The Proposal

Chick Flicks are so dependable: We know where we're going, and we also know we'll have lots of fun getting there. Sandra Bullock knows her Chick Flicks ("While You Were Sleeping" and "Miss Congeniality"), although she has done commendable work in other genres ("Infamous" and "Crash"). As an executive producer, she has, once again, opted for a good script, a great cast and spectacular scenery, so let's just relax and enjoy ourselves.

Ryan Reynolds ("Adventureland" and "Definitely, Maybe") has spent four miserable years as Boy Friday for Bullock's arrogant publishing executive. She has failed to renew her visa and is confronted with deportation back to Canada, so she announces that she and her dumb- founded lackey are getting married. Quickly regrouping, he strikes a deal that includes publishing a book and being promoted, and the race is on. He had wanted a long weekend so he could go home for his grand- mother's 90th birthday, and she immediately co-opts the plan so they can parade their phony engagement to his family (they have a suspicious immigration agent hot on their heels).

Turns out he's from Sitka, Alaska, so this pleasant little jaunt is far more complicated than she expected. Bullock loves to play a fish out of water but in this one, she falls out of a speedboat INTO water; in addition she gets to be haughty, mean, selfish, awkward, embarrassed and humil- iated. At one point she cravenly tries to get an eagle to swap a fuzzy little white dog in exchange for her cell phone. Oh, did I mention that she also gets to be nude? ...well, she DOES have a Loofah mitt... THAT scene with our two leads is great fun.

Betty White ("Golden Girls") is Grandma. It was sweet to hear the audible murmur of affection from the screening crowd when her face first appeared on screen. Mary Steenburgen ("Four Christmases") is the bridegroom's excited mother, while Craig T. Nelson ("The Family Stone") is his semi-alienated (and very sceptical) father. Oscar Nuñez ("The Office") plays the ubiquitous Ramone, Sitka's presiding Jack of All Trades: a caterer, a male stripper, a store clerk, and a minister.

No sweaty bodies, no car chases, no gunshots and no blowie uppie stuff. Chick Flicks aren't Art, they're Entertainment!