How NOT to propose!

The Proposal
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Malin Akerman, Craig T Nelson, Mary Steenburgen, Denis O'Hare, Betty White
Director: Anne Fletcher
Rating: U/A (India), PG-13 (US)
Critic's rating: **

Margaret (Sandra Bullock) walks in, in an exquisite dress and stilettos, carrying a designer bag and holding her nose high, uncaring of the mere mortals (juniors) in her office. And the chat windows pop up: 'The thing is here', 'The witch is on her broom'.

Her juniors start looking for cover while assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) runs to get her two café lattes (in case one spills!). (Such is the mean-spiritedness of this editor in a publishing house that in the beginning itself she fires a junior and rolls her eyes when she gets to know that her assistant has spilled the latte.)

But in comes the news that her visa has expired and she will be deported to Canada. That is when she comes up with "Oh, but I am getting married to Andrew!"

The film starts off promisingly, but it's downhill from here on with this cliché-ridden romantic comedy. After forcing the lead actors to marry because they have to share the winnings from a jackpot (What Happens In Vegas) and getting them to act as a married homosexual couple (I Pronounce You Chuck And Larry), rom-com filmmakers seem to have come out with a new way of forcing a couple together.

Andrew sees an opportunity in Margaret's predicament and agrees to play on, but for a promotion and a book deal.

They meet a suspicious 'visa-checking' official who plans to check on the supposed couple, as a result of which they head to Andrew's home in Alaska and plan a 'mock marriage'. Andrew turns out to be a mini-millionaire with a loving family which owns an island and the mansion on it.

The problem with the film is that there are several themes playing at the same time. Not only is it about an employee getting back at his boss, or a city-bred snob unable to walk down a wooden staircase, but also about the falling in love of 'almost sworn enemies' and about getting to understand the value of a family.

Then there are the clichés. A little bit of slapstick humour with Andrew, and Margaret melts. A night scene ensues when the two together sing their favourite songs and tell each other their secrets (completely bereft of the ‘awww’ moment). He looks, she looks, and their gazes linger. A 90-year-old granny hands her a pendant (which her great-grandmother had given her grandmother and so forth) and she instantly breaks down on learning the value of family. She falls into the sea, he rescues her. She shivers and hugs him, and she melts, the witch disappearing and love blooming.

Then there are the gags. Complete slapstick. In one scene, a naked Margaret battles with a dog for a towel, while an unknowing Andrew disrobes (he doesn't know because he has taken everything off but his iPod). In another, the 90-year-old granny enjoying a Mexican stripping asks Margaret to spank him. And then the Mexican... how can one have an Alaska full of normal people, yet the only Mexican to play the village idiot, expecting people to laugh at his accent and enjoy his hairy body when he strips?

Bullock looks good in her stilettos and skirts, but at 44, she seems a tad too old to play the 'desirable chick'. She plays the hard-nosed executive well, but in this poorly written role, which also makes her suddenly melodramatic in the end, there is not much she can do. Reynolds is just about fine in his stud-in-waiting role. There are no memorable or funny characters, and don't even get started on the Mexican.