Rating:

It breaks no new ground, is predictable at every turn, and no one will remember a thing about it a week after they see it. All that said, “The Proposal” is an above-average, ultimately charming romantic comedy that succeeds with the help of strong chemistry between its two leads.

Plot-wise, “The Proposal” is a slight variation on the sort of plot we’ve seen a few dozen times before: hard-driving, cold career gal Margaret (Sandra Bullock) is forced by visa problems to feign marriage to her assistant Andy (Ryan Reynolds), in order to avoid deportation.

Due to the attention of the world’s most zealous immigration official (Denis O’Hare), the two must keep up appearances on a trip to visit Andy’s parents on a luxurious Alaskan island.

We get many, many romantic comedy cliches, including: a couple who hates each other and gradually warms to one another throughout; a cold, nasty woman who becomes gradually nicer the more in love she falls; characters being surprisingly understanding about someone else ruining their wedding; and the elderly character (Betty White, this time) repeatedly saying outrageously inappropriate things.

This description makes the film sound a lot worse than it is. In fact, the film’s got quite a few things going for it. Bullock and Reynolds are both tremendously appealing and have chemistry that sizzles.

Reynolds remains the most underrated of Hollywood leading men. After a decade of subpar thrillers and romantic comedies, this is the most charming Bullock has been in years.

Unfortunately, when I saw it, “The Proposal” was preceded by a trailer for this fall’s “All About Steve,” another romantic comedy in which Bullock appears to play, for lack of a better description, a raging psycho in a fright wig.

The photography is gorgeous, even with Rockport, Mass., standing in for Alaska. While the film’s pacing lags significantly in the third act, the movie is actually quite funny.

The comic highlight of the film, for me, was a supporting role by Oscar Nunez, from “The Office,” as an all-purpose employee of Andrew’s father who shows up in numerous different jobs, from waiter to male dancer to wedding officiant. This gimmick would get tiresome extremely quickly if, say, Rob Schneider played the part, but Nunez commits to the bit so fully that I laughed every time I saw him.

Craig T. Nelson and Mary Steenburgen get some good, even touching scenes as Andy’s parents, while Malin Akerman, who has probably ruined more movies this decade than any other actor/actress, is thankfully not in this movie enough to bring it down, too. “The Daily Show”’s Aasif Mandvi steals a scene as an employee fired by Bullock’s character.

No one seeing “The Proposal” should have any illusions that they’ll see anything that they haven’t seen before, or that will surprise them. But thanks to a fair amount of laughs and a great deal of chemistry between the leads, it’s still considerably entertaining.