Movie Review: All About Steve

All About Steve

PG-13 for sexual content including innuendos.
Running Time: 1 hour 38 minutes

Crossword puzzle constructor Mary Horowitz, played by Sandra Bullock, is smart, pretty and a natural disaster that shakes news cameraman Steve to the core. Set up on a blind date with Steve, Mary thinks the chemistry is undeniable and just knows she’s found her soul mate. As a result, she decides to do anything and go anywhere to be with him.

Mary’s escalating infatuation is encouraged by the self-serving actions of news reporter Hartman Hughes who enjoys torturing his cameraman at every opportunity. As the news team crisscrosses the country covering breaking news stories, Steve becomes increasingly unhinged as Mary trails them.

If You Love Someone…

In the words of Mary Horowitz…

If you love someone…set them free…
If you have to stalk them…
They probably weren’t yours in the first place.

That really becomes the thread through this funny romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock, Thomas Haden Church and Bradley Cooper. It appears Bullock may be heading back to her comedy days. She’s a great actress with great timing. She’s also very good at pulling off funny physical humor. From time to time I’ve criticized Bullock for acting for the award. When she tries that, the movies usually come off flat and boring. But, in All About Steve, she seems very comfortable in her comic role as we follow the travels of her character through the ups and downs of what she thinks is love.

While All About Steve is not as strong as Bullock’s earlier summer movie The Proposal, this is still a movie worth seeing if you’re looking for some good laughs. Bullock is funny and Thomas Haden Church adds the dry humor portion of this movie that’s really needed too. For some, the over-the-top feel of Sandra Bullock’s character may be a little much to handle. But, when you add in the straight-man humor of Thomas Haden Church, the comedy level rises to the next level. I’ve loved the dry straight-man humor of Thomas Haden Church since his TV Wings days. It’s a winner and it always makes me laugh.

When it comes to Bradley Cooper though, he seems somewhat out of his environment in All About Steve. While he’s appeared in romantic comedies before, he seems out-of-place in this PG-13 rated romantic comedy. At times he’s more like a cardboard cut out than an actor. His acting style is also becoming a little boring. At times watching his character in All About Steve is simply a re-do of what he did in He’s Just Not That Into You, Failure to Launch and Yes Man. While he has potential, Cooper still might need to refine his skills as he moves from the small screen to the big screen.

A Unique Movie With A Unique Message

While I’ve pointed out All About Steve is a fun movie, it’s also a movie with a message. Bullock’s character appears to be rather insane at first. She’s simply some out of control loner who likes to wear red boots. Make sure you follow that sub-plot-line closely too. (No spoilers here, but it’s worth noting why she wears those boots.) But, in the midst of fun, we also discover a great message about the definition of normal. Sometimes one persons definition of normal is quite different than another persons. In the end, it’s all about being ourselves, and finding others who will allow us to be ourselves in their midst.

If you’re looking for a fun way to spend an hour and a half, All About Steve is certainly the ticket. As already mentioned, Sandra Bullock is doing what she does best in this movie – providing lots of laughs with her incredible comedic style. Watching Bullock in All About Steve is kind of like watching a combination of Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore tossed together into one person.

As for the rating, we are calling All About Steve cautionary family-friendly. Once again, just like with The Proposal, there are a couple scenes which cross the edge from family-friendly to cautionary family-friendly. While it’s nothing too steamy, it was enough to slide All About Steve into the cautionary family-friendly arena. But, even after saying that, with a PG-13 rating, go see the movie with your kids and have some great laughs along the way.

Last, but certainly not least, while All About Steve is a romantic comedy, it’s not your normal chick-flick romantic comedy. Somehow Sandra Bullock seems to pick such movies with an eye to the fact that guys need something to be interested in too.

Enjoy the show!
Dr. Rus