All About Steve

Director: Phil Traill
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Thomas Haden Church, Bradley Cooper, Ken Jeong and DJ Qualls
DVD release: 22 October 2009
Rated: M

Sandra Bullock drives this clunky comedy as a hyper-intellectual nutcase. She plays a cruciverbalist being, for the uninitiated, a crossword puzzle designer. Bullock tries perky and youthful in the exuberant motor-mouth part, even doing a little jig of joy like a hepped-up Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Mary Horowitz (Sandra Bullock) is a wacky good-humoured babbling fountain of useless information, who's taken with wearing red disco boots. Her eccentric parents arrange a blind date with cable news cameraman Steve (Bradley Cooper) in which she is switched on by Steve in a big way, but he’s glad to escape when he’s suddenly called out on assignment. ‘Goodbye crazy person’ he whispers with relief as he speeds away.

Mary however is totally infatuated and determined to follow Steve on his news stories all round the countryside. She’s encouraged by the team’s cynical reporter Hartman Hughes (Thomas Haden Church), spitefully setting his cameraman up.

From three-legged babies to tornadoes, Mary implacably follows her beloved while Steve tries to evade her without success. Her appearances almost cost him his job with the network. But when a big story breaks with references to Billy Wilder’s Ace In The Hole, Hartman becomes guilt-ridden as his actions have literally placed Mary in extreme danger. Her oddball upbeat personality is really put to the test after she stumbles down a mine shaft in one of the funniest shots in the film. Steve sees her in a new light as she becomes darling of the media and the masses.

Bullock’s (The Proposal) manic performance, despite her being marginally old for the role, leaves her co-stars rather in the shade, although both Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) and Thomas Haden Church (Spider-Man 3) put in solid ground work. They're aided and abetted by Ken Jeong (The Hangover) as the beleaguered field producer Angus, D. J. Qualls (Road Trip) as Howard a nice guy who helps Mary on her way, and newcomer Katy Mixon as Howard’s ‘worthy causes’ friend Elizabeth.

The screenplay by Kim Baker falters when it places deaf children in peril for a dash of pathos in the general mayhem. Matters are hardly assisted by Phil Traill’s routine direction experience from TV shows like Snoops. The plot is only loosely tied to reality, and this is especially so in the last act.

Cinematography in the competent hands of Tim Suhrstedt (Little Miss Sunshine) provides an appropriately cluttered look to scenes in the news department and Mary’s bedroom. Production values are adequate.

The bottom line with All About Steve is simple - you’ll either be amused or annoyed by Sandra Bullock’s near psychotic portrayal. Depending on that, the comedy may entertain or sink deep into the mud of mediocrity.

Perhaps it’s time for Bullock to consider giving up nerdy parts suitable for someone half her age. Despite managing well in close shots with excellent makeover, it’s stretching the friendship for a 45-year old to behave like love-sick teenager on speed. As in many films today, you have to sit though lengthy end credits for the final gag.

John Bale