When I go into a romantic comedy, especially one with a plot like The Proposal, I know to expect cliches. It says a ton about how this film deals with those cliches when I go in anticipating them and I still leave furious at how they are dealt with. Romantic comedies are extremely formulaic. That’s just their nature. Either guy and girl end up together, or guy and girl don’t, but they learn something profound about themselves in the process. One can either subvert these tropes (this never happens in mainstream films, but can be seen in such indie films Breaking Upward) or one can downplay these tropes and make them realistic as possible. The key to performing the latter is giving your characters depth and making them feel like real people. The movie uses neither of these techniques and completely dies because of it.
First of all, I can’t remember the last time I had such a shift in how I felt about a movie while watching it. I’d say it was around the half-way point, during a conversation scene that takes place with one character in bed and one character on the floor that I realized how much I hated this film. It was a shame because I went in wanting to like it. I’m a huge fan of Ryan Reynolds. I love his schtick and think he is one of the funniest actors in Hollywood. He has great comedic delivery and facial expressions to complement his words. I’m not a fan of Sandra Bullock, but she sufficed as the super bitchy boss. Hell, I’m in a generous mood and I’ll say she was good in her role for the first half of the movie. Reynolds and Bullock had a very nice chemistry together, in that you could tell Bullock looks down on Reynolds and he is not a fan of hers either. Watching them pretend to be in love in front of Bullock’s bosses was quite funny and enjoyable to watch. You can really see the contempt brewing under the service. Now that these completely one-dimensional characters have been established and put in this crazy situation, I wonder what will happen next. Will they somehow fall in love? Don’t worry, there’s no spoilers on this blog.
The reason that the first half works and the second half doesn’t is mainly because they run out of jokes. The first half concentrates more on dialogue based humor and the interaction between Bullock and Reynolds, where the second half switches away from this dynamic and then away from humor in general. There is actually a joke about Lil Jon and the Eastside Boys in this movie. I’m sorry, but is it six years ago? The film also makes a deviation from the 50/50 split between Reynolds and Bullock and makes the story much more Bullock centric. Like I said about Wolverine, less Reynolds is always a bad decision.
Another problem is the cast of supporting characters. Betty White is good for laughs, but everyone else is just there. Craig T. Nelson is completely one note as Reynolds estranged father and as much as I like Mary Steenburgen, she doesn’t do much as Reynolds mother. Malin Ackerman shows up and plays almost a specter, designed to give advice to both Reynolds and Bullock when they need it most.
I already mentioned how I went in expecting cliches and not expecting much other than some fun romantic comedy. If I’m not expecting much, a movie doesn’t have to give me much. All I ask from a movie is what it presents itself to be. Give me that, and I’m happy. Just don’t stretch. If it tries to give me an emotional pay-off that isn’t earned, I will hate it forever, and that’s exactly what this film does. This film tries to take flat characters and have them travel through emotional arcs without any reason for why it should happen. Reynolds and Bullock, who have hated each other for three years, fall in love because they kiss once and then have a naked collision (and that’s not a euphenism). It’s not character development to just have characters say music they like or what a tattoo means. That’s cheap writing. It’s telling, and not showing. Without motivation for these arcs, their eventual conclusion isn’t earned and has no impact. It feels false because it is.
If the characters aren’t well-written, they’ll have no depth. If they have no depth, I can’t connect with them. If I can’t connect with them, I can’t care about them. If I can’t care about them, then their arcs are worthless and the movie is a waste of my time. It may seem like I’m piling too hard on a romantic comedy, and I might be, but this film really tries to amp up in the drama and emotion in the final act. I wouldn’t have held any lack of depth against it if it had stayed as a fun romantic comedy, but instead it tries to make itself into a real movie. The result is one of the most unrealistic representation of human beings I’ve ever seen.
Late in the third act, it got the point where I actually exclaimed in a crowded theater, “I fucking hate this movie.” I don’t really think I need to say much more than that. Non-movie buffs will have no problem with the film, and will probably enjoy it a lot. If you consider yourself someone who cares about plot or realism or emotion or characters in your films, do whatever you can to stay away from The Proposal.
You haven't even seen this movie....
ReplyDelete