The Proposal (2009)

I’m just going to put it out there and say that The Proposal is one of the best romantic-comedy films to have been made. If not, then it’s definitely one of Sandra Bullock’s top films and she is most certainly the Queen of rom-coms! If you haven’t seen it (which I find unlikely, though one friend did admit recently she hadn’t, prompting me to sit her down and force her to watch it straightaway – needless to say, she loved it!) then the film follows Sandra’s character (Canadian) Margaret Tate, a hard-pushing editor at a New York Publisher, who faces deportation and subsequently the loss of her job due to an expired visa. She hatches a plan to marry her assistant Andrew (the gorgeous Ryan Reynolds!) who only agrees to it if she’ll give him a much deserved promotion. However this plan is not as easy as it sounds. The two of them must convince the officials they are legit otherwise they face legal charges and Margaret will be removed from the country. Andrew has plans to go home to Alaska for the weekend so Margaret goes too where the whole family awaits. The weekend is filled with non-stop hilarity, each character is so well acted – particularly Ramone who brings a lot of the laughs – and includes my all-time favourite scene from a film ever: Grandma Annie and Margaret’s tribal dance in the woods! And of course you get to see the lovely Ryan completely naked which is always a plus!

Sandra Bullock is brilliant as the hard-hearted Margaret who we see gradually beginning to thaw under the love of Andrew’s family. She’s able to bring a range of emotions when depicting characters so that you really feel like you know and understand them. She is arguably one of the best actresses around and really puts everything into a role. As does Mr Ryan Reynolds who brings a sarcastic humour to his role as Andrew the over-worked and under-appreciated assistant. The two together have brilliant chemistry on screen, working the comedic effect timelessly throughout, and making the relationship between the two characters utterly believable. It is fair to say that Andrew does not particularly like Margaret and the idea of a whole weekend with her and his family is not something he ever saw happening!

This film is an ultimate girly film but not so much that guys wouldn’t love it too, I have watched it countless times and every time it has made me laugh! If you like Sandra’s other rom-coms like Two Weeks Notice (2002) then you will most definitely love The Proposal!