Bradley Cooper hit the jackpot this summer with “The Hangover.” Now, an eccentric Sandra Bullock is chasing him across the country in the new comedy “All About Steve.” Since Cooper was so successful in “The Hangover,” this one is sure to be a winner too, right? Not exactly.
The film opens with Mary Horowitz (Sandra Bullock, “The Proposal”) at her job as a crossword puzzle constructor for a local paper in Sacramento. Her parents set her up on a blind date with a very attractive news network cameraman named Steve (Bradley Cooper, “The Hangover”) and Mary instantly falls for him. The date is short-lived, as it is only about five minutes of Mary jumping the guy in his truck. After getting fired from her crossword puzzle job for making up a puzzle that’s all about Steve, she decides to take it as a sign to go find Steve since he is obviously her true love.
This is not the typical romantic comedy. It might even be the opposite of the romantic genre and sits more as the self-discovery type of movie. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t deliver in the comedy part of the genre either. It’s not bad when movies drift from the usual genre as long as it’s done well. This was not.
The screenplay may very well have been the downfall of the film. There’s been worse, sure, but this was far from a winner for multiple reasons. The film was written by Kim Barker, who also wrote “License to Wed,” the only other film to her credit. All that can be said about these two screenplays is it’s quite surprising she supposedly has two more films coming up. Who’s giving her these jobs anyway? Director Phil Traill, who has spent most his time in TV, doesn’t help much in making the most of the screenplay either.
It seemed that this was supposed to be a satire of the media. It only seemed like it because it was one of the worst, most poorly executed attempts at satire that has been seen in a long time. It was flat and riddled with overused clich?s from the egocentric reporter who strives to be an anchor to fluff stories that are completely absurd. There were no redeeming qualities in this epically failed attempt to mock the media.
The screenplay continues to fail until near the end of the film — one of the few enjoyable parts of the movie. This is the one part of the story where the audience actually starts to enjoy Mary’s character. It may be the fact we’ve put up with it for so long into the movie that we’re used to it. Regardless, it’s too bad it had to happen in the final 20 minutes of the film instead of the other 78. We are, after all, supposed to like her character at least a little bit.
The only thing that really saved the movie from being a complete disaster was the acting. The supporting actors worked very well, especially Thomas Haden Church (“Spider-Man 3”) as Steve’s co-worker and Ken Jeong (“The Hangover”) as his sidekick, Angus. These two were not only funny when there was a lack of humor, but they were also in what may have been the most humorous part of the film.
As for the leads, Bullock delivered as the eccentric Mary. The character’s annoying quirks that push the audience from sympathizing with her is most likely the cause of the screenplay and not her acting. It seemed she did the best she could with the material she was given. Cooper was fine as Steve. He fit the part of the attractive, sort of nice guy who is being stalked and was also funny with his paranoia when trying to avoid Mary. However, he didn’t really stand out as a special guy worthy of being the obsession of Mary. This can also be the fault of the screenplay and he, like Bullock, most likely did the best with what he was given to work with.
Anyone who sees this movie really fails to see why this semi-crazy woman is so obsessed with Steve. Isn’t the movie supposed to be all about Steve? It’s too bad the screenplay couldn’t have succeeded more, because the film’s basic idea did have a lot of potential. If the acting didn’t save “All About Steve” from being a complete failure, this film would definitely be better off never being made.
1 1/2 stars out of 5.
