Is Sandra Bullock the female Matthew McConaughey?</p><p>Or is Matthew McConaughey the male Sandra Bullock?</p><p>Pondering this pop-culture conundrum kept my mind occupied while watching &ldquo;The Proposal,&rdquo; the latest romantic comedy starring and produced by Bullock.</p><p>It&rsquo;s not an awful movie, just an utterly pedestrian one that follows the genre&rsquo;s template without an interesting detour or a sharp edge to lift it out of the ordinary.</p><p>Bullock plays Margaret Tate, a domineering, cutthroat editor of a New York publishing house. Her employees live in such fear that when Margaret arrives every a.m., a mass e-mail announces: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s <em>here</em>.&rdquo; </p><p>Nobody feels Margaret&rsquo;s wrath more than her assistant, Andrew (Ryan Reynolds), who is expected to live his life in the service of his demanding boss. </p><p>When Margaret learns she is to be deported to her native Canada for allowing her work visa to expire, she orders Andrew to marry her so she&rsquo;ll have instant citizenship. He reluctantly agrees after eliciting a promise of a career boost. </p><p>And we&rsquo;re supposed to <em>like</em> these people?</p><p>The bulk of &ldquo;The Proposal&rdquo; &mdash; written by Peter Chiarelli (his first produced script) and directed by Anne Fletcher (&ldquo;27 Dresses,&rdquo; &ldquo;Step Up&rdquo;) &mdash; takes place in an Alaskan town where Andrew&rsquo;s family resides.</p><p>This picturesque burg (the film was shot along the Massachusetts coast with mountains added digitally in post production) is pretty much run by Andrew&rsquo;s Babbitt-ish dad (Craig T. Nelson), who resents that his only son won&rsquo;t take over the family biz.</p><p>More copacetic are Andrew&rsquo;s mom (an underutilized Mary Steenburgen) and eccentric grandmother (Betty White in full wacko mode). There&rsquo;s also Andrew&rsquo;s teen flame (&ldquo;Watchmen&rsquo;s&rdquo; Malin Akerman), now the local schoolmarm; she&rsquo;s as sweet and thoughtful as Margaret is mean and self-centered. </p><p>Complicating things even more is an INS investigator (KC native Dennis O&rsquo;Hare) who follows the couple up north, determined to expose the sham marriage.</p><p>Though they loathe each other, Margaret and Andrew must pretend to be madly in love. They&rsquo;re even forced to sleep in the same bedroom, a setup that provides the film&rsquo;s &ldquo;naughtiest&rdquo; moments &mdash; a naked collision following a shower and a gag involving a morning erection.</p><p>Bullock&rsquo;s spoiled city girl gets into slapsticky situations. Accidentally freeing the family&rsquo;s tiny lapdog, Margaret must then battle an eagle intent on a doggie dinner. With White&rsquo;s grandma she engages in a native fertility dance out in the woods. And a bachelorette party finds her on the receiving end of a bump and grind from a pudgy male stripper (Oscar Nu&ntilde;ez).</p><p>Can you see where this is going?</p><p>Of course you can. The unbreakable rule of romantic comedy is that opposites will eventually attract. A good rom-com is creative enough that you&rsquo;re still surprised by the inevitable.</p><p>But there&rsquo;s nothing surprising here.</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong><span class="infobox-head">&lsquo;THE PROPOSAL&rsquo; &#x2605;&#x2605; </span></strong><br /> <strong>Director: </strong>Anne Fletcher</p><p><strong>Cast: </strong>Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Betty White, Craig T. Nelson, Mary Steenburgen</p><p><strong>Rated: </strong><strong>PG-13</strong> for sexual content, nudity and language </p><p><strong>Running time:</strong> 1:43</p><p></div> <hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong><span class="infobox-head">BUT WAIT, THERE&rsquo;S MORE </span></strong><br /> NEXT WEEK brings more women movies:</p><p>&bull;&ldquo;My Sister&rsquo;s Keeper&rdquo;: <strong>Cameron Diaz</strong> plays a mom whose daughter (Abigail Breslin) must give bone marrow for her cancer-stricken older sister. </p><p>&bull;&ldquo;Cheri&rdquo;: Michelle Pfeiffer is a turn-of-the-last- century courtesan.</p><p>&bull;&ldquo;American Violet&rdquo;: True story of a black woman wrongly accused of drug dealing in Texas.</p><p>LATER THIS SUMMER</p><p>&bull;&ldquo;The Ugly Truth&rdquo; (July 24): Katherine Heigl is a morning show producer looking for love.</p><p>&bull;&ldquo;Julie & Julia&rdquo; (Aug. 7): Meryl Streep is French chef Julia Child; Amy Adams is her biggest fan.</p><p>&bull;&ldquo;The Time Traveler&rsquo;s Wife&rdquo; (Aug. 14): Rachel McAdams is married to a man (Eric Bana) who is unstuck in time.</p><p></div> <hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> @ For links to trailers and Web sites about all these films, go to <strong>KansasCity.com/movies</strong>.</p><p></div>