The Proposal is a romantic comedy directed by Anne Fletcher. It is not stellar, but solidly written with decent character development and was at times seemingly more funny than romantic.

The plot synopsis (taken from IMDB): Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) is the executive editor-in-chief of a book publishing company, Colden Books, who forces her assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her in order to avoid being deported to Canada. He grudgingly accepts, under the condition that he is promoted to the position of editor. When the government investigates, the two are forced to spend the weekend with his parents in Alaska in order to sell the lie. The family suggest they could marry the same weekend, and they reluctantly accept. They start to fall genuinely in love as they spend more and more time together. Because of this, during the wedding ceremony, Margaret decides she cannot do this to Andrew and confesses the business arrangement in front of everyone — including the immigration officer handling their case. She is then told she has 24 hours to get back to Canada, and thus goes back to New York to pack her things. Upon doing so, however, Andrew shows up at the office and confesses his love for her in front of the entire office staff, proposing marriage all over again.

Sandra Bullock, who I shall admit I have always liked as an actress, plays the socially stunted workaholic editor (and flaming bitch) Margaret to a T — not that it is something you’d believe Sandra Bullock to be, but she does it well.

Ryan Reynolds is Drew, and I like him. A lot. Van Wilder is one of my favorite movies of all time, and he was certainly solid in Blade: Trinity. But as a lead in a romantic comedy, I wasn’t so sure. He did well.  He was certainly believable, both as the ambitious young striver, but also as the scion of a wealthy family who resents his privileged position (which is the basis of his ambition), and the disagreements he has with his father as a result of his father wanting him to take over the family business (which is seemingly everything in Sitka, Alaska).

Other cast members include:
Mary Steenburgen as Grace, Drew’s mother; solid, but like most mother roles in movies, somewhat shrill.
Craig T. Nelson as Joe, Drew’s father. He plays the role of a domineering and very successful father all too naturally.
Betty White as Grandmother Annie (Gammy); utterly hilarious, and in no way PC.
Malin Akerman as Gertrude, his childhood sweetheart, and gives, in the first actual role I have seen her in, a generally solid performance.
Denis O’Hare as the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services investigator Gilbertson, who is a sniveling little weasel who I think any decent person would want to toss out a window. (I have only seen him as Harold Holt in Charlie Wilson’s War previously, and I thought he was an awful human being in that film too.)
Oscar Nuñez as the omnipresent Ramone, who shows up in four different roles in Sitka. The man was utterly hilarious.

As the movie flows along, it feels and seemingly draws from Green Card, but it is much better of a film — for many reasons. First of all, no Gérard Depardieu, who I view in the same class as J Lo (see my post on The Taking of Pelham 123 if you do not know). Second, the chemistry seems more natural between Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Three, I like women who aren’t shrill or weak: Andie MacDowell was seemingly very much so, Sandra Bullock as Margaret Tate was not. And fourth, The Proposal wasn’t very PC and was in my view, authentically funny.