Disney’s The Proposal is starting to sound like a sitcom stretched to feature film length. The premise was already a little weak: the movie stars Sandra Bullock as an publishing executive who doesn’t want to be deported to Canada, so she forces her assistant (played by Ryan Reynolds) to marry her. With Bullock’s recent work on The George Lopez show and Reynolds’ early work on a variety of sitcoms, including Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place, it just seems like it would be easy for the two actors to fall into that sitcom mentality.
If that wasn’t enough support for the sitcom argument, the recently announced supporting cast is. Craig T. Nelson and Mary Steenburgen both have years of sitcom experience. While the announcement of their joining the cast in The Hollywood Reporter doesn’t tell who the duo are playing, it definitely makes this sound more and more like a sitcom. At least Steenburgen isn’t bringing Ted Danson with her… yet.
It’s only the casting of Aasif Mandvi and Malin Akerman that adds some variety to this cast. While Akerman has had some limited sitcom experience, most of her attention has been for the upcoming Watchmen movie. Mandvi, on the other hand, is probably best known for his appearance in Jericho (or as Peter Parker’s boss Mr. Azziz in Spider-Man 2).
If I sound the slightest bit cynical about The Proposal it’s because I am. Marriage to avoid deportation isn’t even a good sitcom plot. It’s like a “B” story they’d have going in a sitcom’s third or fourth season, not something that seems comedically rich enough for a two hour movie. Almost every cast member announced is better than this and I just can’t imagine the cast will pull the story and comedy up to their level. Instead I expect this to be a rather lackluster star-studded comedy that doesn’t last long.
