Margaret (Sandra Bullock) is an up-tight, self-centered, no-nonsense, high-powered book editor who is good at what she does but widely hated by her co-workers. Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) is her long-suffering assistant who overlooks the slights, humiliations, and long hours he puts in obeying her every command for the dream of becoming an editor and publishing a book of his own. When an instant message goes out warning the office that "The witch is on her broom," everybody quickly looks busy.
Margaret shows her nastiness and her need to control others when she fires a senior editor. But then she is handed some bad news herself. Because she ignored some instructions from the U.S. immigration department, she now faces deportation to Canada and the end of her career in the fast-lane of American publishing. Margaret, who is a survivor, quickly comes up with a plan to save herself: she announces that she and Andrew are getting married.
He is quite taken aback by the idea but warms to it when he realizes that she'll have to give him a promotion if he marries her. And they can get a divorce once her immigration status is fixed. A diligent and detail-oriented immigration official who doubts their relationship and figures out that Margaret is just trying to find a way of staying in the U.S., spells out the fines and prison time which could be doled out to Andrew if he is lying about the engagement.
To try to convince the officer, Andrew and Margaret head off to visit his family for his grandmother's birthday party. Although he knows a lot about her habits, interests, and attitudes after three years of working for her, Margaret realizes she knows almost nothing about him. She doesn't know he's from Alaska or that he comes from a wealthy family that owns all the businesses in town. His mother (Mary Steenburgen) and Grandma Annie (Betty White) are enthused about Andrew marrying his boss. His father (Craig T. Nelson) is not so pleased since he has always dreamed that his son would take over the family empire.
The Proposal is directed by Anne Fletcher who draws out top-notch comic performances from Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Although there are many predictable elements in the screenplay by Peter Chiarelli, the two leads make the most of the fish-out-of-water humor as Margaret tries to change her rigid ways, loosen up a bit, and go with the flow. Betty White, as usual, is a scene stealer as the colorful grandmother who makes her special contributions to insure the happiness of the new couple. The Proposal celebrates family solidarity and love as the foundation of a joyful life, a lesson that takes Margaret by surprise.
Special features on the DVD include an alternate ending with an optional commentary by director Anne Fletcher and writer Peter Chiarelli; deleted scenes with an optional commentary by director Fletcher and writer Chiarelli; Set Antics: Outtakes and Other Absurdities from The Proposal; a feature audio commentary with director Anne Fletcher and writer Peter Chiarelli.
