All About Steve (2009)

People Magazine gave this a 1/2 star out of 5. It truly wasn't that bad.

Here are my thoughts.

Sandra Bullock's character is awkward and that is an understatement. This still-at-home-with-mom-and-dad crossword-puzzle-creator is an unique blend of Cliff Clavin (Cheers) Napoleon Dynamite and Pippi Longstocking. I struggled with whether to like Mary and cheer her on or to just be annoyed and laugh at her when she fell into the big hole. I ended up doing both.

Basic plot: Mary, due to outside pressures, thinks she needs to take her one last shot of normalcy by embracing (understatement) a blind date. When he comes to pick her up and turns out to be "hot" she does this creepy silent stare thing and runs back upstairs to put some sexy on. A truly awkward scene follows when she jumps Steve (Bradley Cooper), not after an okay date but before they even pull away from her folks' house. At first Steve is dazzled by the skin and enthusiasm but then he begins to think she might be crazy so he invents an excuse...a phone call sending him away. While he's attempting to get her out of the van before she truly goes crazy he mentions wishing she could go with him. More circumstances make that a possibility. Some may call it stalking, Mary calls it many, many other things in long paragraphs and polysyllabic words.

Mary is not just a person who talks all the time -she's a walking encyclopedia of random facts -and she ends up alienating loads of people on her quest to find Steve. Then she becomes a hero, accidentally, of course. Thomas Haden Church plays the annoying, selfish anchorman wanna-be and he eggs Mary on. Though I wasn't sure what his motivation was exactly his encouragement got Mary to relentlessly pursue Steve. Most of the characters are oddly eccentric, almost cartoonish, from Mary's parents to Haden Church's nemesis. It was almost as if the movie was an attempt to tell a quirky feel good story blended with a parody. It's one of the stranger films I've seen.

Content warnings. The groping scene in the beginning 20 minutes of so of the movie goes on too long and it should be screened before child/young teen viewing. That probably won't be an issue though since most children will likely get bored. Several sexual references are scattered throughout the film. One news story that Steve chases down involves a fight over amputating a baby girl's third leg and there are a few obvious body part innuendo/references. Some language. Some skin, mostly cleavage.

There are several amusing one-liners and descriptives and a pretty sweet tornado besides some great physical comedy and pratfalls. A few scenes are laugh-out-loud funny. Many, many more are shake-the-head shrug inspiring. I'll give it a 3 and I'll probably watch it again when it hits DVD, if for no other reason, to see if I understand it a little better. Maybe it will have that Napoleon Dynamite magic. I didn't like it the first time I watched it either.

I laughed out loud several times. Some of the things Bradley Cooper did wasn't funny, but Sandra Bullock was so cute in it, and funny. A good light hearted movie.

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I didn't see this movie in the theaters, and was reluctant to watch it on DVD because of the bad reviews it got when it was released. I shouldn't have given the critics so much credence. This movie was funny! There were plenty of belly laughs, and none of them depended on grossing-out the viewer. This is a grown-up movie, and relies on your understanding of personality, human foibles, and the silliness of the media to generate humor. My recommendation is that you DO NOT read any synopsis of the plot...go into it cold. This will ensure that the insane turns this movie takes have their full kick!

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I thought this movie was GREAT! I watch all of Sandra Bullock's movies and I think she played this character GREAT! Even down to the eye makeup! So what if you think the story line is weak and unbelievable! Most movies are! When I go to a movie I don't go to see REAL LIFE. If I wanted that I would stay at home and watch CNN or FOX news. Movies for me are Romance movies and they are for Dreaming and Comedy movies for a GOOD laugh! If you are looking for a GOOD healthy laugh then go watch this movie. I laughed and cried at this movie because I know there ARE people out there like this that society makes fun of! I'm going to buy this movie when it comes out on DVD thats how much I enjoyed it! This is just my opinion.

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I only now getting around to viewing this film that "won" Sandra Bullock her Razzie. And I believe that the Razzie voters were mistaken. I feel that Bullock did a nice job of playing a quirky, annoying person. Surely there were plenty of performances far more deserving of this award.

Although the character could be annoying, she still seemed like someone that would also be good to have as a friend, particularly as she evolved by the end of the movie. I think that it would not be a stretch to compare Mary to PeeWee Herman in "PeeWee's Big Adventure."

I felt that all of the actors really did fine work in this fun little comedy and I look forward to viewing it again.

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