Bullocks

[rockmarooned]

A few weeks back, when I was finding time to see The Blind Side due to its twin statuses as the only Best Picture nominee and the highest grossing 2009 movie I hadn't seen, I added The Proposal to my Netflix queue. This made a kind of sense because not only was The Proposal the third-highest grossing movie of 2009 that I hadn't seen (sorry, Ice Age

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[wmetoile]

So The Proposal was actually filmed mostly in Massachusetts, which led to the production having to digitally replace the coastline behind the actors whenever you can see water. Because they're on the wrong side of the continent. That...boggles the mind. Was Vancouver so impossible?

I can't remember if I saw it with Amanda or Ali, but whoever it was, I recall both of us being vaguely ashamed that we even wanted to see it, and then quite let down by how mediocre it was even by our low standards. I'd successfully blocked out Oscar Nunez's participation, so thanks for that, and I totally agree that the "rom" part of the rom-com seems weirdly hostile and forced. I didn't ever really buy it. Mainly because of the age difference; I know Ryan Reynolds is only eight or nine years younger than Sandra Bullock, but he seems to belong to a completely different generation of actor and that made the pairing kind of odd. Ugh. Why is it so hard to make a really excellent romantic comedy?

And as to her comedic skills, did you like Miss Congeniality? Because, surprise, I love it. I think she's hilarious in it. As is Michael Caine.

[rockmarooned]

And for all of that unconvincing digital trickery... what was the point of setting it in Alaska? Except for the mild gag of her not knowing that his family lives there, and to separate him from his family for the not at all compelling "family drama" portion of the film. Actually, even that doesn't really make sense -- it's supposed to show him distancing himself from his family, I guess, but ... they're rich, right? What exactly is so hard about going from Alaska to New York if you're rich? If his mom wanted to see him, she could easily... FLY TO NEW YORK. Probably first-class. Story-wise, there's no real reason for them not to be in just about any small coastal town.

I was actually sort of intrigued by Reynolds and Bullock, just because so often you get a 40ish guy with a girl in her twenties. But they didn't ever get on the same page. Reynolds has more chemistry with any of the three women in Definitely, Maybe, and he's not even very funny in that, either -- it's more on the bland side of the Reynolds spectrum.

I have (surprise) never seen Miss Congeniality (though I do thank its sequel for the fantastically awful subtitle Armed and Fabulous). I haven't seen While You Were Sleeping, either, so I guess I'm not even much of a Bullock expert. Generally actresses who specialize in romantic comedies seem to make such terrible movies on their time off from romantic comedies that I start to think they are in fact not very bright (see also Julia Roberts, though she at least chooses better material post-Soderbergh, and Katherine Heigl, who does not, post-Apatow).

[wmetoile]

Yeah, I was kind of hesitant to come down on it because of the vast history of dudes paired with actresses that could be their daughters, but where I think something like Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd works, Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds just doesn't. I bet Joseph Gordon-Levitt would pair well with someone like Catherine Keener or, I don't know, Halle Berry. Or Felicity Huffman + Ryan Gosling. Hmm.

I had this discussion with Marisa pre-Oscars - I am that person who doesn't like While You Were Sleeping, but I generally like Sandra Bullock. You should totally see Miss Congeniality, though. William Shatner and Candice Bergen are also very funny in it.

[maggith]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I am no blanket Sandra Bullock defender, but get yourself to the video store (or the netflix.com) and watch While You Were Sleeping! There was a period of my life where that was one my favorite movies, speaking of favorites changing by year. Not only is it set in Chicago (and filmed in the town next to mine) but it is genuinely amusing and the romance works and there are heartstrings to be pulled (Bullock's character is genuinely sad in a way you don't see often in romcoms - not comedy "sad," but humanly so, so that when all this happens to her, you feel invested in it). It is full of lovely performances, including a kooky old lady one (WAY better than Betty White) from the woman who played Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins (you will recognize the voice). It is worth seeing.

I apologize for my over-use of parentheses.

[rockmarooned]

It also has Pullman in what was probably his first real romantic lead since Spaceballs, so I really am remiss in not having seen it. It is actually on my Netflix queue, but The Proposal was further up, feeling more of the moment. I've noticed it's often crappy of-the-moment movies that I tend to watch and send back the fastest.

Sara, JGL+Keener, or Gosling+Huffman... inspired choices. Have the screenplay on my desk by Monday.

[aliwilliams]

Ugh. I actually saw The Proposal in Alaska, one of my first days there. I generally like Sandra Bullock (not sure why? Er...The Net, no doubt), but I *hated* it. Like I was mad at the movie, I hated it that much. No spark between the leads, horrid and awkward characters. Ew, ew, ew.

And I think it was set in Sitka, an island town so the coastline thing isn't a problem (it would only be so during a sunset or something, yes?). But yeah, it looks nothing like Coastal Maine or wherever they shot that movie, and the movie mined none of the hilarious weirdness of Alaska. (Like when I was in Sitka I stayed in the home of a woman who'd gone to jail for being an accessory to murder, because she ran one of the few B&Bs in town, and my room had a little doggie bed complete with a life-size ceramic dog that STARED at you.)

Anyway, Jesse, you have to see Ed Norton's upcoming Leaves of Grass. I left it today thinking "I can't wait to hear what Jesse has to say about that."

[rockmarooned]

I'm seeing it on Tuesday!! Psyched!