The Proposal

Sandra Bullock returns to sparkling form in Anne Fletcher's screwball romantic comedy, which proves that the path to true love can sometimes begin with some good old-fashioned blackmail.

With the triple whammy of Speed, While You Were Sleeping and A Time To Kill in the mid-1990s, Bullock was once the lady-in-waiting to Meg Ryan's crown as America's favourite girl next door.

However, a string of lacklustre releases in every conceivable genre - including a fluffy romantic comedy with Hugh Grant, supernatural shenanigans across space and time with Keanu Reeves and an abortive sequel to the hysterical Miss Congeniality - brought her back down to Earth with a bump.

Solid supporting roles in Paul Haggis's Oscar-winning Crash and the Truman Capote biopic Infamous offered rare glimmers of a resurgence, which is fully realised in The Proposal.

Essaying the boss from hell, Bullock plies her innate charm and impeccable comic timing to endear her character to us, even when she is engaged in shocking behaviour such as baiting a bird of prey with a helpless family pet.

On-screen chemistry with impossibly buff leading man Ryan Reynolds sizzles and threatens to melt the snowy Alaskan locales, including a hilarious centrepiece sequence of gratuitous nudity which sees the two stars fall on top of one another in their birthday suits.