All About Steve

Sandra, Sandra, Sandra… how could you? I expected more from you. After all, this summer you gave us The Proposal, a fun summer rom-com and total chick flick. But All About Steve… well… ugh.

Sandra Bullock stars as Mary Magdalene Horowitz a crossword constructor for a local California paper who is so socially inept that at first you think she might be somewhere on the autism spectrum. When her parents set her up on a blind date her expectations are low, but he turns out to be so “hot” that Mary can’t help but jump him as soon as they get into his truck. The guy, Steve, played by Bradley Cooper, is surprised and then a little freaked out when Mary can’t stop talking as they roll around in the back seat. Luckily, he’s saved by a call from work. He’s a cameraman for a cable news network and he’s got to go cover a story. As he hustles her out of the truck, he says to Mary wouldn’t it be great if you could come along. Socially inept Mary, unable to recognize a blow-off line when she hears one, takes it to heart and this is where the antics ensue.

Mary sets off across the country pursuing Steve from breaking news story to breaking news story. She thinks Steve’s the guy for her. Steve thinks a crazy woman is stalking him. When she first catches up to him, it seems like Steve gets through to her and she is going to get the message that he doesn’t really want her around. But no. Up steps Steve’s co-worker, the self-absorbed, trouble-making reporter, Hartman Hughes, played by Thomas Haden Church. He convinces Mary that Steve really does want her and keeps her informed of where they’re headed so Mary can follow – in a beat up Pinto with two friends she meets at a rally for a three-legged baby. So you can guess the level of comedy we’re dealing with here, and I haven’t even mentioned the deaf kids stuck in the abandoned mine.

It’s bad joke after bad joke followed by the obligatory and cliché “life-lessons” at the end of the movie. It might be a little more amusing if the characters were likeable. But they’re not. So just skip it.