Starring Sandra Bullock, Thomas Haden Church, Bradley Cooper, and Ken Jeong
Directed by Phil Traill
Directed by Phil Traill
Like Sandra Bullock's last movie, The Proposal, All About Steve is a flick where her central character is annoying, obnoxious, and altogether unappealing, but she surrounds herself with some good actors who are actually given funny things to do. It's unfortunate that her main character couldn't be less ridiculous.
Mary Magdalene Horowitz (Bullock) writes crossword puzzles. She has no life outside of her work. Her parents set her up on a blind date with a tv news cameraman named Steve (Bradley Cooper). After a brief five minute date during which Mary alluringly pounces (or, more like sexually attacks) Steve in his van, Steve tells Mary that he just received a phone call that he needs to head to cover some story in the Midwest. However, his throwaway line to her -- something along the lines of "You should come, too" or "I'll see you there" -- is taken to heart by Mary and she travels across the country because she insanely believes that this guy wants to be with her. Of course, in the end, Mary learns her lesson that she doesn't need a man to be happy (oops...ruined it for you, but you can see that coming a mile away, I promise).
As I said above, whenever the movie focuses on Mary, it's a failure. However, when the flick spends time with Steve and his co-workers -- news reporter Hartman (Thomas Haden Church) and assistant Angus (Ken Jeong) -- it's actually really funny. All three of these guys had different comedic styles, but they all meshed and there were many moments where I laughed quite loudly because of them.
Overall, this isn't a good movie, but there's certainly worse out there. It's got some good lines and some good secondary characters...it's just got a ridiculously awful central character.
Mary Magdalene Horowitz (Bullock) writes crossword puzzles. She has no life outside of her work. Her parents set her up on a blind date with a tv news cameraman named Steve (Bradley Cooper). After a brief five minute date during which Mary alluringly pounces (or, more like sexually attacks) Steve in his van, Steve tells Mary that he just received a phone call that he needs to head to cover some story in the Midwest. However, his throwaway line to her -- something along the lines of "You should come, too" or "I'll see you there" -- is taken to heart by Mary and she travels across the country because she insanely believes that this guy wants to be with her. Of course, in the end, Mary learns her lesson that she doesn't need a man to be happy (oops...ruined it for you, but you can see that coming a mile away, I promise).
As I said above, whenever the movie focuses on Mary, it's a failure. However, when the flick spends time with Steve and his co-workers -- news reporter Hartman (Thomas Haden Church) and assistant Angus (Ken Jeong) -- it's actually really funny. All three of these guys had different comedic styles, but they all meshed and there were many moments where I laughed quite loudly because of them.
Overall, this isn't a good movie, but there's certainly worse out there. It's got some good lines and some good secondary characters...it's just got a ridiculously awful central character.
The RyMickey Rating: D+
For some reason the ending of this pleased me - the big dramatic rescue scenario. I was getting increasingly annoyed at the film until then, not believing anyone's motivations (I know, that' such a cliche critique). But somehow the ending worked for me. On another note, I've been a Sandra fan since Speed, but I'm going to venture that she's has some work done. Sometimes she smiled and her face just wasn't moving quite right...
ReplyDeleteLook at you, looking for motivations in a movie like this...
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