Bullock returns to romantic comedy in ‘The Proposal’

Sandra Bullock, once the queen of romantic comedies, hasn't starred in one since swearing them off in 2002 — until now, in this unconventional twist on the classic love story heroine.

When Sandra Bullock completed filming on Two Weeks Notice more than seven years ago she loudly announced that she was done with romantic comedies. As she told USA Today recently, “They’re not funny, they’re not romantic, they’re not written well for women anymore.”

Yet when The Proposal opens Friday, Bullock will be back in the saddle doing the first straight comedy role with any romantic tinges since her acclaimed collaboration with Hugh Grant in 2002. (The 2005 sequel to Miss Congeniality had its humorous side but zero relationship elements).

Evidence of her disenchantment with the genre is the fact that she turned down The Proposal several times before finally agreeing to star opposite Ryan Reynolds in the saga of a Canadian book editor forced into a marriage to avoid deportation.

Still, The Proposal has some things that may distinguish it from the ranks of formulaic relationship farces and flimsy gender conflict pieces that currently dominate this format.

First, Bullock and Reynolds are friends off the set, and that chemistry reportedly worked well during the filming. Second, Bullock has voiced her admiration for director Anne Fletcher, whose reputation as someone determined to make high-quality work featuring women who aren’t one-dimensional stereotypes helped convince her to take the role.

Another positive ingredient includes the presence of the legendary comic actress Betty White, whose appearances in some of the trailers have already helped spread the word that The Proposal may actually be funny.

Then there’s the characterization of Margaret Tate, the person that Bullock is playing. Rather than being a domineering, over-the-top figure or a shy retiring type, Tate has been designed to be animated and uncensored but with both a great sense of humor and a sensitivity that only appears at key moments.

It seems almost perfectly tailored for Bullock, one of Hollywood’s best at being both bawdy and introspective, confident at times, then uncertain or demure in other situations. She’s also unconcerned with age differences both in film and real life, and is great at exposing the hypocrisy of people who applaud men for marrying younger women and ridicule women with younger husbands.

It speaks volumes about this society’s obsession with age that a talented and versatile performer like Sandra Bullock would be deemed “old” by modern Hollywood standards at 44 (soon to turn 45). Thankfully, Bullock not only ignores that nonsense, she ridicules it often and sees films like The Proposal as the opportunity to refute idiotic notions about aging and beauty.

However, the biggest question facing The Proposal will be whether a thinking person’s idea of romantic comedy can click in an era where inane stunts, vulgarity and physicality seem to be the defining foundation for almost every humorous production that becomes a box office success.


The Proposal
Directed by: Anne Fletcher
Written by: Pete Chiarelli
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson, Betty White, Dennis O’Hare, Malin Akerman, Oscan Nunez
Time: 107 minutes
Rating: PG-13