X Tutup
TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

The Proposal

Go To

The Proposal (Film)

The 2009 Romantic Comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds.

Margaret Tate (Bullock) is a domineering (and very bitchy) Canadian woman working as an executive editor for a publishing company based in New York City who treats pretty much everyone around her like crap – particularly her long-suffering personal assistant, Andrew Paxton (Reynolds). Eventually, Margaret learns that she's in danger of being deported back to Canada due to violating the terms of her work visa.

To fix this, Margaret lies by claiming that she's engaged to get married to Andrew and that the two of them are planning on flying out to Alaska for his grandmother's 90th birthday to tell the rest of his family. Andrew, of course, vehemently tries backing out of the plan, but Margaret insists that they'll be married for a short while and then get a divorce; Andrew ultimately agrees to it after he makes her promise to publish his book and promote him.

The two fly out to Alaska and Margaret meets Andrew's family – over the course of their time in Alaska, the two slowly get to know each better and ultimately end up falling in love (for real).


Tropes included in this movie:

  • Accidental Pervert: Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock's characters accidentally wind up naked and on top of each other. This is due to a fresh-out-of-the-shower Margaret making a run for the wardrobe just as Andrew started heading for the shower himself. They're both not looking and awkwardly slam into each other front-first.
    Margaret: Why are you naked?!
    Andrew: Why are you wet?!
  • Age-Gap Romance: Margaret is a decade older than Andrew.
  • Artistic License – Law:
    • The consequences for admitting that you intend to go through with a sham marriage to obtain US citizenship, as Margaret does near the end of the film, would not have the results depicted in the film. In actuality you would be arrested the minute you admitted it, and at best case you'd be driven to the nearest airport, put on the next plane back to your home country, and barred from ever entering the United States again for the rest of your life. Worst case, you'd be jailed for up to eight years, and then deported.
    • A marriage license in Alaska takes three business days to obtain. Andrew and Margaret getting married just one day after Andrew's family sprung their idea on them, and on a weekend no less, would have been more symbolic than legal.
  • Becoming the Mask: Margaret and Andrew have near zero chemistry when trying to play up being in love in front of everyone, but through some shared experiences they end up coming closer without realizing how it looks. After jumping in bed together when family walk in, as they leave Andrew is agitated and Margaret instinctually comforts him by rubbing his shoulders. When Margaret falls out of the boat into the freezing Alaskan water Andrew gets her back in the boat, wraps a blanket around her and hugs her in an effort to warm her up faster.
  • Beleaguered Assistant: Andrew is Margaret's.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Andrew and Margaret have this between them pretty much through the entire trip to Alaska.
  • Between My Legs: This perspective is used when Margaret is trying to fight off the Paxton family dog with a hair dryer.
  • Big Fancy House: Due to Andrew being Secretly Wealthy, the Paxton family home in Sitka is one.
  • Black Comedy Animal Cruelty: Margaret drops her cellphone while trying to protect a small dog from an eagle. When she succeeds and the eagle seizes the phone instead, she frantically holds the dog up in the air and begs the eagle to take it in exchange.
  • Butt-Monkey: Ryan Reynolds in this trailer.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Andrew finally snaps and addresses his father's disapproval of him working at a publishing firm. Their differences are only resolved once his grandmother Gammy fakes a heart attack and makes them reconcile.
  • Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: Andrew and Margaret don't get along particularly well at first, but are rather reliant on each other – and then eventually find that they do actually like each other.
  • Chick Flick: Although luckily, the film focuses more on humor than the general mushy stuff.
  • Citizenship Marriage: The entire plot of the film hinges on one that eventually becomes a real romance.
  • Conveniently an Orphan: Margaret's parents died when she was young and she has no other relatives, which she discloses when Mr. Gilbertson asks her and Andrew if they told their families about their engagement. It's why she warms up to Andrew's folks (particularly his Gammy), because she feels touched at being included in a family.
  • Cool Old Lady: Andrew's grandmother, Gammy. Then again, it's Betty White so that's a given.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Margaret.
  • Doesn't Know Their Lover: Discussed and invoked. When Margaret uses her assistant Andrew to get out of getting deported through a sham engagement, the immigration officer informs them that they will have to take a test to show how well they know each other as a couple in order to prove their story. Andrew proves to know the answer to every question about Margaret, which surprises her, but Margaret, because she is a Mean Boss, has a lot to learn about Andrew in order to get away with the lie. By the time the test takes place at the end of the film, by which point they have genuinely fallen for each other and gotten engaged, Margaret still doesn't know Andrew's favorite color, while he knew hers.
    Margaret: Blue?
    Gilbertson: Wrong!
    Margaret: Red?
    Gilbertson: No!
    Margaret: Dark... Maybe like a hunter green?
    Gilbertson: No. White.
    Margaret: [in disbelief] White?
  • Fake Relationship: The entire plot starts when Canadian businesswoman Margaret convinces her American assistant Andrew to marry her so she doesn't get deported. Naturally, they end up falling for each other for real.
  • Fanservice: Ryan Reynolds – naked. Sandra Bullock – naked. A good time is had by all.
  • Funny Background Event: Mr. Gilbertson has a copy of U.S. Citizenship for Dummies on his desk.
  • Funny Foreigner: Ramone.
  • Hand-or-Object Underwear: When Margaret comes out of the shower and gets pestered by the dog. A wonderful subversion occurs when she literally runs into Andrew and they manage to censor each other's body parts with one another.
  • Hereditary Wedding Dress: Downplayed and justified. After convincing Andrew and Margaret to have their wedding last minute so that Andrew's family can witness it, Grandma Annie passes her wedding dress, made by hand by her own mother, on to her granddaughter-in-law Margaret. Margaret, who was orphaned young and has no other family, is touched at being treated like family in this way, especially since she originally only proposed to Andrew so she would not be deported to Canada.
  • High-Powered Career Woman: Margaret is the cold, domineering editor of a publishing company in New York, who's suddenly forced to prioritize romance over her career (albeit superficially) when she's confronted with deportation for not being an American citizen and decides to fake a marriage with her assistant Andrew to keep her resident status. As a Rom Com, she naturally warms up to Andrew and knocks down some of the walls she's built.
  • Hilarious Outtakes: On the DVD, plus a special feature in which Betty White treats Ryan Reynolds like shit but no one believes him when he tries to tell them about it. Has to be seen to be believed.
  • Hollywood Heart Attack: Subverted. It was faked.
  • The Illegal: Ramone might be one based on the answers he gives in his questioning during the end credits.
  • Inspector Javert: Mr. Gilbertson, the U.S. immigration agent assigned to Margaret's case, instantly grasps that her and Andrew's union is intended to be a Citizenship Marriage and spends the film trying to get concrete proof.
  • Intimate Healing: The realistic keep-warm kind.
  • Irony: The film stars the American Sandra Bullock as a Canadian businesswoman who tries to get a Citizenship Marriage with her assistant played by the Canadian Ryan Reynolds.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Margaret ultimately reveals that the wedding is a sham and leaves to pack up her office and be deported. Andrew, of course, flies back to New York to stop her and tell her that he loves her.
  • Jerkass: Margaret is this at first before Character Development softens her up, Andrew's father for most of the film and Mr. Gilbertson the immigration agent for all of it.
  • Mama Bear: Andrew's mom verbally bitchslaps his father for upsetting him and demands that he fix it.
  • Marriage Before Romance: Margaret makes Andrew marry her to avoid being deported to Canada. After pretending to friends, family and the INS, they're exposed… only to have him propose so that they can date.
  • Mistress and Servant Boy: Andrew and Margaret at the start of the story, although he takes more initiative once he realizes the leverage he now has over her.
  • Mr. Fanservice: It's Ryan Reynolds.
  • Ms. Fanservice: It's Sandra Bullock.
  • Naked People Are Funny: Undoubtedly one of the most contrived examples of this ever. Margaret comes out of the shower only to find that there's no towel, but is then intimidated by the Paxton's family's small dog, which she earlier allowed to be abducted by an eagle. She protects her modesty only with the aid of a small sponge, while attempting to evade the dog. Meanwhile, Andrew comes back from working off his rage at his unsympathetic father by chopping wood while listening to music on headphones; he doesn't realise she's been in the shower because he assumes she's still out with his mother and their friends. Margaret calls out to find if anyone's there, but Andrew doesn't hear her over his iPod, so he doesn't reply. He strips off his clothes in order to go into the shower, while she escapes from the dog while still wet and naked: they collide with each other: awkwardness ensues. Absurd as it is, it's still funny.
  • Percussive Therapy: Andrew carving out a canoe shows his mother that his father upset him.
  • Race for Your Love: Andrew tries to chase after Margaret when the immigration agent takes her away, but her plane takes off before he can get to her. He eventually catches up to her back at their office in New York.
  • Raging Stiffie: Andrew's morning wood.
    Margaret: Oh my god what is that?!
    Andrew: What?! It's… it's morning!
  • Rom Com: Shows the usual classic form of boy and girl hate each other, get closer together, almost get together, break up, and then get back together permanently.
  • Romantic False Lead: Gertrude, Andrew's ex-girlfriend, is initially set up to be the third part of a Love Triangle alongside him and Margaret, but nothing comes of it and she's actually pretty supportive of the two of them.
  • Secretly Wealthy: After arriving in Sitka, Alaska to see Andrew's family, Margaret, much to her shock, discovers that Andrew comes from a fairly wealthy family. In fact, the Paxtons own many of the businesses in Sitka.
  • Sexy Mentor: Andrew doesn't acknowledge Margaret as such until their professional relationship is interrupted – see Mistress and Servant Boy – but of course it's part of the premise.
  • Shirtless Scene: Or in this case, shirtless and pantless scene for both Reynolds and Bullock.
  • Slap-Slap-Kiss: Andrew and Margaret.
  • Suggestive Collision: Margaret makes a nude run for the wardrobe from the shower. Andrew is also naked, getting ready to take a shower of his own. Neither is looking and they walk into each other at a fast pace. She ends up on top of him:
    Margaret: Oh my God! Why are you naked?
    Andrew: Why are you wet?
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Andrew chases Margaret to the airport but she's already on board the plane. He calls his friend who works in the Air Traffic Control tower and asks him to stop the plane for him. The friend tells him he's not allowed to do that, and the plane takes off on schedule.
  • There Is Only One Bed: Justified, as Andrew's family fully expect Margaret and him to sleep together. He takes the floor.
  • Tranquil Fury: Andrew is very calm whenever he's angered, which shows when he's speaking to his father.
  • Wakeup Makeup: Played with. Margaret wakes before Andrew and applies makeup to her lips as well as fixing her hair and even gently slapping her cheeks to liven up her face. When Andrew wakes up and joins her in the bed to keep up appearances, he asks if she's wearing makeup, believing she had just woken up as well. She replies, "Of course not."
  • Waxing Lyrical: Margaret joins Andrew's grandma in a dance around the fire. She asks for a "song from the heart". Margaret starts singing Lil' Jon's "Get Low".
    Andrew: Whatcha doin'?
    Margaret: Oh, uh, uh… you know you G-Gammy wanted me to, uh… you know… chant-chant from the heart.
    Andrew: Balls? That's what came to your heart?
    Margaret: You know, it, uh, went-went with the beat.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Andrew and his father have a very rocky relationship, with Mr. Paxton disapproving of his son's desire to work in publishing and how Andrew seemingly is taking a shortcut in his career by apparently trying to schmooze his boss.
  • Younger Than He Looks:
    • According to the script, Margaret is 37 years old. Sandra Bullock was 45 years old when the film was released.
    • According to the script, Andrew is 26 years old. Ryan Reynolds was 33 years old when the film was released.

 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Top

Andrew and Margaret

To avoid getting deported to Canada, Margaret claims that she is marrying her assistant Andrew.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (5 votes)

Example of:

Main / CitizenshipMarriage

Media sources:

Report

X Tutup