Hell on Earth is a major New York publishing house run by Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock). She knows countless ways to intimidate, humiliate, and suppress her subordinates, with her personal assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) bearing the brunt of it all. But the guy is forced to endure everything because he dreams of becoming an editor.
Fortunately, there are days when everything is right in the world – the immigration service, angered by the fact that Canadian Margaret neglects the visa application procedure, announces that it intends to deport her. The satanic editor finds a solution instantly: she will marry Andrew. Andrew agrees, first making her beg on her knees and then bargaining for his desired position. Now, in order to deceive a suspicious immigration agent, the “lovers” go to the groom’s parents, where the bride is in for a lot of surprises. For example, that she has a heart.
“The Proposal” is that unfortunate case where the story turned out better than its execution. Anne Fletcher, who directed the film, is a well-known choreographer and, as a director, had previously only made “Step Up” (2006) and “27 Dresses” (2008). Her head isn’t exactly empty, but rather a tumbleweed of all the romantic comedies she’s watched. In any case, the script offered much more nuance in the story of a shrew’s transformation into a nice girl.
Fletcher wasn’t allowed to ruin the picture by two scenes that can save any film. First, there’s the episode in which an eagle attacks a snow-white husky puppy – it’s better than “Bambi.” Second, there’s the scene with a naked Sandra Bullock. It’s not just that she looks great, or that it updates the “naked celebrities” gallery in the viewer’s head. Bullock is from the generation of 90s actresses whose talent organically combined with stardom, and whose romantic roles didn’t interfere with either dramatic or comedic ones. Having once sat in a mined bus in “Speed” (1994), having grunted in the wonderful “Miss Congeniality” (2000), she now delivers a shower scene with such charming ease, as if she were filming not with the simpleton Fletcher, but with Garry Marshall or, say, Nora Ephron.
Final Verdict
And although the film will feature picturesque views of Alaska, a freak stripper resembling a fattened and crazed Turturro, a grandmother who communicates with spirits, and many other funny crazy people, you should only go to “The Proposal” if you like Sandra Bullock and white dogs.
Well, okay – naked Sandra Bullock and white dogs in the claws of an eagle. That’s not so little.