The Proposal | Eastern North Carolina Now

     Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock Have a Rare Chemistry

    And it makes "The Proposal" work as a film. It's actors, excellent in their individual roles, serve as its steady, competent vehicle. Along with a believable script, it is essential that the actors maintain a chemistry within their interactive personalities that is both credible while palpable.

    Sandra Bullock portrays Margaret Tate, a high octane, upper echelon manager of a New York City book publishing concern, with a dedicated executive assistant, Andrew Paxton, played by Ryan Reynolds. It is Andrew’s one dedicated desire to edit and publish the better written word, and help the most accomplished writers to publish their work. He will endure most any measure of abuse, from the hard driving Margaret, so that he may achieve his ambition. And Margaret knows all the proper buttons to push.

    The button she cannot find the incredible talent to push is the one that will get the United States’ Immigration and Nationalization Agency off the Canadian born Margaret’s back. Margaret is incredibly precise when it comes to her work. She is, however, a bit sloppy when it comes to the management of her legal status in the United States - so bad, she has been officially invited to leave to country - deported.



    When Margaret is informed, by her CEO, of her predicament that would preclude her from continuing as a publisher, she instinctively announces to her bosses that her assistant, Andrew, and she are secretly engaged to marry. Andrew intuitively plays along with his demanding boss, but once there is an understanding, Andrew becomes the demanding one: Securing an immediate editorship for himself, and demands that Margaret propose to him on a busy sidewalk in Manhattan to complete the deal for this farcical arrangement.



    There was one more demand by Andrew Paxton. He would not neglect returning home for his Gammy’s (Grandma Annie played by the mercurial Betty White) 90th birthday. Before the very rushed engagement earlier that morning, he had begged off her birthday to be at Boss Margaret’s beck and call. Now, at least as far as Margaret’s proposal and not missing Gammy’s birthday goes, Andrew is calling the shots, and Margaret would return with him for a long three day weekend to Sitka, Alaska.

    When in Sitka, during the interminably long days of Summer, Andrew and Margaret would announce their impending nuptials, and they would need to move quickly to stay one step ahead of their Immigration and Nationalization case worker, Mr. Gilbertson, played by character actor Denis O’Hare. Their announcement was met with a mixed reaction from his mother, Grace Paxton, played Mary Steenburgen, who was thrilled and his father, Joe, Craig T. Nelson, who was suspicious. And rightly so: Andrew had never made a secret for his disdain for his boss. Obviously, they could hardly imagine that their son had turned such a significant page.

    This is the scene when the romantic chemistry begins with their first kiss, after their announcement of their engagement, during their welcoming party at the Paxton mansion.

    The film is less predictable than most films of this ilk, and is better acted and honestly, it was fun to watch. Anne Fletcher directed this Peter Chiarelli composition and one can definitely notice the feminine touch. There is a certain measure of sentimentality as one might naturally expect; however, it is not overwrought and works well within the context of this entertaining film that just took a mere 108 minutes out of my busy day. Of course these reviews take a great deal of time: Don’t you know?

    Rated R. Released on DVD October 20, 2009.

    This article provided courtesy of our sister site: Better Angels Now.