Touchstone Pictures' romantic green-card marriage comedy offers us its share of the better and the worse but ultimately manages to be a blissful experience. Walk -- don't run -- down the aisle (with popcorn in hand) to see this one at your convenience.

Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock Star in The Proposal (c) Touchstone Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) is the ultra-conservative ice queen of New York: a Canadian transplant who works as an editor at a major publishing house. Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) is her resentful secreta -- er -- executive assistant who left his family and world behind in sleepy Sitka, Alaska in order to chase his dream of becoming the next Margaret Tate (minus the estrogen treatments). Together they will join forces use their love-hate (or rather tolerant-hate) relationship and save the universe -- if a denied visa doesn't get her exported first.

When confronted with the prospect of being booted back to Canada and losing her career, Margaret achieves a stroke of genius: a shot-gun engagement with assistant Andrew will keep her on American soil, not to mention set the office water cooler on fire. News of the instant engagement shocks the office assistants and shocks and relieves the firm's head honchos, but no one is as shocked as Andrew himself. Initially Andrew is resistant to the notion, trying to spare himself from a lifetime in federal prison for a woman he can barely stomach, but he soon realizes he has the upper-hand in the relationship and takes advantage of every opportunity to turn the tables. And thus, hilarity ensues. When their sham of a relationship comes under the microscope of bumbling INS agent Mr. Gilbertson (Denis O'Hare), the two offer ad-hoc evidence that they already decided to prove that their nuptuals are real by announcing their intention at a family gathering in Andrew's hometown that weekend. Nevermind that the very shrewd agent who already threatened to look up old phone records never once bothered to inquire about the plane tickets.

First-time writer Pete Chiarelli relies heavily on stereotyped characters and stale plot points in order to string together a series of comedic scenes. The good news is that the movie is often successful in achieving its laughs and one tends to forgive the weak dialogue and far-fetched, contrived chains of events that link one humorous scene to the next. The cast does a respectable job with the material, although Bullock and Reynolds seem pigeonholed into the types of roles you would typically associate them with. Oscar Nunez (The Office) offers the most original performance (albeit a part he has played before) as the scene-stealing Ramone, an extremely flamboyant heterosexual, who just happens to have every significant role in the literal one-horse town of Sitka. Craig T. Nelson offers a welcomed performance as Andrew's humble father, a man who believes his son is young and foolish and needs to grow up, while Mary Steenburgen also provides a respectful performance as Andrew's mother. Rounding out the family is perennial favorite Betty White who does justice to a role that doesn't quite do justice to her. At the ripe old age of 90, the youthful and very vivacious Gammie Annie is ready to let loose while bordering on absolute senility.

The film constantly runs hot and lukewarm as the comedic elements are strung together haphazardly. When the tired notion of the city slicker trying to adjust in the rural isolated countryside left me wanting more, I managed to entertain myself with fantasies of how Margaret's luggage and even Grammie Annie managed to make it into the boat while Margaret struggled.

With a thinly veiled he said/she said premise (which does happen to make for a very funny scene as Margaret and Andrew describe the non-existent proposal to the family), a heavy-handed (but occaionally quasi-genuine message) and an ending that can be seen from outer space, don't look for story and character development to be the film's strong suit. The film's characters perform so many 180's so fast, so often in this movie, Tony Hawk is likely to crack a few ribs watching it (assuming Mrs. Hawk makes him take her to see it).

All in all, The Proposal is a fairly enjoyable chick flick comedy and will no doubt prove to be a worthy way to pass the time until Sex and the City 2 arrives.

3 out of 5.

The Proposal opens nationwide June 19 and has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for sexual content, [virtual] nudity and language.