Tom Long: Film Review: 'The Proposal' -- GRADE: B

Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds turn on the charm in 'The Proposal'

A straight-ahead romantic comedy that relies on the considerable charms of its stars, "The Proposal" feels so comfortable and familiar you might feel like you've seen it before.

You know when the jokes are coming, you can see where the story's going from the first few minutes, the scenery has that richer-than-reality glow that romcoms revel in. All that's left is to watch the characters bat their animosity back and forth until it's revealed as love.

The thing here, though, is that familiarity does not breed contempt. In the capable hands of Detroit-born director Anne Fletcher ("27 Dresses"), whose famed choreographic skills transfer to story rhythms with ease, "The Proposal" feels like an old friend come home to visit.

Part of that has to do with old friend Sandra Bullock returning to the genre she left seven years ago, after "Two Weeks Notice." With the exception of the non-romantic "Miss Congeniality 2," Bullock has spent the better part of a decade doing dramas, most of which have seriously tanked. OK, Sandy, you've stretched. Now it's time to get back to what you're really good at.

And Bullock is good here, although as always (Bill Pullman in "While You Were Sleeping," Hugh Grant in "Notice") it helps immensely to have someone equally talented to play off.

Enter Ryan Reynolds, who's been on the verge of breaking big for the past few years now, with his uncanny gift for reaction shots and casual zingers.

The smartest thing about Peter Chiarelli's script is it immediately plays Bullock against type. She's not that lovable everygirl of old; instead she's a fire-breathing, career-consumed power-monger book editor named Margaret Tate.

Reynolds plays Andrew Paxton, her groveling, ambitious assistant at a New York publishing house. Of course beneath it all he wants to be an author.

In the sort of plot conceit that only works when you just brazenly do it, Margaret is informed by her bosses that, as a Canadian without a visa, she can no longer stay in the U.S. and must give up her job. She then announces her impending marriage to Andrew, which takes him by surprise.

Soon enough Margaret realizes she is going to have to follow through with this lie, and she and Andrew are flying to Alaska to meet his parents (Craig T. Nelson, Mary Steenburgen) and celebrate the birthday of his grandmother (the ever-spunky Betty White).

So let's see, there's the fish out of water thing, the role reversal thing, the city-country thing... oh, and it turns out Andrew's family is fabulously wealthy and they live in a grand mansion with an incredible view. Yep, all the romantic comedy elements are in place.

The trick is to make them work, and they do here. Bullock has always been a tremendous physical comic, and she throws herself (literally, at times) through this movie with abandon, going from she-devil rigid to klutzy clown as things progress.

Reynolds, on the other hand, is more from the raised-eyebrow, well-placed wisecrack school of comedy, so the two strike an interesting balance.

"The Proposal" isn't going to start Oscar drums beating and it certainly isn't trying to be startling or original. But -- unlike too many recent romcoms -- it manages to portray women as powerful and smart while letting men serve as more than boy-toy adornments headed toward an inevitable wedding scene.

It's breezy, bright fun, a film with charming stars and nothing much on its mind past a couple of enjoyable hours. In a genre filled with depressing duds, "The Proposal" works.

tlong@detnews.com (313) 222-8879