Slashing The Seats

When publishing mega-bitch Sandra Bullock is revealed to be a filthy Canadian, she decides to fox immigration officials by blackmailing nerdy assistant Andrew (Reynolds) into marrying her. This being a rom-com, you don’t have to have seen Green Card to guess what happens next.

Presumably hoping to extract some ‘Meet the Parents’ style laughs – and box office kerching – the couple then head off to spend time with Andrew’s weird and wacky Alaskan family and it’s here Bullock has a chance to shine. As a stranger in a very strange land, she’s convincing and cute, fantastically embarrassed around the colourful locals.

While Bullock has the most screen time, her performance is uneven, never quite convincing in full-on business shark mode early on, and when she does revert to type, it’s a little too wet to engage. Reynolds on the other hand makes the most of his appearances and holds the movie together. His deadpan style adds some real electricity to the couple’s bitchy exchanges and lifts the film to the classic screwball level it obviously aspires to.

The dialogue is snappy and zingy – “You are allergic to coconut shampoo.. and the full spectrum of human emotions” – echoing what every office worker has dreamed of telling their boss with hilarious effect. But it’s let down by poor plotting and a rambling, messy conclusion. A little less by-the-numbers rom-com plotting would have livened things up no end but, as it is, you can see the resolution waddling up a mile away.

A great cast and a fun, fast-talking script place this head and shoulders above most of this year’s chick flick comedies, but its tendency toward sappiness and sentiment ultimately makes it a solid, if unmemorable screen filler.

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