30 Iconic Fictional Proposals To Make You Believe In Love Again
By Emily Scott
Robbie and Julia in The Wedding Singer, image via New Line Cinema
Robbie and Julia – The Wedding Singer
The Setup
Of all the Adam Sandler movies I’ve watched as an adult, the ones with Drew Barrymore are the only ones I will tolerate. And to be honest, this fun, ‘80s-set story about a wedding singer falling in love with a waitress is pretty bomb. The soundtrack is excellent. The casual inclusion of genderqueer actor Alexis Arquette as a Boy George impersonator is something I have a great amount of appreciation for now. And the proposal is one of the best in movie history.
After being left at the altar, Robbie, a heartbroken wedding singer, befriends Julia, a waitress at one of the venues he works. Julia is engaged to an awful dude named Glenn, and she asks Robbie to help her with her wedding planning, in order to help cheer him up and help him believe in love again. And then, naturally, they fall in love.
Robbie resolves to tell her that he’s in love with her, but over a series of mistaken events, both he and Julia get the false impression that the other is not interested. By the time Robbie finds out how Julia really feels about him, she is on her way to Las Vegas with Glenn to elope.
The Moment
Robbie rushes to the airport to get to Vegas in time to stop the wedding. He is forced to take a first class seat, as there are no coach seats left. As he tells the story to the other passengers, including Billy Idol, he learns that Julia and Glenn are on the same plane, in the coach section.
Quickly, he and the other passengers concoct a plan. Billy Idol announces to the plane that one of the first class passengers has a message for a coach passenger. Over the loudspeaker, Robbie starts singing an original song called “I Wanna Grow Old With You.” Julia quickly realizes it’s for her, and when Robbie emerges, she is overwhelmed with happiness. While the other passengers control Glenn, Robbie sings, “I want to make you smile/whenever you’re sad/carry you around when your arthritis is bad, oh/all I wanna do/is grow old with you.” He doesn’t actually say, “will you marry me,” but their kiss smash-cuts into their wedding. So I think we can assume it’s a yes regardless.