It has been quite some time since I laughed and cried equally while watching a film. But, “The Proposal,” did just that for me. What I thought would be the typical ‘chick flick’ where the story is relatively the same and, ‘despite the odds two people fall in love and live happily ever after’ turned out to have a twinge of depth. While nothing substantially new in the venue of romantic comedy, Reynolds and Bullock made this movie great fun through quirky character definition and antics.
As typical with most ‘romantic comedies’ the film starts with two completely mismatched characters that somehow magically fall in love. The plot centers on the multiple character defects of one woman; a woman who everyone in her office hates, who forces her assistant into a marriage proposal so she can stay in the country. But, as the move progresses the hidden layers of her personality are exposed which suddenly make her lovable. The moral in a nut shell: if people could are able to look beneath the ridiculously defective personality traits of their enemies and/or those they don’t understand, they might just find the vulnerability that lies beneath the surface that created those character flaws. Then one might begin to believe that perhaps anyone can find love, not just in spite of their defects, but also in part because of them. Wow.
So, beneath the humor lies a deeper exploration of hidden emotions and perception, but the reality of the film is just simple romantic fun. The film skims over the depth of true human exploration, and just pulls at your funny bone. You laugh. You cry. And, maybe you go away feeling good. Hopeful. Smiling. And, isn’t that worth spending a few hours and a ten spot for?