Review of The Proposal (2009) by Chads. — 18 Jun 2009
[***SELF-POLICING SPOILER ALERT***] Struggling writers shouldn't detest "The Testing of Luther Albright" because its author is fabulously wealthy and well-connected, they should detest MacKenzie Bezos because her 2005 debut was a literary triumph.
In "The Proposal", Margaret Tate(Sandra Bullock), a Miranda Preistly-like book editor, evokes the double standard about female bosses in this sort of "The Devil Reads Don DeLillo", when "it"(as she's described by her employees) torments her assistant Andrew Paxton(Ryan Reynolds), and the staff this workaholic oversees at a New York publishing house.
But Andrew isn't unformed as Andy Sachs(Anne Hathaway) was in the film based on Lauren Weisenberg's chick-lit sensation: he's not just an aspiring writer; he's also the son of a small town scion who puts Margaret in her place when the narrative moves to Alaska.
Where once their relationship was symbiotic(she gets her work permit; he gets perks), now Margaret loses all her agency and gets reduced into another hopeless romantic; a woman who needs a man to help her attain true happiness.
Surrounded by philistines, Margaret's intellectual elitism(she's never played a video game; she's never seen YouTube) is neutralized, since brains can't begin to compete with monetary wealth in our post-literate world.
At a strip bar, the tables are turned, in a key scene, when the local Alaskans(the groom's family) whom Margaret can barely tolerate, allows a male stripper to have his way with her. She's humiliated.
Books have no cultural currency in Andrew's neck of the woods. That's why he left Alaska, in spite of the family fortune. He sacrificed a lot to follow his muse. That's why it's hard to believe the happy ending after Andrew discovers the truth about his unpublished novel.
It's hard to root for careerism.
This review of The Proposal (2009) was written by Chads. on 18 Jun 2009.
The Proposal has generally received positive reviews.
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