The Proposal

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before; Sandra Bullock plays Margaret Tate, a scary, dragon-lady book editor who spends her days terrorizing her poor, overworked assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds). Everybody hates Ms. Tate, apparently because she’s efficient and good at her job. (Honestly, she doesn’t seem all that evil—probably because we know it’s sweetheart Sandy under that power suit.) One day, Immigration comes knocking at the New York publishing firm where Margaret works. Seems she’s actually Canadian and has been “too busy” to renew her work visa. (Why she didn’t pile that task onto her do-it-all assistant isn’t really explained.) So here’s our wacky situation: The only way Maggie can stay in America is to get married. Who’s she gonna marry? Convenient doormat Andrew, of course! The guy who hates her most in this world. Gosh, how ever will this crazy, fake marriage of convenience turn out? If you guessed, “They end up falling in love with each other for real,” then you’ve been to this dance before.

The main part of The Proposal takes place in backwoods Alaska where Margaret has been dragged in order to meet Andrew’s family and cram for the inevitable “How well do you know your so-called spouse?” INS quiz. So, on top of all the overused romcom elements, we also get a healthy dose of fish-out-of-water comedy. Toss in Betty White as the sassy, brutally honest granny and you’ve got a film that leaves no cliché unturned. The climax even features Andrew racing to the airport for a last-minute reconciliation.

Call it a small miracle, then, that The Proposal actually has a fair number of bright spots. Bullock is probably miscast as the bitchy boss. Once we get out of New York and Margaret’s ice queen persona starts to melt, the film hums along well enough. Reynolds actually shows some acumen for subtle straight-man comedy and makes a credible-enough foil for Bullock. Their hate/hate/love relationship makes for some funny moments. Director Anne Fletcher (27 Dresses) has got the rhythm down. She knows when to pluck the heartstrings and when to make with the mildly randy comedy. Without a doubt, the story (courtesy of first-time screenwriter Pete Chiarelli) is contrived, derivative and completely predictable, but the overall package works up a decent amount of charm. That’s all most fans of romantic comedies ask for, really: a little charm, a little Sandra Bullock and somebody in a wedding dress. The Proposal is one of the many movies that will give all of this to you. On a scale of one to ten id give it an 8, so go have fun and go out and watch this movie.

The blind side

The Blind Side, the new Sandra Bullock movie, was just released November 20, 2009. The Blind Side also stars Michael Oher, Kathy Bates, Tim McGraw, and directed by John Lee Hancock. The Blind Side is the story of a homeless African-American youngster in memphis that came from a broken home, whose father was murdered and whose mother was a crack addict, is shuffled through the public school system. Despite his low grade point average and absenteeism. But his tremendous size and quickness attracts the interest of a wealthy white couple who take him in and groom him both athletically and academically to become one of the top high school football prospects in the country; Oher (Quinton Aaron) is taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential on and off the football field. At the same time, Oher's presence in the Touhys' lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle.

The wonderful whites of west virginia

Crazy white trash characters are great for movies. You can look at them and think, "Wow, they're fucked up," while patting yourself on the back for being at least a little better off. When the characters aren't fictional, though, it's tough to know how to react. Initially, you laugh your ass off, partially in shock. Eventually, you realize that these people are out there, and they're breeding. Jesco White is the accidental star of the family. His dad D. Ray, the family patriarch, was a famous tap dancer until he was killed in a shootout. Jesco picked up the skill and ran with it. PBS made a documentary about him in 1991 called The Dancing Outlaw, and they made a sequel eight years later. They were both popular, and after seeing them, Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame decided that a follow-up involving the entire White clan needed to be made. He wasn't wrong.

We often make fun of people like this. I laughed throughout the movie at certain things, but there were many things that rightfully concerned me. In one scene, Jesco's sister Mamie tells her niece Kirk that CPS probably took her baby because they "found drugs in it." Drugs and It. Two words that made me shake my head. Later, Kirk swears she'll get her stuff together while doing a line of coke off the toilet tank in a dive bar. Maybe she just needed a little kick start, or maybe she just wanted some coke because thats all shes really used to. It just goes to show what your getting yourself into as you watch the rest of this movie

Although that's not the half of it. Jesco has two more sisters. We have Kirk's mother, Bo, who also has a son named Derek. Bo and Derek (two names that look hilarious on screen next to each other) spend lots of time together doing any drugs they can get their hands on. Then we have Sue Bob. Sue Bob is a former stripper who claims to have brought home $1500 to $2000 a night. When you see a picture of her when she was younger on the movie's official website, you see how that might be reasonable, but you don't see that in the movie. The Sue Bob you see claiming to be the "sexiest" one in the family makes you shake your head and ask your self, who in the fuck said you were beautiful? No affence but thats just what i thought. By the end of the movie, you'll know you never want to be anywhere near the White family, but I also felt a little sympathy for Jesco. Yes, he was screwed up, but he saw his dad get killed, and I think he suffers from depression. There's a good amount of unexpected philosophy from him, and it makes you see him for more than just a mess. There's a hurt scared kid in there, and I think the drugs and chaos are Jesco's way of keeping that kid calm. I intend to go back to the original documentaries to get the full picture, but you don't need to see them to enjoy this. Wild and wonderful it is, just like the Whites themselves. Id give this movie a 9 out of 10; 10 being the highest. If you like these sorts of movies i highly suggest this one.