Lake Placid (1999)

Directed by Steve Miner, this is an awkward horror-comedy that never really comes to life. 

A huge killer crocodile is on the loose in Maine. The local Fish and Game officer Jack Wells (Bill Pullman), paleontologist Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda), sheriff (Brendon Gleeson) and an eccentric professor of mythology (Oliver Platt) try to track down the beast. 

The film can’t decide if it’s meant to be funny or scary and ends up neither. There are hints of Jaws and Crocodile Dundee in there, but with none of the ingredients that made those films so engaging.  

Fonda has a degree of charm, as always, but the script is weak and you long for wittier lines. Gleeson seems entirely miscast as the grumpy sheriff and you can only wonder exactly what the actor or character was meant to contribute to the film. There are a couple of laughs but with some tweaking it could have been so much better.

The Proposal (2009)

Romantic comedy directed by Anne Fletcher. 

High-powered businesswoman Margaret (Sandra Bullock) will be deported and lose her job at a New York publishing firm unless she gets married to an American. She forces her assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) to go along with the plan. They travel to his family home in Alaska, where – in trying to convince his family and immigration agent that they’re in love – they inevitably fall in love for real. 

It sounds formulaic but there are some genuinely funny moments and the script is finely tuned enough to sparkle. 

Sandra Bullock is likeable as a hard-edged bully who slowly reveals her vulnerabilities. A ludicrous scene in which a small dog is carried off by an eagle actually works. 

The strong cast also includes Mary Steenburgen and Betty White.