The Proposal (2009/I)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Anne Fletcher

Writer (WGA):

Pete Chiarelli (written by)

Release Date:

19 June 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Here comes the bribe...

Plot:

A pushy boss forces her young assistant to marry her in order to keep her Visa status in the U.S. and avoid deportation to Canada.

Plot Keywords:

Deportation | Fake Engagement | Ex Girlfriend | Canadian Expatriate | Partial Female Nudity

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Sandra Bullock	...	Margaret Tate
Ryan Reynolds	...	Andrew Paxton
Mary Steenburgen	...	Grace Paxton
Craig T. Nelson	...	Joe Paxton
Betty White	...	Grandma Annie
Denis O'Hare	...	Mr. Gilbertson
Malin Akerman	...	Gertrude
Oscar Nuñez	...	Ramone
Aasif Mandvi	...	Bob Spaulding
Michael Nouri	...	Chairman Bergen
Michael Mosley	...	Chuck
Dale Place	...	Jim McKittrick
Alicia Hunt	...	Coffee Barista
Alexis Garcia	...	Immigration Clerk (as Alexis R. Garcia)
Kortney Adams	...	Colden Books Receptionist

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, nudity and language.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #45211) | Ireland:12A | Netherlands:6 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:15 | Sweden:Btl | Singapore:PG | Finland:S | Australia:PG | Mexico:A | Argentina:Atp | UK:12A | Germany:o.Al. | Japan:G | Iceland:L | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Norway:A | Denmark:A | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | South Africa:PG | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Brazil:14 | Turkey:7+

Filming Locations:

225 Franklin Street, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

Sandra Bullock plays a Canadian who wants to marry her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) in order to keep her Visa status in the U.S. and avoid deportation to Canada. In real life, Reynolds is from Canada and Bullock is American.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Early scene - bedtime - shows sun's movement to indicate location within Arctic Circle, but the sun angle in subsequent scenes could only occur at much lower latitudes.

Quotes:

Andrew Paxton: [referring to the story about how he proposed to Margaret] You know what? Actually, Margaret loves telling this story, so I'm just gonna let her go ahead and do that. We should just sit and rapture.
Margaret Tate: Wow, okay... wow, where to begin... the story... Well, um, wow... Okay, well, um, Andrew and I... Andrew and I were about to celebrate our first anniversary together and I knew that he'd been itching to ask me to marry him and he was scared, like a little tiny bird. So, I started leaving him little hints here and there because I knew he wouldn't have the guts to ask...
Andrew Paxton: That's not exactly how it happened.
Margaret Tate: No?
Andrew Paxton: No, no, I mean I picked up on all of her little hints... this woman is about as subtle as a gun. Yeah, no what I was worried about was that she might find this little box...
Margaret Tate: Oh, the decoupage box that he made, where he'd taken the time to cut out twenty little pictures of himself, just pasted all over the box. So beautiful! I opened that beautiful little decoupage and out fluttered these tiny little hand cut heart confettis and once they cleared, I looked down and I saw the most beautiful, big...
Andrew Paxton: ...fat nothing! No ring.
Grandma Annie: No ring?
Grace Paxton: What?
Andrew Paxton: No, but inside that box, underneath all that crap, a handwritten note with the address to a hotel, date and time. Real Humphrey Bogart type stuff. Masculine. Naturally, Margaret, she thought...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "This Morning: (2009-07-15)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Hot & Cold

better than expected

We went into this movie more or less out of despair; the cinema offerings seemed uniformly lousy and we simply wanted to see a movie that looked like fun. This one looked stupid: I'd seen Betty White promoting the movie on Jimmy Fallon's show and the scene shown was idiotic, though it did have a couple of amusing lines. Well, we were all pleasantly surprised. The outcome of the plot might be predictable, but the road getting there is surprisingly sharp and entertaining. There are quite a few witty lines and exchanges, and the delivery and timing of the two stars and, of course, of Betty White are just about perfect. Both of the lead characters have surprises in their backgrounds to reveal, and the settings are beautiful. There are one or two scenes that are clunkers, but even the dopey episode with White's Grandma Annie doing a ritualistic dance in the woods ends up having some relevance to a later plot event. The movie is well thought-out and well executed, and the actors create characters who engage us, even if we don't know anyone quite like them in our own lives.