'The Proposal' coasts on charm but fails to surprise

If you go to "The Proposal," watch for one key moment: Sandra Bullock, who has just knelt on a Manhattan sidewalk to propose marriage to her assistant (Ryan Reynolds), is both accepted and abandoned as he walks away — leaving her with the difficult task of rising from the sidewalk unaided in a tight pencil skirt and stilettos. The way Bullock handles this throwaway moment — the fleeting look of panic, the decisive rocking backward onto the trembly heels — is a great few seconds of physical comedy, the sort that few actors can pull off. And then, alas, the movie just goes on.

Bullock, a performer of remarkable wit, beauty and charm, has spent nearly her entire career being in the wrong movie — not terrible movies necessarily, just ones that don't showcase her talents. "The Proposal," a by-the-book rom-com directed by Anne Fletcher and written by Northwest native Peter Chiarelli, hits plenty of familiar buttons. Margaret (Bullock) is a book editor and a mean boss (shades of "The Devil Wears Prada") who terrorizes underlings; Andrew (Reynolds) is a would-be writer who sticks with the job, hoping to be discovered.

When Margaret's threatened with deportation (she's a Canadian with an expired visa), she's in need of a quick marriage — and so off she goes for a fish-out-of-water weekend with Andrew's loving family in Alaska, hoping that nobody will uncover their secret. But of course, somebody does. And along the way, they fall in love. Surprised?

Though it's a little difficult to buy Bullock, with her sweetly lilting voice and bouncing ponytail, as a Miranda Priestly-ish shrew, she and the likable Reynolds (who have matching brown eyes) bring some charm to their one-note roles. In fact, pretty much everybody in this movie is charming, especially Betty White and Mary Steenburgen as Andrew's grandmother and mother. "The Proposal" coasts along on likability, right up to its standard-issue ending; what it doesn't do is surprise us in any way.

Meanwhile, I'll keep waiting for Bullock to make a brilliant screwball rom-com; she's got the chops for it, but so far, not the script.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com