Proposal, The

It seems to me that movie executives have a hard job, one that I don’t think I could ever do. They wield the power to green light films that cost more to produce than the GDP of some countries. And they often don’t base their judgments on quality. This is the part I would find stressful. The demand for success from the corporate shareholders means that you have to guess at what the tastes of the audience will be and make the most marketable film and not necessarily the best film. That’s how a lot of the schlock that makes its way to the theaters comes about. And that’s probably how they decided to make “The Proposal.”

“The Proposal” is about a tough ambitious publishing executive who, to keep from being deported, must fake a marriage to her assistant. While pretending to be in love they of course inevitably fall in love for real, and conveniently stave off the deportation. The film stars Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock as the couple. Romantic comedies are somewhat of a played out genre to begin with, but there are occasionally some that are funny and original and work, but this isn’t one of those. This is a film full of tired clichés and a trite story with no surprises. The funny parts aren’t funny and there isn’t much else in the movie to care about. Everything wraps up at the end exactly as you expect it to, and there is nothing remarkable about the movie at all. This is the kind of movie they make so that everyone involved can get a paycheck, they can market it based on star appeal and people go see it and the cinema dies a little.

I’m sure that this movie will make a ton of money, in theaters and on DVD. The way that I know this is because I think I was the only person in the theater who wasn’t laughing and didn’t enjoy the film. And that’s why I could never be a good executive, because I would never have thought anyone would like this movie and I then would have missed out on all that money people are willing to give away to spend an hour and a half distracted by Ryan Reynolds’ and Sandra Bullock’s pretty faces. I will say one thing about this film: it isn’t even close to being the worst film I’ve seen this week. If someone you know really wants to see this movie, it won’t kill you to go with them, but you will wish movies didn’t cost ten bucks and last as long as they do.