... – ‘The Proposal’ has already a sequel lined-up. – Yet more light sponge entertainment on the menu.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To the Bribe and Broom
=
The initial five minutes of ‘The Proposal’ is captivating, witty, and very well timed; which is what you expect from a Choreographer turned Director ... Read review
Those used to seeing the sweet, sunny side of Sandra Bullock (WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING) ... more
might be surprised by her character in this romantic comedy. Here, the actress plays a difficult Canadian boss who forces her assistant (Ryan Reynolds – DEFINITELY, MAYBE) to marry her so that she can stay in America.
Those used to seeing the sweet, sunny side of Sandra Bullock (WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING) ... more
might be surprised by her character in this romantic comedy. Here, the actress plays a difficult Canadian boss who forces her assistant (Ryan Reynolds – DEFINITELY, MAYBE) to marry her so that she can stay in America.
Sandra Bullock is at her funniest in the fresh laugh-out loud romantic comedy The ... more
Proposal. On the verge of being deported and losing the high-powered job she lives for the controlling Margaret announces she's engaged to her unsuspecting put-upon assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds). After proposing a few demands of his own the mismatched couple heads to Alaska where they have four short days to convince his quirky family and a very skeptical immigration agent that their charade is real. Featuring a star-studded supporting cast including Mary Steenburgen Craig T. Nelson and the delightfully inappropriate Betty White this madcap comedy will have you saying "yes" to The Proposal again and again.
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Comedy - Director: Tony Dow - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: John Challis, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Tessa Peake-Jones, Gwyneth Strong
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Advantages: Harmless fun belly aching comedy Disadvantages: Totally cliched
...sprinkled on top. Made by the cast of ‘Hairspray’ Fletcher had an easy life Directing this comedy; thanks to the slightly confused all the time stare of Sandra Bullock and the youthful and supremely good at brown-nosing Ryan Reynolds, whose Victoria Sponge performance complimented the professionalism of Bullock. – ‘The Proposal’ has already a sequel lined-up. – Yet more light sponge entertainment on the menu.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ '''To ... ...Choreographer turned Director in Fletcher. The pace dies down when the leading actors are in-place in their roles and the characters are enrolled to the audience. Margaret Tate, wonderfully played by Sandra Bullock is the executive editor-in-chief of a book publishing company, Colden Books and her PA, Andrew Paxton who was her feather duster amongst other utensils was played by Ryan Reynolds. Margaret Tate; is a tyrant in the office, going by the ... more
THE PROPOSAL Director – Anne Fletcher Certificate - 12A Run Time – 108 minutes Release date – 22-07-09 – Initially in AUS a few days earlier
Anne Fletcher is as pink as pink can be; in her first Director role. A truly feel-good factor movie with lots of hundreds and thousands sprinkled on top. Made by the cast of ‘Hairspray’ Fletcher had an easy life Directing this comedy; thanks to the slightly confused all the time stare of Sandra Bullock and the youthful and supremely good at brown-nosing Ryan Reynolds, whose Victoria Sponge performance complimented the professionalism of Bullock. – ‘The Proposal’ has already a sequel lined-up. – Yet more light sponge entertainment on the menu.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To the Bribe and Broom ================
The initial five minutes of ‘The Proposal’ is captivating, witty, and very well timed; which is what you expect from a Choreographer turned Director in Fletcher. The pace dies down when the leading actors are in-place in their roles and the characters are enrolled to the audience. Margaret Tate, wonderfully played by Sandra Bullock is the executive editor-in-chief of a book publishing company, Colden Books and her PA, Andrew Paxton who was her feather duster amongst other utensils was played by Ryan Reynolds. Margaret Tate; is a tyrant in the office, going by the internal messaging regarding her whereabouts and mood swings. Her presence alone would make her workforce skit along as if they had 20 shots in their lattes; a lady with no grace, total focus and a derogative nature to other ideals, a bit like your regular jumped-up women boss who has a Harriet Harman life sized portrait in the front room. Cursed with a sideway scowl that always gets men jumpy, and nauseating on tender hooks waiting for the tantrum tears that prelude a 3 minute discussion that would have involved some confrontation. Bullock got this incitement on the money; without over acting and evidently held back on too many tantrums. The high eye brow technique was enough for Andrew Paxton to cometh the hour with the word ‘MUG’ on his forehead, analytically speaking.
Fletcher, who obviously spent so many hours in the editing suite, had notably researched on ‘The Green Card’ and ‘Maid in Manhatten’ movies; mixed with Candolisa Rice’s wardrobe. Quite a cocktail of influences suffice within the movie. Tate has a problem with her work Visa as it had expired due to Tate’s female mismanagement. Time was the essence as sharp shooting Tate quickly embarked on her illegal intentions with her PA, Andrew Paxton who spent an mighty uncomfortable read between the line dialogue with Corden Books Chiefs, and his notoriously manipulative boss Miss Tate. The facial exchanges were made for legendary viewing; that flirted with hilarity and toiled by an undertone of discomfort. - Margaret “We, wanted it to be a secret, but the time is right, for our true feelings to be told”. – Andrew “Our true feelings????” - I wanted ‘BlackAdder’ to drop down from the ceiling and scream out – ‘Its’all lies, I tell you!’ but I was silently disappointed as Tate’s deceitfulness leapt to new bounds as Andrew systematically became her ‘broom’. Still in a state of bewilderment and dutiful beyond recognition; the freefalling starts on an epic journey that forces reality to different realms, what I would say is the ultimate ‘bribe’. Fletcher certainly got her hands on approach as feminism is rife within its language and dialogue metaphors.
The Proposal is a journey of two minds working at different levels simultaneously yet seemed to click perfectly at times, with an added on scene chemistry and total bewilderment; great ingredients for ‘off the wall’ comedy. I stereotype this as ‘drop jaw’ humor that stems from scenes that stimulate behavior requirements from other actors to create the humor. Ryan Reynolds did that remarkably well as his situation spiraled into chaos, forcing his hand to boldly go where no other being has done before; start setting some rules to Margaret Tate, marking boundaries just as a tiger would in its favorite area of grazing. – Compromises were wrapped up in business ‘deals’ that Tate would easily understand as her own deportation to her birth land of Canada was a big risk to her and her successful career, bribing lap-dog Andrew came part of a three year habit for Tate.
Andrew was holding a few aces of his own as the quiet retiring PA took command in aspects that Tate couldn’t get in her ‘small Tate world of manipulating Andrew’. – Andrew knew a lot about Margaret’s endeavors and stored them up, just in case Tate had sprung a related topic for him to resolve. Reading was his love, books were his life and weirdly Margaret was part of that, with all its warts and welcome mat treatment, he was willing to put up with these minor discrepancies; even for the possibilities of being a jail-bird, with a hefty fine. – It’s ironic that in real terms that Reynolds is in fact Canadian and Bullock is a US citizen, reversing roles so reality wasn’t too far from Fletcher’s vision having known both of them well.
When it came to meeting Andrew’s folks to celebrate his Grand-Ma’s 90th Birthday in a small home-town in Alaska; in pursuit of carrying on the masquerade, the difference is that the tide had changed completely. Margaret was on his turf, his way of life before the big smoke took him away. Many surprises were in store as the real Andrew materialized as did the delightful Betty White who played Andrews Grand-Ma; her role was courteous, adventurous and filthy; her charms were explored in outlandish terms. Fletcher, allowed White to take control of her own portrayal of Grand-Ma and the wicked ‘filth’ that for me was the cherry on top of the cherry slice. Her undertones of wanting to be a great grandma was genius; watch-out for the quilt scene. The powers of superstitions run riot when wedding bells are on the horizon. Traditions become deeper inbred than originally thought as Margaret and Andrew tread the tight-rope of deceit by pulling the wool over Andrews loving family eyes.
It opened up a new life for Margaret being part of a close family unit, something she never actually had. This is turn opened up a different Margaret that viewed her own values and ethics as she starts to warm to Andrew’s character and passion for reading and writing. – Grace Paxton and Joe Paxton, Andrew’s parents were competently played by Mary Steenburgen and Craig T Nelson. A rich well to do couple which held great respect within their Alaskan community. A special mention to the ‘major stubbornness’ of business guru Joe whose workaholic ethics had transpired itself to Andrews dogged head down attitude, even when his job description was headed ‘Margaret’s broom’. – Flirting with the US governmental authorities on their heels, which seemed to involve a huge amount of smirking and highly arrogant one-liners that deemed to me Fletcher certainly had done a crazy amount of research within this area, as authorities generally tend to be sly foxes when out on a hunch, or so we are led to believe. I would be more impressed if the authorities carried a white cat and had an irritating twitch. – The Proposal isn’t about what happens in the end it is about relationships and personal interactions; but how they get to that point.
Fletcher got this movie wrapped up and bailed out with all her Directorship credentials all intact. A steady performance by her helped on by a superb array of talent across the trailer campsite.
Margaret; mines a cinnamon latte, the next-time you’re in town. Thank you for reading - I’m interested to hear your comments.
Advantages: A happy film with lots of laughs along the way! Disadvantages: NONE
...to get free tickets to the preview screening of "The Proposal", a film, which after seeing the trailers for, I really wanted to see, so getting there for free made it even more enjoyable! The story centres around the main characters Margaret Tate played by Sandra Bullock and Andrew Paxton played by Ryan Reynolds. Margaret Tate is everyone's nightmare boss, a real tyrant, who everyone who works for her hates. A real hard woman, who seemingly has no ... ...good at her job as the chief editor of a book publishing company, although cold hearted she gets the work done and does it well and for that is respected by her bosses. When Margaret's bosses tell her that there has been a problem with her work visa and that they see no way around Margaret being deported back to Canada the quick thinking Margaret has her own ideas on how to get around the situation. Andrew Paxton, Margaret's faithful Personal Assistant, ...
lel1969 18.08.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Proposal (DVD)
Advantages: Feel good film Disadvantages: Some of the 'family is everything' scenes are a bit sickly
...it all about?== The film is a romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock as Margaret Tate a driven career woman, who works as a high level editor for a publisher. She is assisted by Andrew Paxton (played by Ryan Reynolds) and generally makes his life very difficult and expects her every request to be fulfilled to the highest standard. She is warned not to leave the country on business by her bosses until her immigration is confirmed, but because she ... ...she ignores them. The film introduces us to the main characters and sets the story up very quickly, because by ignoring them, her presence in the country is picked up and she is told she is to be deported back to her native Canada immediately, with no chance of return for at least a year. In a very funny scene she quickly sees a way out, after all her assistant is ambitious himself and is so used to doing anything she asks without question...What ...
LAURALILIA 19.07.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Proposal (DVD)
Advantages: Heart warming and funny film Disadvantages: A bit slow in parts
...with a romantic scene at the end. However, despite my reserved scepticism, I was pleasantly surprised how heart-warming and in some parts of the film, funny it was. I went along with my friend to see this film as it was her birthday and she had the pick to see any films so it wasn't a surprise to see her picking this. I knew that Sandra Bullock was in this and I had a soft spot for the actress, despite her string of bad films lately (Miss Congeniality ... ...herself being let go by the company when she has to be deported back to Canada. Due to her quick-thinking, ruthlessness and extreme selfishness in order to keep the job, she forces her personal assistant to marry her! They go along to the Immigration Services to get a life-long visa for her to stay in the USA and realises that the company may realise that they're faking everything, so they, well Margaret decides to go to his family's place for the ...
Annallon 15.08.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Proposal (DVD)
Advantages: A surprisingly funny Romantic comedy that does exactly what it says Disadvantages: The idea has been done a thousand times before
...to keep her job as the executive editor of a publishing company and tells the senior partners and US state department that she and Andrew are engaged. Now to prove that their relationship isn't a scam and avoid her being deported and Andrew sent to prison they must spend a long weekend at his parents and convince everyone they are really a couple before returning to face the state department on the Monday morning. When I first saw this film advertised ... ...my to watch list and the only saving grace I could see with this movie was Ryan Reynolds who would at least make it marginally amusing. To say I was surprised how good this film turned out to be would be an understatement. It has a little bit of something for everyone and I was pleasantly pleased that all of the funny bits weren't crammed into the trailer. Whilst Jenny is more than aware of director Anne Fletcher's previous films 27 Dresses and Step ...
Andy.mack 18.10.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Proposal (DVD)
Advantages: Light hearted, laugh out loud moments Disadvantages: A little predictable at times
The Proposal, directed by Anne Fletcher (27 Dresses, Step Up) is an American rom-com starring Sandra Bullock (Speed, Miss Congeniality) and Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder, Definitely Maybe) alongside a host of other recognisable faces (including Mary Steenburg, Craig T. Nelson, and Betty White). Margaret Tate (Bullock) is a hard-nosed, career focussed editor in chief from Canada, Andrew Paxton (Reynolds) is her hard working, put upon assistant. When Margaret ... ...allow her to stay in the country and keep her job. The only problem is that they have to prove the validity of their "relationship" to immigration, what follows is a trip to Andrew's parents whereby they try to convince his family and friends they're a genuine couple and plan their wedding. In true rom-com style nothing goes smoothly and a series of hilarious scenarios ensue. In the initial scenes Margaret is portrayed as a witch, with scenes reminiscent ...
Maggie1981 09.08.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Proposal (DVD)
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Advantages: A great lighthearted comedy, which requires not a lot of brain power Disadvantages: Predictable as hell
The Proposal
Ever since my sister came back from the cinema saying that this film was good, I have wanted to watch it for quite a long time now. It seemed like the typical Sandra Bullock film, cutesy, funny and predictable, but hey, everyone loves a little bit of predictability in their lives don?t they.
I sat down to watch this with a mate at the cinema the other day, and wasn?t really expecting much. Sandra Bullock usually delivers brilliant films, however after Two Weeks Notice, I was a little sceptical. I think the main reason that I did go to watch this film however was one reason... Ryan Reynolds. Whom if I say so myself is gorgeous. Really really gorgeous and a good funny actor at that.
The Plot
Margaret Tate is a high powered editor, however when she finds out that as she?s not an American citizen, she must ...
Advantages: Brilliant chemistry between Bullock and Reynolds, realistic, very funny Disadvantages: None
with his boss's scam. But first they must visit his family in Alaska and convince both them and a disbelieving immigration officer that they really are in love. Many embarrassing and cringe-worthy situations ensue for the pair when they are forced into showing their true love for each other in the run up to their wedding. But will their weekend away out of the office turn their relationship into a better one or will they just end up despising each other even more?
~ Cast ~
Margaret Tate - Sandra Bullock
Andrew Paxton - Ryan Reynolds
Grandma Annie - Betty White
Grace Paxton - Mary Steenburgen
Joe Paxton - Craig T. Nelson
I love a good rom-com but The Proposal looked like it was set to be a great one starring the fabulous Sandra Bullock. I'd heard all positive things about the film so had high expectations when I came to watching ...
frankiefromings13 05.08.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Proposal (DVD)
Those used to seeing the sweet, sunny side of Sandra Bullock (WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING) might be surprised by her character in this romantic comedy. Here, the actress plays a difficult Canadian boss who forces her assistant (Ryan Reynolds – DEFINITELY, MAYBE) to marry her so that she can stay in America.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
Walt Disney Home Video; Technicolor Distribution Services
Languages
Main Language
English
Technical information
Special Features
Audio commentary, Deleted scenes, Alternate Ending, 'Set Antics: Outtakes And Other Absurdities'
Aspect Ratio
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital
Professional reviews
Review
Sandra Bullock + Ryan Reynolds = Comedy Gold (Heat, 14/10/2009)
[A]n engaging, well-crafted lark that proves 'high concept' isn't necessarily a tired tactic [...] Bullock also is talented enough to play convincingly against her genial image here as the proverbial boss from hell (Hollywood Reporter, 14/10/2009)
Bullock's deft physical comedy, one of her most endearing qualities, is given a full run. And Reynolds' ability to deliver a line, or a look, with withering, surgical precision is there at every turn. (Los Angeles Times, 14/10/2009)
[T]here is something refreshing about THE PROPOSAL's undemanding humour and unabashed feel-good factor. (Sky Movies, 14/10/2009)
A pedigree cast, fun premise and punchy dialogue make Bullock's return to romantic comedy look a great catch, and Reynolds is sharper than a diamond solitaire. (Total Film, 14/10/2009)
DVD Description
THE PROPOSAL could have been a strictly script-by-numbers affair, but hilarious performances by Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds raise this romantic comedy above its rivals. Publishing powerhouse Margaret Tate (Bullock, TWO WEEKS NOTICE) is used to getting her way. She bullies her ambitious assistant, Andrew Paxton (Reynolds, DEFINITELY, MAYBE), earning the ire of all the underlings at Colden Books in New York City. But Margaret, a native Canadian, finds her career in jeopardy when she is denied a visa and learns she will be sent northward. She forces Andrew to become her fiance, but she'll have to take a trip home to Alaska with him to prove to U.S. Immigration that their impending union is genuine.
What ensues is a combination of GREEN CARD, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, and GREEN ACRES, with the hell-in-heels boss trying to fake a romance with her assistant as she struggles to survive as a city girl in the country. However, THE PROPOSAL proves to be more than the sum of its parts; Bullock has been one of Julia Roberts's successors to the America's-sweetheart crown since she starred in SPEED, but this comedy has her challenging her image with hilarious ease. And Reynolds is an excellent foil, who proves just as adept with sarcasm as he is with a smile. The two stars are supported by an impressive cast, including Betty White as Andrew's scheming 90-year-old grandmother, and Craig T. Nelson as his disappointed father.
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