The Proposal (2009) - Bullock, Reynolds & Co. make this cookie cutter romcom work

♥♥♥♥

 

+ Best On-Screen Couple of the Year: Sandra Bullock & Ryan Reynolds + Best Romcom of the Year

 

Two beloved Hollywood stars in a twinkle-eyed proposal on this poster for Anne Fletcher's The Proposal

A zealous New York editor gets into a clinch with the immigration authorities, because she is from Canada. To get out of the situation, she makes her personal assistant her fiancée. 

 

The Proposal is written by Peter Chiarelli (Crazy Rich Asians (2018)) and directed by Anne Fletcher (Step Up (2006)).

It is a thoroughly charming and well-made crowd-pleaser romcom. There's never any doubt about the direction of the at first professional boss/employee relationship at the film's core, and the road there might not be packed with surprises, but the stars sell the film in role model fashion nevertheless:

Ryan Reynolds (Red Notice (2021, VoD)) is cute-as-pie here, and Sandra Bullock (Bird Box (2018, VoD)) is full of wonderful facial expressions and seems perfect for this part. Betty White (Bones 2015-17)) is the film's funny third leg, and she also brings a lot of life and joy to The Proposal, along with Mary Steenburgen (Grace and Frankie (2020, TV-series)) and Oscar Nuñes (Mr. Iglesias (2019-20)), who is hilarious as the character Ramone.

The entire plot part about the immigration agent pursuing the 'couple' with grotesque questions is (of course) completely unrealistic, - but the film's other qualities weigh out this issue with aplomb.

 

Related posts:

 

Anne Fletcher: The Guilt Trip (2012) - Rogen/Streisand buoy low-fuel road dramedy

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 40 mil. $

Box office: 317.3 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 7.93 times the cost)

[The Proposal premiered 1 June (Hollywood) and runs 108 minutes. Julia Roberts was offered the lead but declined it. Shooting took place from April - June 2008 in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The film opened #1 to a 33.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 4 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#3-#5-#5), grossing 163.9 mil. $ (51.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 19.2 mil. $ (6.1 %) and Germany with 18.5 mil. $ (5.8 %). The film was nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. It made in excess of 90 mil. $ on the North-American home video market. Fletcher returned with The 82nd Annual Academy Awards (2010, segment) and theatrically with The Guilt Trip (2012). Bullock returned in All About Steve (2009); Reynolds in Paper Man (2009). The Proposal is rotten at 45 % with a 5.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Proposal?

Now You See Me (2013) - Cocky stars trapped in empty construction

[ZERO]

 

+ Worst Movie of the Year

+ Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

 

 

A cast of well-dressed stars walk all over the title on this poster for Louis Leterrier's Now You See Me

An odd quartet of magicians stage big magic shows, in which they inexplicably steal from the rich and let some of their loot fly out to their audiences.

 

Now You See Me is written by Ed Solomon (Super Mario Bros. (1993)), Boaz Yakin (Fresh (1994)) and Edward Ricourt (Jessica Jones (2015, TV-series)) and directed by Louis Leterrier (The Transporter (2002)).

A depressingly bad, completely empty film, it is hard to watch Now You See Me and not lose some measure of respect for its stars, whose glow inevitably dim from this sorry affair: Particularly Mark Ruffalo (The Avengers (2012)) is enormously bad here as one half of the film's insultingly poor romance, in which he commands and yells at Mélanie Laurent (La Rafle (2010)), - until she falls for him! (You try to make sense of it.)

The stars have ego-polishing parts mostly played with the cheekbones and a bit of cocky attitude that are so hollow and toothless that one will afterwards feel like a long break from Jesse Eisenberg (Cursed (2005)) and Woody Harrelson (Rampart (2011)) as the champion sleek fellow magicians of Now You See Me. As part of the plot, Morgan Freeman's (War of the Worlds (2005)) character sells his integrity (to Michael Caine (Peeper (1975))) for 5-10 mil. $, - a situation that isn't very fictitious in this instance, one might ponder, - and he explains at one point in Now You See Me that a new sucker is born every minute here in the world.

Leterrier's movie certainly treats its audience as suckers with a ceaseless barrage of ridiculous, ugly, stressful, frenzied nonsense here, which is never fun, romantic, nor thrilling. Making Now You See Me even worse is that a huge audience actually seemed to like it.

 

Related posts:

Louis Leterrier: 2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  

Clash of the Titans (2010) - Leterrier's CGI-stuffed remake is surprisingly good 

 

 Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 75 mil. $

Box office: 351.7 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.68 times its cost)

[Now You See Me premiered 21 May (New York) and runs 115 minutes. Laurent was paid 571k € for her performance. Shooting took place around January 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana, New York, Chicago, Illinois, Las Vegas, Nevada, and in Los Angeles, California. The film opened #2, behind Fast & Furious 6, to a 29.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#3-#5), grossing 117.7 mil. $ (33.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Germany with 25.7 mil. $ (7.3 %) and China with 22.9 mil. $ (6.5 %). Most of the cast but not Leterrier returned for the obligatory Now You See Me 2 (2016). Leterrier returned with The Brothers Grimsby (2016). Eisenberg returned in Night Moves (2013); Ruffalo in Begin Again (2013); and Harrelson with a voice performance in Free Birds (2013) and physically in Out of the Furnace (2013). Now You See Me is rotten at 51 % with a 5.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Now You See Me?

Eagle Eye (2008) - Caruso's wobbly sci-fi ride

♥♥

The slick, a bit dull poster for D. J. Caruso's Eagle Eye

The US Defense Department has launched an enormous computer database, but when it makes a recommendation in relation to a terrorist liquidation in the Middle East, which gets ignored, it 'activates' two citizens in an autonomous effort to coup the government with a super-bomb!

Surveillance grievances and state paranoia is dusted off and fed into a plot of running, worried glances and action spectacles that are mostly fast forgotten here.
Eagle Eye wants to be adrenaline-pumped suspense throughout. Shia LaBeouf (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)) speed-talking declarations, brillo hair and moist baby-face is utilized but often annoying and/or laughable. Other stars do their best, but this is a paycheck job for them all. Billy Bob Thornton (U Turn (1997)) contributes some dry humor and is watchable as usual, - and the film is generally wittily written by John Glenn (The Lazarus Project (2008)), Travis Wright (The Lazarus Project, producer), Hillary Seitz (Insomnia (2002)) and Dan McDermott (Human Target (2011), TV-series). D. J. Caruso (I Am Number Four (2011)) directed it.
Eagle Eye is a package deal that isn't all that.

Related posts:

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) or, Humanity and Space  
D. J. Caruso: Disturbia (2007) or, Good Nightia

Shia LaBeouf does some serious running in D. J. Caruso's Eagle Eye

In lieu of a trailer for, not currently on Youtube, here's an interview with Shia LaBeouf for the movie

Cost: 80 mil. $
Box office: 178.9 mil. $
= Flop
[Eagle Eye was released September 26 and runs 118 minutes. The screenplay was written on behest of executive producer Steven Spielberg, who had an idea based on the Isaac Asimov short story All the Troubles of the World. Spielberg hired Caruso to helm the film, because he himself was busy with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, also with LaBeouf. The conveyor belt scene in the film was shot for real, without any use of CGI, and both Michelle Monaghan (Machine Gun Preacher (2011)) and Caruso were injured during its filming. The score for the film was recorded with the 88-piece Hollywood Studio Symphony. Eagle Eye was released to poor reviews, - Roger Ebert gave it a measly 2 stars, - but also a #1 opening weekend of 29.1 mil. $ in North America, where it grossed 101.4 mil. $ (56.7 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 13.2 mil. $ (7.4 %) and South Korea with 10.6 mil. $ (5.9 %). The film made in excess of 38 mil. $ on DVD sales alone, which, if added to the gross, makes it a success. Eagle Eye is rotten at 26 % with a 4.6 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Eagle Eye?