Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) is a no-nonsense Editor-in-Chief for a major New York publishing company. Everything she does is for her job and because of that, she has a reputation of being a hard ass in the office. Unfortunately, she expects the same nose-to-the-grindstone attitude from her assistant, Andrew (Ryan Reynolds). Andrew has spent the past three years doing everything he can for his boss and has spent pretty much all of his free time complaining about her, even to his family back in Alaska. When Margaret finds her work Visa (she's Canadian, you see) being revoked, she schemes up a fake marriage with Andrew to keep herself in the country.
While Andrew isn't really pleased with this idea, he uses it as a chance to finally get into a full editing position, but first, he and Margaret have to fly up to the little town of Sitka, Alaska to meet Andrew's parents. In the meantime, Margeret must learn everything she can about Andrew since they are about to be interviewed by an immigration officer about their relationship.
Throughout the movie, Margaret's misconceptions about her assistant get turned end-over-end as she first learns that Andrew's family is one of the biggest names in the state and then learns about his reasons for leaving the snowy state.
Bullock and Reynolds are an odd paring, but the two have great chemistry. Bullock's snobby attitude matches perfectly with Reynold's attitude towards her once they land in Alaska. While Margaret is used to everyone (especially Andrew) falling head-over-heels to help her, Andrew's position changes completely, making her fend for herself more than usual. All the while, the pair have to keep up the pretenses that they are engaged and when Andrew's family asks that the pair get married at the end of the weekend, things get event more tense between them.
Reynolds and Bullock are supported by the rest of Andrew's family. Andrew's parents are played by Mary Steenburgen (Elf, Step Brothers) and Craig T. Nelson (TV's Coach), while his grandmother is portrayed by the hilarious and raunchy Betty White. The entire mix of actors makes a good combination and definitely adds to the overall enjoyment of The Proposal.
What I found severely lacking in The Proposal's Blu-ray release is the number of special features. Besides an alternate ending (which is far weaker than the one actually used), there are deleted scenes and outtakes. Like I said, not a lot - even the number of deleted scenes is disappointing with only three. What's worse is that the only things that the Blu-ray version has over its DVD counterpart is one deleted scene and, of course, the normal improvements in video and audio definition. Granted, the visual improvements are great considering the movie's majestic northern setting, but it's hard to think that these few lifts are enough to warrant the extra cost of the Blu-ray.
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed The Proposal and the high definition scenery is really gorgeous, but the overall package just isn't enough. I definitely recommend seeing the film, especially if you like any of the actors or actresses involved, but as for buying the movie, the DVD version is seems to be much more cost effective than the Blu-ray one.
