Friday
Feb192010
Friday, February 19, 2010 at 11:56AM Disney Won't Sequelize 'The Proposal'
It made a ton of money, didn't cost much, and yet, Disney has no interest in making a sequel to The Proposal. Before you throw your fist in the air in celebration, I'd like to point out that I have probably seen many more studio-driven romantic comedies than you in the past ten years, and that one's actually redeemable. I'd rather see a sequel to that than Valentine's Day, but the opposite is happening.
Reader Comments (11)
The Proposal was only successful because it was so dumb. The most inteligent romcom to be made in the last ten years is Elizabethtown, and everyone hated that one.
The Proposal was even dumber than Pretty Woman. In fact it was kind of Pretty Woman in some deranged and inverted reverse.
In fact, if you liked The Proposal, then chances are that you have a very small brain.
I think Disney realized that sequels aren't just ways to print money anymore. Sequels to popular comedies 9 times out of 10 never do as well as the first movie, even if they're well-received movies. With the exception of the Austin Powers movies (where a cult hit movie turned into a blockbuster comedic event in the second film) most every sequel to a popular comedy has paled in comparison to the first film. Cheaper By the Dozen 2, Sister Act 2, Three Men & A Little Lady, Ghostbusters 2, Miss Congeniality 2, Analyze That, Night at the Museum 2 , the list goes on & on. Disney is the king of merchandising their properties, and a romantic comedy sequel isn't something you can merchandise, like you can with a Pixar or Hannah Montana film. So if that movie disappoints (which, if history is correct, it probably will), Disney loses money. So hopefully they saw that making a sequel is riskier than anticipated.
This is just a tidbit, but G-Force cost $150 million to make. $150 MILLION for a dumb talking gerbil movie. WHAT THE??
I take a bit of offense to that Legthy. The Proposal is a crowd-pleaser here in these parts & it's a hell of a lot more likable than 90% of the other rom-coms that get churned out by studios every year.
There are a ton of smarter rom-coms out there, certainly (I'm a fan of the Apatow films, plus in the past 10 years we've had Love Actually, Definitely, Maybe and (500) Days of Summer , so your manic pixie dream girl movie isn't at the top of the class) but The Proposal , IMO has such great chemistry that it's easy to overlook the sometimes easy jokes and familiar plot threads. Oh and in no way should that mean that since I like the movie, I have a small brain.
Elizabethtown? Seriously? I don't see that at all. In addition to the poor casting (and when the leads are the worst things about it, that's a bad, bad sign for a romantic comedy), the film was sunk by that atrocious "Freebird" scene. From Sarandon's speech to the fire, all useless.
I'd probably nominate Amelie as the best rom-com of the decade, although About a Boy would be my pick for most intelligent.
Apart from the guy-secretary-being-a-secret-millionaire bullshit of The Proposal, there was exactly zero chemistry between Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock. Reynolds was so awkward and Bullock was so much on autopilot that my kidneys hurt. In fact I almost fancied Reynolds more than Bullock and I am a straigt guy. That's how boring it was.
Oops, missed your reply, Boyd.
About a boy was nothing and it had that idiot in it... Hugh Grant.
The reason that Elizabethtown was intelligent is that it doesn't try to please it's audience. Rather than being about secret millionaires, it's about people who fail. It's about losing touch with your roots and then finding them again. It's about finding love in places you never knew existed. It's about not knowing what you have until you lose it. It's about finding things when you least expect to. It's about life, death and the miraculous things that can happen between jobs, when you only exist and breathe raw life on this planet.
The Proposal hasn't got even one of those themes. It's a dumb movie for dumb people.
Another very intelligent romcom was This Year's Love, but I doubt any of you have actually seen it.
Wow dude, calm down. You're like that insufferable hipster that at every chance he gets, he tells you that his favorite movies/books/albums are better than yours because they're not "mainstream".
If you didn't like the movie, fine. But don't insult the people that did like it just because they don't agree with everything you say.
It may have been about a lot of things, Lengthy, but aspirations don't make it a good film. Or a smart one. And in fact, movies that don't try to please their audience on some level are in the wrong business. I would suspect if you asked Cameron Crowe he'd disagree with you about not trying to please people who paid to see his movies, given how universal he tries to make those very themes you just listed.
Also, the "Hugh Grant is an idiot" argument, if I can even call it that, is patently indefensible when you're simultaneously boosting a movie starring Orlando Bloom.
Thirdly, great "too hip for the room" moment there at the end. I would've gone with Mifune if I were you, though, just to complete the tweed jacket and beat-up Volvo vibe.
...and that just reminded me thanks to Iben Hjeile: High Fidelity has got it all over Elizabethtown. Oddly enough, also Nick Hornby like About a Boy.