It’s a tried and true formula.  Take two attractive, talented stars and put them together in a romantic comedy.  Make them hate each other at first, of course, so that when they manage to overcome their differences and fall in love at the end, it makes it all the more effective.  It’s a formula that has worked for years—really since 1934’s best picture Oscar winner It Happened One Night—and it works again this year with The Proposal.  It also helps that the movie stars Sandra Bullock, an acknowledged master of the genre.

Bullock plays Margaret Tate, a high-powered New York City book editor who inspires her employees to signal “It is here” when she arrives, or “the witch is on the broom” when she’s on the move.  Her thankless assistant for the past three years is Andrew Paxton, an Alaska transplant who has dedicated himself so much toward pleasing his wicked boss that he even gets her same drink at Starbucks for himself, just in case he happens to spill hers.

Their working relationship is forced into something else when Margaret is pulled into the boss’s office and advised that she is being deported to her home country of Canada.  Thinking on her feet and caring nothing for his feelings, Margaret informs her superiors that she and Andrew are getting married.  Getting it past the company’s legal department is one thing; getting it past the immigration department is another.

In order to appease the skeptical officer assigned to their case, Margaret and Andrew whisk off to Sitka, Alaska, where they will spend the entire weekend with his parents, whom they must convince of the legitimacy of their upcoming nuptials.

Although she is certainly closely identified with the genre, The Proposal is Bullock’s first romantic comedy since 2002’s Two Weeks Notice.  Fortunately, it must be akin to riding a bike for the actress who fits right back into the genre with ease. She’s believable as both the ice princess and the human being she becomes once the ice begins to melt.  She also gets plenty of opportunities to show off her talent for physical comedy.

Her experience makes her the wily veteran opposite co-star Ryan Reynolds, fresh off last year’s best romantic comedy, Definitely, Maybe.  Reynolds also is right at home in the genre, although there were times in this film that he looked almost bored.  That could be because he’s basically playing the straight man here, while Bullock gets to have all the fun.  He does show off a talent for the comedic blank stare and it’s fun to watch him when he gets to turn the tables on his sadistic boss.

The movie is very funny from start to finish and most of the credit has to go to the two leads, but some credit has to go to the delightful supporting cast as well.  Betty White never seems to age and she seems to have fun playing around with her goody-goody image.  Also on hand is Oscar Nunez (from T.V.’s “The Office”) who gets a lot to do, actually, including one surprising scene that had me cringing.

If I have one complaint about the movie, it’s that the love story doesn’t quite work.  I don’t really see these two coming from where they are at the beginning of the film to where they are at the end; especially over the course of a single weekend.  Still, whereas that flaw may keep the movie from being great, it is still a funny, fairly romantic movie featuring two leads that are very easy on the eyes.  That’s worth at least one date night at the movies.

The Proposal is rated PG-13 for “sexual content, nudity and language.”  This is probably a PG movie with the exception of one scene featuring the two stars literally running into each other completely nude.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Jeff attended a promotional screening of The Proposal.