Despite popular belief, men adore successful women. They may resent (as part of human nature) any person including a women who may be doing better they are, but once they have a successful woman on their side, they realize the benefits and change their attitudes of that person accordingly. It's successful women, rather, that are intimidated by men or at least by the perceived dilemma that they will have to choose between their significant others and their careers and then be judged as "not adequate enough" based on whatever choice they make.
The love film The Proposal is a perfect representation of this "lack of resolve" a successful woman may encounter if she ends up partaking in romance. Sandra Bullock stars as Margaret, a head of a publishing firm who conscripts her personal assistant Andrew, an aspiring author played by Ryan Reynolds, into marrying her not for love.....but because getting married is her only option to continue her career in New York and avoid getting deported back to Canada.
An ironic aside: in real life, it's Ryan Reynolds who is Canadian and Sandra Bullock who is American.
The relationship between the two starts as indifference on the part of Margaret to Andrew and as pent-up hostility on the part of Andrew and Margaret, as one might expect from a typical boss to personal assistant relationship. Andrew agrees to Margaret's proposal but only after making her agree to promote him, take his manuscript seriously, and get down on her knees to make a proper proposal. The role reversal here is captivating not just for its own sake but also because both characters seem to get some kind of pleasure from it even though they've yet to fall in love with each other.
SPOILER ALERT: THE GUY GETS THE GIRL IN THE END
Aiming to delude immigration officials, the two travel to Andrew's family's home in Alaska to try to build a case to others (that would be interviewed by immigration officials later) of their engagement. The family is thrilled for Andrew to be engaged, and anyone who has been engaged to anyone can certainly relate to some of the awkward things they are required to do such as talk of how they first met, replay the proposal scene and even kiss in front of others. Betty White's performance as the grandmother matriarch here is priceless.
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| Really? I have to get down on my knees for this guy? |
As expected their indifference towards each other gradually shifts to the solidarity required to pull their act of to best buds and mutual admiration all those fuzzy feelings they were believed to have towards each other in the first place. The budding romance climaxes in a scene when Andrew takes Margaret out boating and ends up having to rescue her from the water. While one might expect it to be simply a damsel in distress meme, it actually becomes more than that. The rescue scene echoes the vulnerability he has to her as a personal assistant rather than accentuates his strength and extension power over her. Moreover, part of the success of this particular rescue scene depends on her taking some of the responsibility for saving herself. The fears she has to face here embody the fears she has to face first in being honest with Andrew's family about the whole affair and later committing herself to him.
Fortunately, there is not a lot of product placements in this film other than the fact that it serves as an infomercial for Alaskan tourism (it's more than just snow and Eskimos up there, baby). In terms of the messaging of the film, there is some tacit encouragement of the sham marriage, but the immigration officials are on their asses (especially hers) the whole film, so it does portray the serious risks of doing such a thing rather persuasively.
Overall, it's not the greatest film in the world, but considering the generally dismal nature of the genre, it's somewhat impressive.
Final Verdict: GOOD
Most awkward part of having no-kissing scenes: We barely know she says "yes!"
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