I just just watching Sandra she's just an amazing actress.

From the opening moments of sitcom-inspired office hi-jinks in this plinky-plonky rom-com, the outcome is never in doubt. When we first glimpse our leads - beautiful people Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds - the inevitability of how this film will leave us is cemented even further. There's a set formula to these kinds of movies, and knows well enough just how the target audience it so aggressively pursues wants to be left feeling. The key to a decent rom-com is having a funny script; one that will have you laughing and hoping the mismatched couple will finally realise their love for one another to care about how predictable the whole things is. Anne Fletcher's The Proposal does none of these things, and instead betrays the likability of its leads by having little zip, and keeping them apart for what seems like a large chunk of the movie.Margaret Tate (Bullock) is executive editor-in-chief in a successful New York-based publishing company. She has an icy reputation in the office, and her panicked underlings frequently alert the others of her arrival via group e-mail. Her dedicated but overworked assistant Andrew Paxton (Reyolds) is the only one who tolerates her, and that is because he hopes to win himself a promotion through his loyalty and hard work. Margaret also happens to be Canadian, and after a minor violation of the terms of her work visa, she finds herself facing deportation and without the job she has worked so hard to get. In a panic, she announces that she has been seeing Andrew for the past year and the happy couple are soon to be married, much to Andrew's dismay. Sensing foul play, U.S. immigration agent Mr. Gilbertson (Denis O'Hare) keeps a close watch on them, forcing Margaret to accompany Andrew to a family get-together in Sitka, Alaska.Despite never really convincing as a couple, and neither really having moments of clarity that will help us understand when the script starts to push the two closer together, the two leads are a joy to watch. Bullock is now a legend of the genre, and Reynolds demonstrates the cheeky charisma he wouldn't be allowed to fully embrace until 2016's Deadpool. It's solid proof that the fault lies with the material they're given. Once in Alaska, The Proposal becomes a sickly loop of increasingly bizarre comedy set-pieces, including a moment where Margaret must fend off an eagle attacking the yappy family dog. It's a sea of white, middle-class faces, and the only person of colour seems to be the Hispanic Ramone (Oscar Nunez) who, in a slight racist twist, works just about every job in town from store-owner to stripper. There's also the dull sub-plot involving Andrew's father (Craig T. Nelson), who wants his son to ditch his New York adventure to join the family business, which exists solely to give Andrew something to do away from Margaret. The stars deserve much better.

Sometimes people say "Hollywood doesn't make films like that anymore", referring to the situational boy-meets-girl romances of the 30s or 40s. Well, it does and this is one example, though this is boy-works-for-girl who is a tyrant as a boss. When you go to this movie, you know it's a romance, and so the "suspense", if you will, is how can the writers get the star-crossed characters together?Sandra Bullock plays Margaret Tate, the boss everyone fears and hates. She has no personal life and no family life. Ryan Reynolds is her underling, Andrew Paxton. The story thrusts them into spending time outside of work together. Family members--including Betty White as Andrew's "Gammy"--help to put the com in romcom.The disdain of Margaret and Andrew for each other appears to be an insurmountable obstacle to love. Before the film ends though, vows are take--but not the kind you expect. Still, such films are about affirming the power of love and this film will not disappoint.

The Proposal (2009): Dir: Anne Fletcher / Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Bullock, Mary Steenburgen, Betty White, Malin Akerman: A good proposal for this film is a bomb fire inhabited with several copies. Title refers not just to the act of marriage but also to blackmail. Ryan Reynolds is forced into an engagement to his boss so that she may avoid being deported. Due to being monitored they venture to Alaska where they try to keep the reality of the situation secret. Simple and predictable right up to its revelation climax. Directed by Anne Fletcher backed with a horrible visual image of an eagle snagging a dog. We witness the shame as it flops up and down and Sandra Bullock frailing about foolishly. Reynolds and Bullock wade through predictable drivel including a much publicized nude scene, which makes her look plain desperate for a hit film. Reynolds plays her bitch, to put it bluntly. These movies are designed as opposites attract even though this couple doesn't mix even when they get along. Mary Steenburgen and Betty White play typical annoying family members who speculate and make stupid screenplay assumptions. And Malin Akerman shows up as the ex-girlfriend of the Reynolds character and it is just another obvious plot convention. Bottom line is that this film's reason of being is to jerk us around. One should propose that Hollywood stop producing such drivel. Score: 2 / 10