Summer '09 - Blockbuster #8 - "The Proposal"

Films like this are ultimate formula pictures.  The stars (Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds) hate each other, but are forced to be together, so that they realize they really love each other.  (And the audience goes, "Awwwww!")

I've like Ryan Reynolds ever since "Two Guys and a Girl".  (I even watched the show when the title included "...and a Pizza Place".)  He's just got star written all over him.  He's a good actor, and he's funny, and according to the ladies, not bad on the eyes.  I also like Sandra Bullock, who is also a good actor, also funny, and, as one scene verifies, has a killer body.  None of that makes a difference, though, if there's no chemistry between them.  And there is.  They make a little hay out of the age difference, but it really doesn't matter.  The funny part of their relationship isn't that she's older, it's that she has the power.

(Quick plot synopsis: Bullock is a Canadian about to lose her work visa.  Reynolds is her long-suffering administrative assistant.  She forces him to marry her so she can stay in the country.  Hijinks ensue.)

The other fun thing about this kind of film is that when you've got enough star power in the top spots, you generally have enough cash to hire excellent supporting actors, in this case Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson, and Betty White, as Reynolds's Alaskan family.  A trap a family romantic comedy can fall into is having all the characters be wild and crazy.  (e.g. "Meet the Fockers")  Here, they settle for one: Betty White.  Steenburgen is a straightforward mom-type, and Nelson is a gruff dad.

I really enjoyed the movie, even though it never really surprised me, except perhaps in how charming I found Bullock to be, even when she was supposed to be the "bitch".  That takes some talent.