Touchstone | 2009 | Rated PG-13 | 108 minutes | List price: $44.99 | Get it for less at Amazon

While for many, the romantic comedy genre can be nothing more than formulaic, following a standard “boy meets girl / boy and girl fall in love / boy loses girl / boy and girl live happily ever after” blueprint with shallow characters in melodramatic and overly cheesy scenes that have neither the spark of romance nor of comedy. When a romantic comedy has an exceptionally talented cast with great chemistry however, then the formula can truly work, and an incredibly funny film can emerge. This is the case with director Anne Fletcher’s (27 DRESSES) THE PROPOSAL, a romantic comedy that easily delivers on both aspects of the genre and will have audiences laughing out loud. THE PROPOSAL follows the story of a powerful New York book editor Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) who finds out that her US work visa has expired and that she is being deported back to her native Canada. She quickly coerces her aspiring executive assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) to tell the Immigration officials that they are in fact in love and getting married, and to help sell the charade, Margaret decides to travel with Andrew to his home in Sitka, Alaska for the weekend to celebrate his Grandma Annie’s (Betty White) ninetieth birthday. The two must lie to his family about their relationship and soon begin to learn more about each other as individuals and ultimately, themselves.

What works so well for THE PROPOSAL is the odd couple pairing of Margaret and Andrew. Andrew has not secretly harbored feelings for Margaret, and in fact, truly despises her, referring to her in the three years he has worked for her as “Satan’s Mistress.” Margaret has never felt a thing for Andrew and simply explains to him in the office that he is nothing more than “a prop.” Basing both of the characters in a workplace dynamic of one who has power and one who is merely a subordinate, tinged with a mutual dislike for one another, immediately creates conflict and it is here that the comedy of the movie is able to truly form. The chemistry between Bullock and Reynolds is undeniably brilliant, and the two play remarkably off of one another. Reynolds of course delivers his lines with his trademark sarcastic dry wit and Bullock once again excels at the physical comedy of the film. While both are great comedic actors, the fact is, neither of them keep their performances at a superficial level and only play their scenes for laughs. Instead, the comedy is allowed to exist more as a result from the interaction of their characters as opposed to simply being the main thrust for a specific scene. This allows both Bullock and Reynolds to develop and build their characters and what you find with THE PROPOSAL is a lot of heart behind the comedy.

Writer Pete Chiarelli does a great job too of not allowing the film to simply devolve into just a set of cookie cutter scenes pulled from the myriad of other romantic comedies that populate the genre. Yes, there are some overly sappy scenes and there is some corny dialogue in parts, but these never overshadow the heart that is at the core of the film. What is a great thing too is that while penning a film about an “odd couple” Chiarelli didn’t simply make each character directly the opposite of the other. While Margaret is an enormously successful and powerful book editor in New York, Andrew is not just her poor assistant scraping by in life as he tries to make a career for himself. Instead, when they go and visit Andrew’s family in Sitka, Margaret learns that his family is exceptionally wealthy and owns most of the businesses in the town, prompting her to wonder if he is akin to an “Alaskan Kennedy.” This aspect of Andrew’s character was a brilliant addition by the screenwriter and helped further develop the dynamics of the relationship between the two principals.

The entire cast of THE PROPOSAL is stellar, and one of the funniest assembled in recent films, but almost stealing the show is the amazing Betty White (“The Golden Girls”) and Oscar Nunez (“The Office”). As Grandma Annie, White’s performance easily reminds an audience why she is such a talented comedienne and her scenes are tremendously funny, while Oscar Nunez’s portrayal of Ramone, the man who holds every job imaginable on the small island, including being the only male exotic dancer, is riotously funny and will have an audience in tears.

With such a tremendously talented cast and with the comedic chemistry between Bullock and Reynolds reminiscent of that of Grant and Hepburn in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, THE PROPOSAL is one of the funniest and most enjoyable romantic comedies in years and one that should not be missed.

For the Blu-ray release of the film, Touchstone is doing what more manufacturers need to jump on board with and including a digital copy of the film to allow it to also be enjoyed on one’s computer. The bonus features include deleted scenes and audio commentary as well as a six minute alternate ending, that while it is funny, ultimately was not as effective as the ending that was utilized for the theatrical release. There is a blooper reel that shows how much fun everyone was having on set, and once again, proves why Betty White is so remarkable. Make sure and watch this section to hear Betty’s off handed comment to something Ryan Reynolds says to her. It is priceless.

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