Margaret is a corporate lawyer who is about to be deported. Andrew is her assistant who gets pulled into a scheme to fake a marriage proposal so she can stay in the country. That’s the whole premise of The Proposal, and it’s the kind of setup that should work. A woman forced to pretend she loves a man to save her career. A man pretending to marry her because he owes her a favor. The problem is that the movie doesn’t trust its own idea. It keeps adding layers that don’t add depth, and the result is a comedy that feels thin and obvious from start to finish.
Trailer, via Hulu.
Margaret’s Deportation
The movie opens with Margaret facing deportation. She is a corporate lawyer who has built her life around work, and she has no legal way to stay. Her assistant, Andrew, offers to help her fake a marriage proposal so she can get a green card. It’s a clever plan, and the early scenes establish a tense dynamic between two people who clearly don’t understand each other.
But the tension is quickly undercut. Margaret is played as a cold, unfeeling careerist, and Andrew is played as a bumbling, awkward guy who can’t say what he means. The chemistry between Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds is supposed to carry the movie, but it’s undermined by a script that keeps giving them reasons to fight instead of reasons to connect.
The Fake Proposal
The proposal itself is a disaster. Margaret and Andrew have to convince everyone they’re madly in love, and the movie spends a lot of time showing them arguing, sneaking around, and generally failing to fool anyone. There are jokes about Margaret’s Canadian accent, about Andrew’s inability to say “I love you,” and about the absurdity of the whole situation.
None of it lands. The jokes are obvious, the timing is off, and the punchlines feel like they’ve been explained to you in advance. The proposal sequence is meant to be the emotional peak of the film, but it plays out like a series of set pieces that never cohere into a scene.
Alaska Detour
After the proposal fails, Margaret and Andrew decide to go to Alaska to try again. The trip is supposed to be a bonding experience, but it mostly serves as a backdrop for more jokes about Margaret’s inability to enjoy herself and Andrew’s inability to relax. They spend time in a cabin, they go fishing, they see some wildlife, and the movie keeps telling you that they are getting closer even though they aren’t.
The Alaska detour is the weakest part of the film. It adds nothing to the central relationship. The jokes about Margaret’s fear of dogs and her insistence on wearing business clothes in the wilderness are meant to be funny, but they just reinforce the idea that she is a cartoon character rather than a real person.
Family Trouble
Back in New York, Margaret’s sister and her sister’s husband get involved in the scheme. They want Andrew to marry Margaret for real, and they push him to admit his feelings. This subplot is meant to add conflict, but it just adds confusion. The movie already has a main plot about a fake proposal, and adding a second plot about a real marriage makes the story feel scattered.
The family scenes are also where the movie’s tone shifts the most. The proposal scenes are played for broad laughs, while the family scenes are played for warm, sentimental moments. The shift is jarring, and it leaves you wondering which version of the movie you’re watching.
Proposal’s Weak Points
The biggest problem with The Proposal is that it doesn’t commit to its own premise. A movie about a woman who has to fake a marriage proposal could be sharp and cynical, but this one isn’t. Instead, it keeps softening the edges. Margaret is a careerist, but she’s also secretly a romantic. Andrew is a bumbler, but he’s also a good guy. The movie wants both characters to change, but it never gives them a reason to change that feels earned.
The script is full of clichés. Margaret has to learn to let go of control. Andrew has to learn to speak his mind. The family has to accept that love comes in unexpected forms. None of this is surprising, and none of it is particularly well executed.
Bullock and Reynolds
Bullock and Reynolds are both capable actors, and they do what they can with the material. Bullock plays Margaret as a brittle, angry woman who is slowly thawing, while Reynolds plays Andrew as a nervous, sincere guy who is slowly standing up for himself. The problem is that the script gives them few opportunities to show range. Most of their scenes involve them repeating the same arguments over and over, and the chemistry that might have carried the movie is buried under a pile of jokes that don’t land.
There are a few moments where the film shows flashes of promise. A scene where Margaret tries to cook for Andrew, a moment where Andrew tells Margaret about his childhood, a brief conversation about what a real marriage might look like. These are the scenes where the movie stops being a farce and starts being a romance, and they are the ones that linger after the credits roll.
Ending
The ending of The Proposal is a compromise. Margaret and Andrew get together, but the movie doesn’t really explain why. The proposal is a failure, but the movie treats it as a success anyway. The family subplot is resolved in a way that feels rushed, and the final scenes are more about wrapping things up than about delivering a payoff.
The ending is also where the movie’s tonal problems are most visible. One minute the couple is laughing, the next they are crying, the next they are dancing. The movie wants to be a comedy, a romance, and a tearjerker all at once, and it can’t manage any of them well.
The Verdict
The Proposal is a movie that knows exactly what it wants to be and still fails to deliver. It has a strong premise, a talented cast, and a director who knows how to stage a scene. But it is undone by a script that is too busy trying to be everything to be anything. The jokes are obvious, the plot is thin, and the characters are cartoons.
The film has its defenders, and it has its moments. But those moments are few and far between. The Proposal is a forgettable comedy that you will likely have forgotten by the time you leave the theater.
Key Facts Box
- Title: The Proposal
- Year: 2009
- Director: Anne Fletcher
- Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds
- Runtime: 108 minutes
- Score: 4.8/10
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