'The Proposal' (PG-13)(out of four)

Sandra Bullock doesn't want her latest movie to be called a romantic comedy. Actually, what the actress who is starring in the new film "The Proposal" said this is, is a comedy with romance elements sprinkled throughout.

"The Proposal," co-starring cute guy Ryan Reynolds, is a bit romantic comedy, but there's enough story in the film to pluck it out of that category. While most of the plot relies on the foibles of the mismatched relationship of Bullock and Reynolds' characters, there is a small dose of drama, but nothing that a few laughs doesn't soon take away.

Bullock plays Margaret Tate, a "Devil Wears Prada"-like book editor who prompts instant message warnings across the editorial offices of a publishing house a la Simon & Schuster. Tate is so tightly wound that as soon as her Christian Louboutin stilettos hit the floor a hushed announcement of her impending office walk through prompts warnings of "The Witch Is On Her Broom."

Reynolds plays Bullock's oh-so-patient assistant, Andrew Paxton, who is working his way up the ladder to be an editor and eventually get his own book published. For some reason, he's about the only one in the office who knows how to calm the queen of mean.

In a romantic comedy, of course, opposites attract, so some where along the way the two have to be set up. As Bullock is running her division with an iron fist, the publisher breaks the news to her that she is on the verge of being deported to her native Canada because of a glitch in her paperwork filing. No doubt, in the world of scriptwriting it is a bit contrived. Yet there is no choice for the audience but to play along.

We have to buy it because being deported would mean that Tate would lose the only relationship she can sustain -- her job. Quicker than anyone can say 'green card,' she gets a brainstorm: she'll marry her assistant, which will allow her to remain in the country. The unsuspecting assistant agrees after realizing that a bit of blackmail and conniving could make this business deal a win-win for both of them.

However, a suspicious immigration official (Denis O'Hare) could throw a wrench into the deal as he just so happens to question the validity of such a marriage.

In an effort to Cliff Note their relationship, the two head to Sitka, Alaska, to meet his family at a gathering celebrating Paxton's grandmother's 90th birthday. See where this is going?

From here, the focus is on Bullock as Tate in the typical fish-out-of-water scenarios. Big city New York girl is thrust into small town Alaska. This is a place where the ladies gather to slug beer and watch the town's one male stripper, who also doubles as the butler, pastor and clerk at the general's store. Oscar Nuñez from "The Office" elicits laughs for his unabashed portrayal, especially in a scene where he implores Tate in nothing but a thong.

While Pete Chiarelli's script is over-the-top sitcom silly at times, director Anne ("27 Dresses") Fletcher, who happened to be a choreographer at one point in her career, is able to move the action along. While frantic at times, Fletcher knows when to soften the focus and she creates some lovely moments as the two begin to realize their attraction. Bullock and Reynolds have just the right chemistry to pull off a number of different emotions, and a particularly hysterical scene, which has been trumpeted in the movie's trailers, is when the two crash into each other's naked bodies to absolute horror. You will feel their pain.

A supporting cast of A-list actors including Mary Steenburgen and Craig Nelson, plus a very perky and funny Betty White as Grandma Annie, lend a bit of credibility to "The Proposal."

This romantic comedy, which isn't really a romantic comedy but a romance with bits of comedy thrown in, is by the book and formulaic. Yet Bullock and Co. pull off "The Proposal," and make us somehow care about this taming of the shrew.