THE PROPOSAL (DVD; Touchstone)

Mike LoManaco

Studio: Touchstone
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Disc/Transfer Information:Widescreen 2.35:1 – Enhanced for 16X9 Televisions
Tested Audio Track: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Director: Anne Fletcher
Starring Cast: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Craig T. Nelson


HERE COMES THE BRIBE.


PLOT ANALYSIS:

The biggest problem with The Proposal – once you get beyond its unwarranted embellishments and plethora of accolades – is that it’s an Anne Fletcher vehicle that simply tries too hard, in many places, to be just like The Devil Wears Prada…right down to the mean, bitchy, always-on-the-rag female lead. I saw this theatrically, and while funny in some spots, it’s really more of a high heels-and-makeup magnet – i.e. it’s a film your ol’ lady would like better. Still, it was on her wish list for the holiday season, and alas: it gave me a chance to see it at home once again on my new OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray player (albeit it’s the standard DVD version).

Did my opinions of the film change much with this at-home viewing? Not much at all. See, we have a situation in this film that climaxes with such an unrealistic scenario – the younger assistant to a high-powered executive at a book editing firm in New York falling in love with her even though there’s just so much wrong with the whole picture – that it’s difficult to forgive what comes before it. Ryan Reynolds (doing much better here than he did in the absolutely atrocious and historically insulting Amityville Horror remake) plays Andrew, an ambitious executive assistant (odd role and position for a male at any rate) at the aforementioned book editing firm in New York City. Much like the script written for Anne Hathaway’s role in Devil Wears Prada, Reynolds’ Andrew has a writing passion of his own, yet is stuck working under and for a **** of a boss played by Sandra Bullock. We get, again, the parallels between Prada and Proposal through Reynolds rushing around trying to get Bullock’s morning coffee, impossibly kissing her ****, etcetera etcetera…although it feels more appropriate watching a woman doing this as Hathaway does in Prada. At some point, Bullock’s Margaret character is called into her superiors’ offices with the news that because she’s an illegal immigrant from Canada, she’s going to be deported back there and a guy she just fired will take her place. She immediately comes up with a scheme to announce to her office that she and Reynolds are engaged to be married, and thus she can become a legal citizen of the U.S.

This leads to a blackmail situation, whereby back in her office, Margaret tells Andrew that if he doesn’t go along with this, his dreams of becoming an editor or any other future in this field are over. Does this sound like Meryl Streep’s threat to Hathaway also? After some counter-threats by Andrew, the two head off to a New York immigration office, where they announce their intentions to be married. The officer assigned to the case warns the couple that he suspects this is all a farce for Margaret to stay in the country, and if so, Andrew will be slapped with a $250K fine and five years in federal prison…and Margaret will instantly be deported. The couple pretends to be into each other and then announce that they are off for the weekend to see Andrew’s family in Alaska. From there, the hijinks begin.

After taking multiple planes to actually get to this ridiculously small town in Alaska, Andrew and Margaret arrive to the delight of his mother (Mary Steenburgen) and grandmother (Betty White) who are waiting at the air strip with welcome signs. The film begins to smack of Bullock’s other performance in While You Were Sleeping in that she and Reynolds must pretend to be an engaged couple to fool his family. Be that as it may, we are introduced to Andrew’s father (Craig T. Nelson) who disapproves of Margaret, as it’s understood his son is working under her and he wishes him to stay in Alaska to be part of the family’s operations there. The comedy begins to warm up at this point, as Andrew’s nutty family (especially Betty White) start to eat away at Margaret’s nerves; Andrew’s mother and grandmother take Margaret for an impromptu bachelorette party where a Latin town jack-of-all-trades performs as a ridiculous stripper for the ladies at a local bar. If that wasn’t enough to send her running back to New York, Margaret witnesses the family dog being abducted by resident eagles in addition to finding Betty White (grandma) in the forest wrapped in Indian warcloths and chanting incomprehensible dialect amidst a roaring fire. Some of the moments here get chuckle-inspiring, including one involving Andrew walking up on grandma and Margaret as they are shaking their asses around the fire in the forest, with Margaret showing grandma how to dance to modern hip-hop.

But The Proposal takes a slight turn downward when the script begins introducing Andrew’s ex-girlfriend into the picture and how there’s an obvious jealousy between her and Bullock’s character; even though Andrew and Margaret hate each other on the surface, there’s an obvious attraction beginning. This element bordered on sickening in terms of just how clich

Mike LoManaco

THE PROPOSAL REVIEW CONTINUED...

VIDEO QUALITY ANALYSIS: HOW DID THE DISC LOOK?

After properly setting my new OPPO BD player for optimum performance from both formats and re-calibrating my display to compensate for varying gamma outputs, etc., standard DVDs have taken on a new life and dimension. It’s still not perfect – and I’m quite sure we’re pretty much at the brickwall for 480i-to-1080p upconversion quality – but DVDs have indeed been looking a good deal better. That said, the standard-def transfer of The Proposal in its 2.35:1 widescreen layout looked nice and clean from beginning to end, pretty much. Sure, you can almost immediately tell this wasn’t high def – but it was damn close with nice depth, color saturation and absence of edge enhancement. At times, fleshtones got a bit lifeless and colorless, but I suspect this was a filming element and not a fault of the transfer. But oceans looked surprisingly blue, grass and trees were satisfyingly green for the most part (save for some moments when the greens of grass lost their depth and looked somewhat washed out) and the entire spectrum of visuals appeared natural and believable.

One thing worth noting was the contrast blowout – let me explain. I recently read a review in Sound & Vision if I am not mistaken of the Blu-ray version of The Proposal and it didn’t receive great marks for audio or video. The review centered on a problem with the transfer’s “enhanced contrast” which made white levels too bright and washed out the visuals at times. This must have carried over to the DVD version (or vice-versa) in that the same anomaly happened here. There was indeed some kind of contrast issue with the DVD transfer, as many of the brighter portions of the images appeared way too high and distractingly super bright. It was really the only negative thing I could find to say about the DVD edition. Still, there was some compression noise from time to time (kept at bay by the OPPO’s Noise Reduction settings as best as possible), but that’s to be expected from the standard definition format.

AUDIO QUALITY ANALYSIS: HOW DID THE DISC SOUND?

Much like the video portion of the review I mentioned above for the Blu-ray edition of Proposal, there was mention of its DTS-HD Master Audio mix being lifeless as well. The DVD’s Dolby Digital English soundtrack fared the same way, with everything remaining up front in the main three channels. Dialogue was clear, and left to right panning was incredibly strong, but there was little to no LFE or surround usage. When it did come, the ambient information was restricted to birds chirping or a sudden race of a speedboat into one of the rear channels; for bass, the bachelorette sequence where the Latin stripper is grinding on Bullock’s face to “Relax” by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, was accompanied by some decent boom, but nothing earth-shaking. Two other parts come to mind in terms of bass as well, one being when Betty White is “ghetto dancing” with Bullock in the forest as some kind of strange hip-hop/booty score is blasting from White’s boom box and the end credits, where Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock’s “It Takes Two” is whomping through the speakers. Just to hear that song again, though, was satisfying enough.


SUMMARY:

It was called “The Year’s Best Comedy” and “Laugh-Out-Loud Funny,” yet it wasn’t that great of a film – especially the ending, which ruins everything that comes before it. Still, it’s not completely awful – it’s definitely watchable if your significant other had enough of playing with her nails, hair or tweezers and demands you sit down with a “panty pleaser” so you two can cuddle for no apparent reason.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

As I said, I had to buy it. If your woman is interested, rent it. But consider the DVD edition as I have been told and read that the Blu-ray doesn’t boast the most stellar visuals for the format – and its Master Audio mix is pretty much useless.

del44

I thought It was OK. I did like the bathroom scene though. Bullock looks pretty hot.:p

danz1906

I thought the movie was pretty good with funny moments.I would say its
a good movie to Rent!

kuntasensei

How can you post this here if it's "A Marlowe HDF Review"? Spam is not allowed on this forum!

Now report me already so I can get Christmas e-mail from Patrick. HO HO HO!

cfrizz

I saw it in the theater. It was ok. The scenary was simply spectatcular. AK is beautiful

As for the plot, eh, the standout performer? Betty White! She simply stole the show!

I almost picked this up yesterday at Blockbusters 3 for $20 sale. Instead I got The Taking of Pelham 123, Star Trek & Transformers 2.

avelanchefan

Cfrizz....agreed, Betty White is what made this movie so good. I actually enjoyed it though. Better than most romantic comedies.

danz1906

avelanchefan wrote: »

Cfrizz....agreed, Betty White is what made this movie so good. I actually enjoyed it though. Better than most romantic comedies.

I almost forgot about Betty White.......She was great!

bobman1235

A two page review of a cheesy RomCom with Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock? I doubt the screenplay even had that much thought put into it.

Knucklehead

Thought it was ok. cfrizz is right the scenery was awesome.

bigaudiofanatic

I though it was an alright movie, a better movie would be the ugly truth.

Mike LoManaco

del44 wrote: »

I thought It was OK. I did like the bathroom scene though. Bullock looks pretty hot.:p

Agreed...:D :eek:

For her age, she's got a pretty killer bod. She looked great in those skirt suits in this...

Mike LoManaco

xcapri79 wrote: »

Another great review Mike. I think I'll stay away from this one, though.
My review might be too controversial.;)
Merry Christmas.

Thanks Capri...

What do you mean by your review possibly being "too controversial"?

Merry X Mas and Happy Channukah to you, as well!

Knucklehead

Mike LoManaco wrote: »

Thanks Capri...

What do you mean by your review possibly being "too controversial"?

Merry X Mas and Happy Channukah to you, as well!

Apparently you didnt see him blow the EFFF up on Inglorious **** )an awesome movie by the way);)