If All About Steve is going to have a place in history, its as one half of the rather impressive double whammy Sandra Bullock achieved, when she picked up Worst Actress for All About Steve at the Razzies one day, and then the Best Actress Oscar for The Blind Side the next (and very gamely she showed up for both).
So is it really that bad? Well, first the good news its not quite a terrible as its reputation might have led you to believe, but thats a long way from saying its a worthwhile movie, because it isnt. Actually, to be slightly more precise, its a good idea for a movie, but its been badly executed to the point of occasionally seeming offensive.
Bullock plays ditzy Mary Horowitz, a woman whose entire life is about creating the weekly crossword puzzle in the local newspaper. When her parents set her up on a blind date with news cameraman Steve (Cooper), their meeting goes from great to terrible in the space of about three minutes, with Steve quickly realising that what first seems like kooky charm is actually just the tip of an obsessive character thats more trouble to handle than hes prepared for.
Plotting a quick escape he tells Mary hes been called in by work and is gutted he cant continue with their date, even going as far as to tell a white lie that its a shame she cant go with him to Boston. This turns out not to be the best thing to say to Mary, as after she loses her crossword puzzling job, she decides to take Steve at his word and head off across the country to find him, as he goes from town-to-town covering breaking news stories.
Quickly realising hes got a stalker, Steve get increasingly freaked out, which isnt helped by news reporter Hartman Hughes (Haden Church), who seems to have made it his mission in life to make Steves existence a living hell and starts goading Mary on. Things come to a head when they head off to cover some children whove fallen into a hole and need rescuing.
As you can probably tell, there were always going to be themes in All About Steve that were going to be tricky to handle. A comedy about a mentally unbalanced stalker chasing a hapless man across the country was always going to be difficult to pull off without seeming either unpleasant, exploitative or ending up with characters its impossible to empathise with. All About Steve constantly tries to grapples with these problems, largely by attempting to Hollywood-ise everything, put on a bit of a song and dance, and cover up the difficulties, rather than actually deal with them. Its as if Bullock thinks that if shes loud enough, nobody will look at anything else.
Whats a real shame is that underneath all this theres actually a rather sweet, quirky film trying to escape. Its kind of like a kooky indie movie that got out of hand, with the script becoming totally overblown and a cast thats too Hollywood, so that any ideas and heart it has get completely buried under silliness and a tendency to make everything far bigger (and more nonsensical) that it ought to be. It is difficult not to feel that are lot of the most extreme stuff has been added in, somewhat haphazardly to try and artificially make everything more Hollywood, such as a tornado Mary gets caught up in. It seems to have little to do with anything, but is a good excuse for some special effects and pretend action, as if the producers didnt have confidence the heart of the movie could win out on its own.
And like I said, while it was always going to be difficult, inside All About Steve theres a good idea for a film about a woman looking in all the wrong places to fill in the crossword puzzle gaps in her life, and going off on a bit of a road trip to discover that perhaps she needs to learn a few things before she gets the man of her dreams. There are moments in the script where you really feel thats what All About Steve is trying to be, but youd be forgiven for not noticing it underneath the OTT situations, performances that become a series of visual tics, and sense that a lack of faith in the central spine ended up with everything getting pushed to the extreme.
As you might expect for a film thats been roundly pilloried by all and sundry, they havent exactly gone all out on the special features. You do get some deleted scenes, which are slightly pointless, and a gag reel that suggests the movie was a hell of a lot more fun to make than watch. With the success both Bullock and Cooper have had of late, they must both be wishing they’d never made this.
Overall Verdict: It may not be as god-awful as its reputation suggests, but All About Steve is potentially decent quirky movie, hidden under piles of overblown acting and a script thats gripped by hysteria.
Special Features:
Deleted/Alternate Scenes
Gag Reel
Reviewer: Tim Isaac