Gifted cast gives 'The Proposal' its polish

By most standards, Anne Fletcher's "The Proposal" should be a formula romantic comedy disaster.

Its plot and characters exhibit an aversion to originality, especially the feeble, seen-it-before-a-million-times ending.

Pete Chiarelli's screenplay overdoses on brain-dead verbal clichés. ("That's what I'm talkin' about!" Sandra Bullock bellows. "Trust me!" she says. "I have a bad feeling about this," Ryan Reynolds reveals.)

Yet, Bullock and Reynolds commit to this wit-challenged project with such good humor and charisma that "The Proposal" takes the strain off most of its laughs and creates surprising empathy for its main characters, two business people with a jaundiced view of marriage and each other.

Workaholic publishing executive Margaret Tate (Bullock) runs her office with such an iron fist that she gets nicknames such as "Satan's mistress" and simply "It," as in "It's back!," an e-mail dispatched to staffers when she goes on the move.

Margaret comes from Canada. When threatened with immediate deportation, she blackmails her able assistant Andrew Paxton (Reynolds) into promising to marry her so she can stay in the United States and keep her job. He blackmails her right back, agreeing to the legal proceeding only if she appoints him as the company's next editor.

This sudden arrangement smells fishy to an immigration agent (Denis O'Hare) who rightly suspects the two might be violating several federal laws to avoid Margaret's deportation. The unhappy couple heads off to Andrew's hometown in Alaska where the love birds can get to know each other better while attending the 90th birthday party of Andrew's spry grandmother Annie (Betty White, who, frankly, deserves a whole movie to herself).

Apparently, Alaska is home to a great many Hollywood stock characters, among them the doting, loving mother (Mary Steenburgen); the estranged dad (Craig T. Nelson) who withholds approval from his son as a power play; the gorgeous ex-girlfriend (Malin Ackerman) who still carries a pilot light for Andrew; the wisecracking granny (White) who can steal a scene at will; and a fluffy little dog that looks cute.

Bullock forgoes the comic snorting that has been part of her recent string of uninspired rom-coms. Then, in a bold move that establishes her as a Hollywood hottie, she bares all in a breathlessly funny post-shower sequence where she and Reynolds accidentally collide with each other in the buff. (The impact of this "surprise" has been ruined by TV commercials and trailers.)

Reynolds continues to hone his appeal as a comically gifted leading man. (He'll go into superhero mode again in 2011's "Deadpool.") But even his charm and sharp comic timing can't compensate for a bewildering scene in which Grandma Annie incites Margaret to get down with her crazy self, all while giving thanks to Mother Earth next to a ritual bonfire. (I'm guessing this scene exists strictly because Fletcher started out as a choreographer before she directed the mediocre rom-com "27 Dresses.")

"Don't be absurd," Margaret says.

Too late.

"The Proposal"

Rating: 2½ stars

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson, Betty White, Malin Ackerman

Directed by: Anne Fletcher

Other: A Walt Disney Pictures release. Rated PG-13 (language, nudity, sexual situations). 107 minutes