The Proposal (2009)

Do you prefer Margaret or “Satan’s Mistress”?

— Grandma Annie

Back from my Juneteenth out of town engagement, and also being a huge Ryan Reynolds fan, The Proposal was next on my radar. Going into the movie, knowing that the premise would be ridiculous from the get-go. It’s a typical romantic comedy that worse than typical. It’s almost of parody of itself.

Sandra Bullock plays Margaret Tate, a “bitchy ice queen” NYC book publisher that is a cross between a spayed version of Miranda Priestley from The Devil Wears Prada, and Bullock’s character in the much maligned Crash. She rules the her publishing office with an iron fist? She is running her frazzled assistant, Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) ragged.

Margaret is called into Chairman Bergmen’s (Michael Nouri) office that say that her visa has expired and she has to be deported back to Canada. She decides that she and Andrew will get married in order to stay in the country and keep her powerful position in the company.

That’s the ridiculousness of the premise. Canada? Really? She doesn’t want to go back to Canada. What’s so bad about Canada? Shit. Being an natural born American citizen, I would go to Canada. Whatever.

Margaret is shocked that she has to go to Alaska to visit Andrew’s family in order to convince the immigration officer, Mr. Gilbertson (Denis O’Hare) that they are a “real deal” couple. Spare me, your feigned shock.

When the twosome arrive is Sitka, Alaska, all hell breaks loose. Margret finding out that Andrew family is welathy by small town standards.

The movie was so mind numbing. So dull. I didn’t care about the much talked about “running into each other nude” scene. The setup for that was preposterous. The scenes with Craig T. Nelson who plays the father and Ryan were excruciating to watch. Malin Ackerman’s character is named Gertrude. Let that marinate for a hot minute.

The typical ending did not make sense. Understanding Margret’s intentions to fall for Andrew were displayed, but there was not a moment that Andrew would fall for Margret. Not one instance. What a cop out.

The only laugh out loud moments were Betty White, who plays Grandma Annie and Oscar Nuñez who plays Ramone. That’s it.

Judgment: Another cookie cutter Hollywood rom-com that is not worth the price of admission.

Rating: **

Step Brothers (2008)

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but I will kick you repeatedly in the balls!

— Brennan Huff

When I first saw the trailer for Step Brothers, I thought that it was the most unfunny thing ever. I thought that the movie would be godawful, but I was surprised that I liked it so much. I laughed out loud in the first five minutes of the film. I was set.

I’m not saying that this is the best comedy of the year. No. It was enjoyable.

It revolves around this blended family when Robert (Richard Jenkins) and Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) meets each other at a conference and quickly married. They have their slacker adult sons in the house.

There is Dale (John C. Reilly), a lazy man that is very territorial about his drum set and Brennan (Will Ferrell) that has a chip on his shoulder. At first, they hate each other and want to kill each other, but eventually they grown to like each other.

The family situation seems implausible, but you have to shut off your brain for this film.

There are some things that I did not like. I did not the sleepwalking scenes. It seemed so forced and convenient that both of sons have the same condition. When the parents wanted them to get jobs, the interview montage was ill-conceived. Dead in the water. The crying scene at the dinner table near the end of the movie was not good. The heart-to-heart scene with Robert, Brennan, and Dale? Really?

There is a character that I didn’t like at all. It was the younger brother of Brennan, Derek (Adam Scott). He dragged the movie down. It’s not because he played a complete douche bag, but his jokes were so juvenile. I hated every scene that he’s in, except for the scene that he got punched in the face. When you are not funny at all, you should be punched in the face.

Judgment: There are some genuine laughs in the movie. Kathryn Hahn who plays Derek’s wife, Alice steals every scene.

Rating: ***1/2

Elf (2003)

It’s that time of year again. The Christmas movies will be broadcast on a 24 hour cycle. This year, I wanted to break the tradition of watching A Christmas Story. It’s A Wonderful Life be damned. I wanted to see another holiday movie. I was flipping the channels and I came upon, Elf on CBS. Success.

This movie is so much fun. I think this is his first big hit before the Iron Man juggernaut, a mere five years later.

If you don’t know about this movie, I will tell you. This movie is about Buddy (Will Ferrell), a human that is raised as an elf in the North Pole by Papa Elf (Bob Newhart). Papa Elf tells Buddy that he is not an elf and he was adopted. He tells Buddy who his real father is Walter (James Caan). He travels to New York City to find him.

It was a fun ride from beginning to end. It’s not the best movie ever. It was holiday fluff. You have to suspend belief a lot in this movie. I laughed my head off.

My rating: *** stars.