love that.

I also think it does a nice job of highlighting the double standards that can come with women in authority.  Sandra's Margaret is ambitious and demanding when it comes to her career and she is hated because of it.  One particular scene involving her firing an employee results in him yelling at her in front of the entire office for being too cruel.  In reality, she was quite fair to him.  She was firing him because he didn't do his job and she even told him he could stay for 2 months and then resign. He then resorts to calling her a bitch - something less likely to happen if a powerful male editor had done the exact same thing.

I don't love how Margaret reinforces the idea that powerful women are always cold but I appreciate the role reversal nevertheless.

Sisterhood Moment: Did Grandma Annie really have to make fun of Margaret's small boobs?

Rating: 4 cinnamon soy lattes out of 5

IMDb - The Proposal (6.7)
Wikipedia - The Proposal
Rotten Tomatoes - The Proposal (44%)