Em's Close Up Captures

One of the many things I love about film is that everyone has a different favourite film that means something important to them on a personal level. Some of us like romances, some like horror, and some love a comedy. I love asking people what their favourite film is, and it’s something that I will never judge about another person (mine is Ratatouille for those of you who are wondering). This week, I asked my girlfriend, Izzy, about one of her favourite films, Anne Fletcher’s The Proposal. I’m not typically one to enjoy a rom-com but asking her about it and watching it together made me appreciate the film more than I think I would have done beforehand. This film centres on Margaret, an uptight editor at a New York book publishing company (played by Sandra Bullock), who fakes an engagement with her assistant, Andrew (Ryan Reynolds), to prevent being deported back to Canada. This is your typical enemies-to-lovers trope. The pair despise each other; Andrew even calls Margaret ‘The Witch’ behind her back to all the other employees, but they eventually find true love and get engaged for real at the end of the film. I could tell Izzy loves this film by the way she was engrossed the whole time. Normally we chat a bit when we watch films together but this time we hardly spoke, as we both just wanted to sit and watch the film and take it all in. I asked her some questions about this film after we watched it, which also made me enjoy it more in hindsight.

What is your earliest memory watching The Proposal?

I remember first watching The Proposal when I was about 10 years old. It would have been on in the living room and I would have just watched it because my mum was watching it. It’s always been one of my mum’s favourite films and it became a family favourite, and eventually a personal favourite for myself.

What would you say is your favourite scene and why?

I have two actually. The first scene that comes to mind is the scene where the dog escapes into the garden, even though Margaret has been told that he must be kept inside to stop an eagle taking him. Margaret is on the phone and the dog gets out and the eagle does actually grab him and starts to fly away! In the scene, Margaret is trying to stay on the phone whilst trying not to lose the dog to the eagle. She gets him back but then the eagle takes her phone so to get it back she holds the dog in the sky to try and encourage the eagle to take it as a sacrifice for the phone. I think it’s really funny because the family inside the house think she’s playing with the dog and think it’s really sweet, when really she’s trying to sacrifice the dog to get her phone back. The misunderstanding is what makes it really funny.

The other scene that I love is when Margaret is singing and dancing around the campfire in the woods with her fake fiancé’s grandma to Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz’s ‘Get Low’. I don’t think she was expecting to feel the music as much as she did and it’s a big surprise to the audience. We get to see a different side to her; usually she’s quite strict and reserved so it’s good to see her let loose and have fun. The grandma also makes me laugh in the scene, and the best bit is when Andrew sees this all happening because, like the audience, he wasn’t expecting to see that at all!

Why do you like The Proposal so much?

I really like watching The Proposal because it reminds me of my childhood. I always remember watching it with my family, and that’s a nice memory for me. I’m also a sucker for a happy ending; I love rom-coms and I think The Proposal has a really good balance of comedy and romance.

What other films would you recommend to people who like The Proposal?

I think two other films instantly come to mind. The first is Notting Hill because it’s also about two people who end up together who you wouldn’t initially put together; they come from different worlds so you would assume that they wouldn’t work together, but it’s really wholesome seeing them love each other and end up together. The other film is Bridget Jones’s Diary. I think people who enjoy watching The Proposal would also enjoy this film because it also follows the ‘enemies-to-lovers- trope’, where Bridget and Mark do not get along initially, but they eventually end up together. They get married in Bridget Jones’s Baby, the third film in the series that comes out 15 years after the first film. Also, all of these films came out in the 1990s-2000s so they all have a similar vibe and all have a happy ending. They’re also some of my favourite rom-coms!

Finally, if you had to describe The Proposal using three words, which ones would you use?

Funny, heartwarming, chaotic.

For me, The Proposal was an easy watch; none of the storylines were too complex to follow and the typical codes and conventions of the rom-com made me guess what the general narrative would be, making it predictable but also comforting. We weren’t met with any major surprises (apart from the campfire scene!) but sometimes that’s what you want when you’re watching a film on a lazy Sunday morning. I’ve never really been a fan of rom-coms; their predictable nature and sappy ‘I love yous’ really don’t appeal to me. But I can appreciate that The Proposal is a successful example of a film created in this genre. Its general upbeat nature with a sudden feeling of hopelessness and doom in the middle (which is then very quickly resolved) make it a film that really couldn’t be described in any other way – and the prevalence of a romantic plot and funny one-liners helps too! I don’t like rom-coms on a personal level, but I can acknowledge that it is one of the more popular genres amongst other film watchers, and there is clearly a good reason for that. Like Izzy, many people enjoy watching films with a happy ending, especially in today’s age where the news seems to cover one disaster after another. Maybe rom-coms are sappy and predictable, but perhaps their popularity comes from the comfort they bring others, and the sense of hope that is so easy to lose today.

Close Up Capture Rating: 2.5/5