The Throwbacks: “The Proposal” 15 Years Later

By Christian DiMartino

Just a few weeks ago, on my write-up for Notting Hill, I was lamenting on the death of the studio romantic comedy. I more or less pronounced the genre dead with the arrival of streaming services. But also, you can’t deny, the arrival of Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler (in particular The Ugly Truth), and their subsequent romantic comedy endeavors, began to give the genre a bad name. That said, the genre was in such a more promising spot back in the summer of 2009, that even that movie, maligned as it was and is, still managed to make $88 million.

You know what else was a big hit? The Proposal, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary on June 19th. The Proposal released a month prior to The Ugly Truth, grossed $163 million. $163 million for a movie like The Proposal is crazy, especially considering that we just went over the moon about the success of Anyone but You, and it didn’t even crack $100 million. It was a simpler, perhaps better, time in 2009. There are two reasons as to why this film was the hit that it was, but mainly just one at this very point in time.

The first would be Ryan Reynolds, who was a draw despite somewhat of a spotty track record. He might have been the one who helped me develop my sexual identity? Or at least part of it, but that’s a conversation for another time. Up to this point, Reynolds (in his second Throwback this year, after 2009’s guilty pleasure misfire X-Men Origins: Wolverine) had charmed us enough. He was handsome, charismatic, and he really plays pretty well off of anybody, compliments of his comic timing and wry sense of humor. My mom has a crush on him, I had a crush on him, and who didn’t? Shoot, I even showed up to Green Lantern.

Now the real reason for this film’s success might be its two stars combined, both of which we all kind of had season tickets for. But I attribute the financial success (the film received mixed reviews, which I’ll get to shortly) to Sandra Bullock. James Cameron (who would make a small indie named AVATAR in 2009) and Kathryn Bigelow (who won Best Picture and became the first female director to win the Best Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker) aside, Bullock won 2009. Well, there’s also The Hangover gang (maybe I should’ve covered that one instead), but I’ll stick to it, Bullock won 2009.

Bullock… kind of doesn’t lose? She’s slowed down a bit over the years, but when she makes something, it’s usually a pretty big deal. She showed up to The Lost City, the rare studio action comedy, in 2022, and it was a big hit. Bird Box was like Netflix’s biggest hit at that point in time, and generated memes (it was… eh). Ocean’s 8, which should be my favorite movie ever, wasn’t great, but still made money. When she makes a movie, people show up to it. We’ve had stock in Bullock since Speed, or you could go further and say Demolition Man.

2009, though. She even has a misstep in 2009, it doesn’t matter. She had The Proposal, which critics (mostly excluding Roger Ebert) didn’t like, but people flocked to. A few months later, cashing in on both the success of this and The Hangover, a studio decides to inflict All About Steve, which was filmed some time prior, on the public. Even that film, which was abysmal, wasn’t a complete failure. The real coup de gras of her year though comes Thanksgiving 2009, when a little inspirational sports drama named The Blind Side comes along. A week after The Twilight Saga: New Moon, no less. The Blind Side went on to gross $255 million, on a $29 million budget. It also nabbed Bullock an Oscar- the Academy had never nominated her, but the second they felt they could reward her, they did. Bullock man, she’s marvelous.

Now, I bet you’re wondering why I have chosen The Proposal to talk about today. Of all movies. The Hangover had its 15th anniversary earlier this month and was a bigger pop culture movement. I also just name-dropped a few other movies here that, I’ll tell you, I’m not going to be discussing this year. Because I’ve either written about them before or I couldn’t factor them into the schedule this year. Or, in the case of The Blind Side, it’s not my vibe. There are two things you should know about this segment though. The first is that I look at movies that are having anniversaries in five-year increments and would be fun to talk about. I also try to align the reflection with the time of its anniversary and get a rotation of the years (I’m a lunatic). I also like to examine some of those movies to see how they’ve aged and compare them to the current landscape of movies. The other, and perhaps final, piece of criteria is: I like to write about movies I’ve seen either precious few times, or movies I’ve seen countless times.

The Proposal falls into that very last category. White women and I, we really enjoy this movie. It’s like our catnip. I have seen The Proposal numerous times, and if I’m scrolling through cable and it’s on, I can jump into it at any time. I mean, that’s got to stand for something, right? Bullock and Reynolds have a few of those, and this is definitely one of them. So, it’s kind of a surprise that they never worked together again. They look like they’re having a great time, and they truly have chemistry, despite maybe the machinations of the plot forcing these two people together. The movie works because of them, and some of other things. It’s a formula movie where you know the outcome before you even start it. I DON’T GIVE A DAMN. It’s fun.

Bullock plays Margaret, a cold monster of a boss that everyone is afraid of, and hates. Here’s the thing, do we totally buy that Bullock is Miranda Priestly or something? Eh, I think you’d have to put her in a drama to make her unlikable (a la Crash). But the movie knows that we love Bullock, and to see her play mean is fun, since she’s usually so winning. Her assistant Andrew (Reynolds) isn’t fond of her but won’t quit his job because he thinks she can advance his career. Margaret is told that since she is Canadian without a green card, she will lose her job and be deported. Andrew walks into the office at the wrong time, and Margaret blurts out that they’re engaged, and he’s forced to go along with it.

He’s not thrilled, and she doesn’t give a damn. He knows that he will also get fired if he doesn’t go along with this because someone she just fired is going to replace her, and he will fire Andrew by association. So, he decides to go along with it, and they have to put on a charade for the deportation officer (Denis O’Hare, having a good time). The charade extends when he has to drag her to Alaska to meet his family (an event that the day prior, he was unable to attend because of Margaret).

Prior to this movie, my image of Alaska was, I don’t know, 30 Days of Night. Not a great postcard. But this movie makes Alaska look utterly gorgeous. We meet the family, who are surprised by the engagement considering all of the s**t Andrew has talked over the years. His dad (Craig T. Nelson) is unconvinced by the engagement. His mom (Mary Steenburgen, always lovely) is just delighted to see him and to hear that he’s found someone. The film also features, at the time, the revival of Betty White, 87 at the time of this film’s release, just absolutely killing it as Andrew’s grandmother. White went on to star in another sitcom, Hot in Cleavland, and kill it on SNL following the success of this, and it was a real delight. Anyways, Andrew and Margaret have to convince everyone they’re in love, even though they don’t really like each other, but we know how this must all go. That’s why we show up to these things.

The Proposal just leaves me with a warm feeling, because of the sincerity of people like Steenburgen and White. Yet it’s also imminently rewatchable because it has some memorably funny set pieces. You can ding it as sitcommy (as I’m sure critics did), but like, I’m okay with that. This is fluff, and it’s funny fluff. I like when Bullock is duking it out with an eagle, and she accidentally sacrifices the family dog to it. I like her trip to the strip club, where Oscar Nunez (whose character has multiple jobs on the island, including the reverend, a funny touch) gives Bullock a lap dance. This movie also changed the way that I look at Lil Jon’s “Get Low.” It’s really just fun to see Bullock and Reynolds riff off of each other. They are so good together, it feels as if this wasn’t their first go.

I could do without the Craig T. Nelson stuff. I’m always happy to see him, but he has this subplot where he’s constantly hovering over Andrew and telling him about what a letdown he is. This is a movie with enough conflicts (also including the change of heart Margaret experiences upon getting to know his family, as well as the O’Hare character trying to prove they’re lying), we just don’t really need that one. But I guess it does factor into the Betty White scene in the final act, and any reason to spend more time with Betty White in this movie is good enough for me.

The movie sits at a 45% on Rotten Tomatoes. Perhaps critics just felt that the genre had run its course. People though, we didn’t care. We showed up, and although it’s not a great version of the thing, it is one that works like a charm. It has enough memorably funny moments and characters to buoy it that you can get past the conventions of the genre. Yet aren’t the conventions of the genre what we like about the genre? The success of Anyone But You (a movie I like, but not as much as this one) does show that the tide might be turning. People, especially myself, just like to watch likable actors banter and fall in love at the movies. It can be a C-script, just give pretty, famous people the resources. I miss the days of something like The Proposal being a smash. Let’s get back to it.