The Proposal (2009 film)

The Proposal
Directed by	Anne Fletcher
Written by	Pete Chiarelli
Produced by	Todd Lieberman Sandra Bullock David Hoberman Alex Kurtzman Roberto Orci Kristin Burr
Starring	Sandra Bullock Ryan Reynolds Mary Steenburgen Craig T. Nelson Betty White Denis O'Hare
Cinematography	Oliver Stapleton
Edited by	Priscilla Nedd-Friendly
Music by	Aaron Zigman
Production company	Fortis Films
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures
Release date	June 19, 2009 (2009-06-19)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$40,000,000
Box office	$317,375,031

The Proposal is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher and starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. The screenplay was written by Pete Chiarelli. The film was released on June 19, 2009 in North America by Touchstone Pictures.

Plot

Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) is the executive editor in chief of a book publishing company, Ruick & Hunt Publishing. Her workers strongly dislike her for her bossy, pushy and cold demeanor. After learning she is being deported to Canada as her visa has expired, she forces her much abused but always efficient and accommodating assistant, Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds), to marry her. Andrew, reluctant at first, agrees to the deal after Margaret threatens him by saying all his hard work for her the past three years will have been wasted, as a new boss would fire him were Margaret to be deported. Both visit the Immigration Department, where they are introduced to the immigration officer, Mr. Gilbertson (Denis O'Hare). He informs them that the department suspects that the couple are committing a fraud in order to avoid Margaret's deportation after receiving tip off call from a former employee (Bob, Aasif Mandvi) whom Margaret fired earlier. After the couple denies the statement, the officer tells them about the process which will be carried in order to confirm that the relationship is not a sham. They are informed that they'll be asked questions about each other separately, and that their families and co-workers will also be questioned. If the answers don't match, Margaret will be deported to Canada and Andrew will be convicted of a felony with a $250,000 fine and years in prison. After they manage the brief INS encounter, Andrew tells Margaret that he is risking prison time for this deal and requires that she make him the editor immediately after their marriage and also publish his book. Margaret refuses and Andrew begins to walk, so a desperate Margaret does an abrupt about face and agrees to his demands.

In order to sell the lie, the couple travels to Sitka, Alaska, Andrew's home town to meet his family. During the flight, Andrew goes through the list of questions that they'll be asked and informs Margaret that he knows nearly everything about her but that she has to learn everything about him in just four days. Upon arriving in Sitka, Margaret meets Andrew's mother (Mary Steenburgen) and grandmother (Betty White), who welcome her warmly. During the ride home, Margaret notices that nearly every shop in the town carry the name Paxton, Andrew's surname, and that all these shops belong to his family. When Margaret and the family reach the fort-like mansion across the bay, Margaret realizes that Andrew is wealthy, a sort of "Alaskan Kennedy." At their home, Margaret is welcomed by a pre-arranged party consisting of the neighbors and friends of the family. She also meets Gertude (Malin Åkerman), Andrew's ex-girlfriend. During the party, Andrew confronts his father (Craig T Nelson), who is shocked by Andrew's dating the boss he has so long disliked and thinks that he is using her to get ahead in his career. After his brief conflict with his father, Andrew announces the engagement to the party. The guests force the couple to cobble together a story about how Andrew proposed and the two are forced to kiss each other. After the party is over his mother shows Margaret the bedroom which they'll have to share.

The next morning Margaret loses her cellphone while saving Andrew's family dog from a hawk. On hearing that, ever-efficient Andrew comforts Margaret by telling her that he will order a replacement cellphone and pick it up in town the next day. Andrew's mother and grandmother take Margaret out to a local bar to enjoy a strip dance show by a locally famous but a bit over-the-hill exotic dancer, Ramone (Oscar Nunez). Stepping away from the show, Margaret chats with Gertude and learns that Andrew wanted to become an editor and make his own life (much to his father's disappointment) and that he and Gertude were quite serious. Andrew wanted her to run with him to New York City and start a new life, which she turned down as she didn't want to leave Sitka. Returning home, the trio of women find Andrew furiously hollowing out a log with an axe after having an argument with his father over their family business. Next she overhears the conversation between Andrew's parents and learns of the serious conflict between father, who wants his Andrew to take over the family businesses, and son, who is committed to his life in New York. Later Margaret goes to the shower but forgets the towels and does not sense Andrew coming into the bedroom. Andrew, listening to his iPod, is unaware that Margaret is showering and undresses. As Margaret tries to reach to towels kept in the cupboard, she is "attacked" by the puppy she's encountered before and she accidentally runs into Andrew. Both are nude and wild confusion results from the unexpected embarrassment. That night as they fall asleep, Andrew on the floor, Margaret asks Andrew about his relationship with his father, but Andrew refuses to talk. In response, Margaret begins to share bits of personal, even intimate information, such as the fact that she hasn't been with a man for two years. Touched by so many human details coming from his inhuman boss, Andrew, in an attempted neutral comment, says that Margaret is a very beautiful woman. The following day, the family urge them to marry the next day, an idea they reluctantly accept. Andrew is greatly stressed by this sudden increased familial involvement in the sham marriage, and Margaret tries to comfort and convince him, finding herself genuinely caring for him and touched by his unbending loyalty to her. To sort out her emotions, she goes for a bike ride into the woods, where she finds Grandma Annie "giving thanks" to mother nature in a ritual. Annie invites her to join her, but Margaret gets carried away with the chanting and dances "get Low." Andrew happens upon them and, amused, taunts Margaret as a "freak."

After getting her new phone, Margaret tries to catch up on her work through a computer while Andrew chats with Gertrude outside. On their way home, Andrew's mother and grandmother steal Margaret away to fit her in the wedding dress she will be wearing (which once belonged to his Grandmother) and Grandmother gives Margaret a 150 year-old pendant which also belongs to her. After Margaret realizes how much trouble she is making for Andrew, she has a meltdown which results in her hijacking a boat (with a much confused Andrew). She tells him that she has been alone since she was 16 years old after her parents died and she had forgotten what it feels like to have a family but after coming there she realized her faults and that she doesn't want to mess up his life as he has everything she never had. While releasing her frustration, she lets go of the helm and stumbles to the back of the boat while Andrew tries to calm her down. When he makes a sharp turn to avoid hitting a buoy, Margaret falls out of the boat. Andrew quickly turns the boat around and saves her.

The same day Mr. Gilbertson, the U.S. immigrations official who is investigating Margaret's visa application, contacts Joe in hopes of verifying the marriage is a sham. Joe instead invites him to Sitka to see the "happy couple" interact, hoping that if the marriage fails Andrew will settle down, stay in Alaska and give up writing to take over the business. Mr. Gilbertson makes a deal with his father and states that Andrew won't be criminally punished if he admits the marriage is a scam, but Margaret will be deported to Canada. Andrew, who now cares deeply about Margaret, denies that the relationship is a lie.

In the midst of the wedding ceremony, Margaret decides she cannot marry Andrew and confesses the business arrangement and the blackmail in front of everyone, including Mr. Gilbertson, who informs her she has twenty four hours to get back to Canada. Since Margaret admitted to the scam, Andrew does not get jail time. Margaret returns to New York to pack her things. Andrew rushes to their room in his family home only to find Margaret has already left, leaving his manuscript with a note of praise and a promise to purchase his book. Gertrude attempts to comfort Andrew, and subltly, indirectly challenges him: will he let another love slip away from him?

As he rushes out of the house to confront Margaret, another argument arises between Joe and Andrew. Annie has a heart attack while trying to stop them and while being airlifted to the hospital, she convinces Joe and Andrew to quit arguing before she "passes away". Once they agree, Annie reveals she had faked the heart attack, just so they would stop fighting and try to make it to the plane to stop Margaret from going back to New York. Andrew attempts to stop Margaret's flight, but cannot do so in time. Andrew then rushes to New York and shows up at the office where he confesses his love for Margaret in front of the entire office staff, proposing marriage all over again as he "wants to date Margaret." The two go to Mr. Gilbertson once more to get engaged, this time "for real."

As the end credits roll, in the film's "tag", Gilbertson interrogates not only Andrew and Margaret, but also Joe, Grace, Annie, Ramone (the exotic dancer from Margaret's bachelorette party), and Kevin (Andrew's family's dog).

Cast

• Sandra Bullock as Margaret Tate, a socially inept Chief Editor at her major New York City trade book company. According to E! News, Julia Roberts was originally offered to star in the film, but turned it down and the role went to Bullock.
• Ryan Reynolds as Andrew Paxton, Margaret's assistant who wishes to be promoted to editor and have his chosen manuscript published.
• Mary Steenburgen as Grace Paxton, Andrew's mother.
• Craig T. Nelson as Joe Paxton, Andrew's father who owns the family business that dominates the entire town of Sitka.
• Betty White as Grandma Annie "Gammy", Andrew's grandmother and Joe Paxton's mother, kind 90 year old grandma.
• Denis O'Hare as Mr. Gilbertson, the immigration agent investigating Margaret's case.
• Oscar Nuñez as Ramone, an omnipresent citizen of the Alaska town who holds many jobs. He is seen as a waiter, male stripper, a shopkeeper, and even as a minister.
• Malin Åkerman as Gertrude, Andrew's ex-girlfriend.

Production

Filming locations

Although most of the film is set in Sitka, Alaska, filming actually took place in the Cape Ann area of Massachusetts, primarily in Rockport. Village streets and harbor locations were filmed on Bearskin Neck, at the Motif Number One on Bradley Wharf, and the other wharfs of Rockport Harbor.

Music

The score to The Proposal was composed by Aaron Zigman, who recorded his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage.

Release and reception

Critical reaction

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 44% of critics gave positive reviews based on 169 reviews with an average score of 5.3/10 and 75% from the RT community. By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, the film has an average score of 48% based on 29 reviews.

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+ praising "the chemical energy between Bullock and Reynolds." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 stars out of 4 despite complaining that the film "recycles a plot that was already old when Tracy and Hepburn were trying it out". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film 1 star out of 4, noting positively "the one star rating I've put on The Proposal is all for Betty [White]."

Box office

On its opening day, the film made $12.7 million in 3,056 theaters, becoming #1 for the day. It later went on to be number one for the weekend with $33.6 million, beating out the weekend's other new release, Year One, and the previous number one film, The Hangover. The film became Bullock's first number one film in 10 years, and also marked her biggest opening weekend. The Proposal also earned $10 million from 10 foreign markets, with No. 1 bows in Australia ($3.3 million) and Russia ($2.8 million) leading the way. In South Africa the film debuted at number 2, losing out to the new release Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, but in three weeks the film managed to gross a total of $1,299,853. The film has grossed $317,375,031 worldwide making it one of the biggest box office successes in Sandra Bullock's career and with a $163,958,031 gross in the United States and Canada.

Home media

The Proposal was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 13, 2009. After two weeks, it had sold 3,314,840 DVD copies, earning $54,744,965 in sales.

Awards and nominations

Sandra Bullock was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the category Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and received a Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer:Movie Romance in 2009. It also won Sandra a People's Choice Award for Best Actress and the movie for Best Comedy.

The Proposal had four nominations at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, but did not win any.

The Proposal has four nominations at this year's Teen Choice Awards. One each in the Choice Acting (Romantic Comedy) Categories for Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. One for the movie itself in the Choice Movie (Romantic Comedy) category, and another for Choice Movie Dance for Sandra Bullock's and Betty White's "Get Low" dance scene.

External links

• Official website
• The Proposal at IMDb
• The Proposal at AllMovie
• The Proposal at Box Office Mojo
• The Proposal at Metacritic
• The Proposal at Rotten Tomatoes