nokia E71

Somehow, the Nokia E71 got itself in front of some casting directors who declared that the smartphone was going to be a star.

First it showed up as the phone of Sandra Bullock's character in The Proposal, and now Jennifer Garner was snapped with the E71 on the set of her new movie, Valentine's Day.

So what's so appealing about the phone? It has an FM radio, a 3.2 megapixel camera (bonus: it has a second, front-facing camera for video calls and self-portraits), a full QWERTY keyboard, and it comes in white, gray, black, or red.

This past weekend I happened to catch The Proposal on the big screen, and as captivated as I was by the hilarious plot line, I couldn't help but take notice at Sandra Bullock's character — Margaret Tate's — cell phone obsession. A big executive editor-in-chief of a book publishing company, Margaret convinces her assistant (Andrew, played by Ryan Reynolds) to marry her so she won't get deported back to Canada.

During a trip to Alaska for his grandmother's 90th birthday party, Margaret's white Nokia E71 is stolen by a hawk (I know, sounds far-fetched, but it's such a funny scene), so she has Andrew order her a new phone. Although she keeps her smartphone (and Hermès handbag) glued to her for the first half of the movie, her new phone looks like a light pink iPod Nano (the E71 was nowhere in sight). . . I couldn't seem to make out the exact model. Suffice to say, it was a perfect fit for Bullock's character.

Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures