THE PROPOSAL could have been a strictly script-by-numbers affair, but hilarious performances by Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds raise this romantic comedy above its rivals. Publishing powerhouse Margaret Tate (Bullock, TWO WEEKS NOTICE) is used to getting her way.

A blowout Las Vegas bachelor party turns into a race against time when three hung-over groomsmen awaken after a night of drunken debauchery to find that the groom has gone missing, and they must attempt to get him to the alter before his wedding day.

Writer-turned-director Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Notting Hill) directs a cast comprising the cream of British acting talent—which includes Bill Nighy (Notes On A Scandal, Love Actually), Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, Once Upon A Time In The Midlands), Nick Frost (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Kenneth Branagh (Henry V, Celebrity), along with one lone American star in the shape of Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote, Doubt)--in this comedy set in Britain in 1966.