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A Reel Life film section

Issue: Autumn, 2009

The Proposal (2009) movie review

I'll have a non-fat latte and a husband.

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A Canadian citizen, an editor who frightens everyone around her is about to be deported from the United States. She bribes her personal assistant into an engagement to enable her to stay in the country and for the first time has to stop her headlong race to success and look at, and listen to, him.

Set in New York and Alaska, The Proposal is a B film with an A cast and director. Anne Fletcher (27 Dresses) directs this Green Card marriage story about the boss from hell who finds emotional redemption in an engagement to her all-suffering assistant.

movie poster, The Proposal, festivale film review; 220x328

Movie poster, The Proposal

Kudos to Sandra Bullock who plays both the witch-boss and the emotionally-awakening woman with her usual skill. Bullock rises above lesser actors such as Mel Gibson (Payback) who take a role and then demand that the protagonist be rewritten as 'more likeable'. Margaret the editor (also known as Satan's Mistress) is tough, unapologetic and bluntly heartless. Bullock embraces the role, having make three pages of notes during production to toughen the character. We enjoy her open toughness and enjoy her in a way that we can't like Meryl Streep's fashion editor in The Devil Wears Prada.

Ryan Reynolds (Definitely Maybe) equally manages to walk the line between opportunist, ambitious and doormat. They make a charming pair of antagonists who find themselves and one another.

The Proposal moves well, features solid performances and is entertaining, but never rises above the formula of the material.

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by Ali Kayn
Due for Australian release 2009
For credits and official site details, see below
Search Festivale for more work by the film-makers below.

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Just the facts:

Title: The Proposal (2009)
Written by: Pete Chiarelli
Directed by: Anne Fletcher
Running time:
Rating:


The Players: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Betty White, Craig T. Nelson


Official website:
IMDb entry


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