“The Proposal”

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, nudity and language.

It is an old plot: a foreigner, desperate to stay in this country, must marry an American to remain. It doesn’t matter if the American is a complete stranger or (fill in the blank). Despite this threadbare “gag,” “The Proposal” isn’t a disappointment. Frankly it is charming and somewhat of a retro-romantic comedy with a modern twist. Although the sexual mores of today are clearly present, there really is no vulgarity at all.

Margaret Tate (Sandra Bulloch) is the proverbial boss from Hell. She is mean, snippy, dismissive, cruel and (apparently) tortures her employees at the publishing firm where she is an editor. Her assistant (secretary) is Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds). Understandably, he hates his boss but he has to take the abuse in order to become an editor (one day) and get his manuscript published.

Margaret Tate is called into her boss’s office and told that since she left the country without following the proper procedures, her request to renew her Visa was denied and she is scheduled for deportation. She can not work for the company for one year. Her arch-nemesis (who she just fired) would be elevated to her position. In a panic, she tells her bosses that she and her assistant (secretary) are going to be married — which should solve any pesky immigrant problems. This is spoken out load in front of “the bosses” and the potential groom without the “groom” having any prior knowledge of the plan.

Of course, the joke is that Paxton hates this woman. And besides, he planned to go home during the upcoming weekend to celebrate his Grandma Annie’s 90th birthday; however, Paxton is so desperate to get ahead in the publishing world, he compromises all principles and sound common sense. He goes along with the fraud, risking imprisonment.

Tate is shocked to learn that her (now) fiance’s boyhood home is in Alaska. With her Louboutin shoes and her Birkin bag, she is definitely out of place in the great, rugged Alaskan frontier — even though the Paxton estate looks like it could easily be featured in Architectural Digest. (The Paxtons are the Kennedys of Alaska, it seems.)

Anyway, the cast is populated by the usual hand puppet characters required in such a comedy. However these puppets perform nicely. Most of the credit goes to Betty White, who plays Grandma Paxton. She is what she always plays: a ditsy but really quite in control old “broad” with a gutsy let’s-do-it gusto. She is a delight, as always. There is the zany Hispanic guy who is ubiquitous in the town doing this job and that job — an ever versatile jack-of-all trades kind of guy. (He is the Cuban born actor, Oscar Nuñez, who is on the TV show “The Office”). Dad (Craig T. Nelson) is the uptight jerk who wants to control his only child’s life by forcing him to give up his dream in order to carry on the family empire. Mom (Mary Steenburgen) is the sweet, gentle, understanding mother always playing peacemaker between father and son.

We have seen it all before and you will not be shocked to learn there is a happy ending. Love conquers all even the great bureaucracy of the INS.

Now it is a bit disconcerting to see a love affair bloom, albeit for cynical reasons, between Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. The age difference is a bit of a problem, but let’s not dwell on that. And there are probably legal technical realities that make this story highly improbable, but let’s not force that issue. This is a harmless, light, comedy, a love fable. So, let’s focus on the fact that this is also an amusing date movie. It promotes family and love ... and sweet romance ... and career advancement ... so everybody can live, and love, happily ever after.

So, for a Valentine’s date movie in late June or early July, this is the film for you.

“The Proposal” earns three and a half bow ties out of five.