I don’t like Sandra Bullock. I don’t know exactly why, but some film I watched as a child made me dislike her strongly. I can no longer remember the film, but she was brash and abrasive in it. From my biased viewpoint, this seems to be her general demeanour. She, along with Julia Roberts, is an actress who I find intensely irritating. I’m aware that it is somewhat unfair to judge an actress’character on the strength of one character she played, but this awareness does not really mitigate the dislike. Even films that I should like are ruined by her presence.

As a result, I was initially reluctant to watch The Proposal. However, two things persuaded me: I was bored, and didn’t feel like anything heavier, and it also starred Ryan Reynolds. Ryan Reynolds, to me, is the opposite of Sandra Bullock. Even truly terrible films are redeemed by him – he’s just very likable. The Green Lantern film is all kinds of rubbish – it has racist stereotypes, Info-dumps, and somehow manages to make ‘create anything’ into a boring superpower. He makes
a fist and a toy car, displaying a lamentable lack of imagination.

But I like The Green Lantern – I think it’s worth watching, and I’d happily watch it again. I think this in defiance of logic and reason, solely because Ryan Reynolds seems like a great guy. He seems almost always to play an affable straight man, but there are glimpses of range and humour in his performances.

Hopefully, that sets the scene. One eye on something else, I sat down to watch The Proposal, a film containing one actor I hate and one I like. Would I hate it because of her? Would I love it because of him? Would the two forces balance, leaving me totally neutral? It was a truly thrilling situation. Continue reading “The Proposal (Review)” →