All About Steve (D- or .5/4 stars)
I can't believe I'm actually writing a review for this AWFUL movie. But I am. The title 'All About Steve' (stupid title, anyway. It's all about Mary), & it is directed by Phil Traill. The Sacramento Herald's crossword puzzle writer, Mary Magdalene Horowitz (Sandra Bullock), is fairly smart, very pretty - & a complete bozo. After being made fun of by kids in a classroom for being single (SO ridiculous), her family sets her up on a blind date with CNN-like news cameraman Steve (Bradley Cooper). Mary thinks - not only that they have instant chemistry - but that they're a hot item; convinced that he is her one true love. However, Steve can't stand her incessant talking, her shiny red boots, & freakishly sexual advances; and jets off for a news story.
Clueless, Mary loses focus on life, her job, & decides to do anything to be near him. Her escalating infatuation is even aided by the vain, self-serving ways of news reporter Hartman Hughes (Thomas Hayden Church); a man who enjoys torturing his cameraman at all costs. As his news team crosses the country covering breaking news stories, Steve slowly starts to lose his mind as Mary is constantly on their tails. And when Mary becomes entangled in the news story of the year (deaf kids fall down an abandoned mine shaft), Steve & Hartman start to see her in a different light. You see, Steve feels that Mary is in the shaft because of him. And while down there, she performs a minor miracle for one other trapped being. Romance may or may not be in the future. But when she's reeled up, she finds welcoming arms.
Gosh, aside from a mini-second of humor here, a moment of meaningful drama there ... this was so very bad. I love Sandra Bullock. But what was she thinking signing up for this? HOW did this movie get green-lighted? Lots of people are making lots of $$ off of this insipid trainwreck; and that angers me, haha. Some viewers may find this movie refreshingly quirky (like my co-worker). Some may howl at the "jokes". But boy, I'm sure she/they are in the minority. I've seen decent movies about romantic obsession. But this one just doesn't work because we can't stand Mary OR Steve. Why the script turns us off to the both of them is beyond me. You know, it's pretty hard to sink lower than your normal, ill-conceived Matthew McConaughey/Kate Hudson romantic comedy, but this one eclipses them all.
Clueless, Mary loses focus on life, her job, & decides to do anything to be near him. Her escalating infatuation is even aided by the vain, self-serving ways of news reporter Hartman Hughes (Thomas Hayden Church); a man who enjoys torturing his cameraman at all costs. As his news team crosses the country covering breaking news stories, Steve slowly starts to lose his mind as Mary is constantly on their tails. And when Mary becomes entangled in the news story of the year (deaf kids fall down an abandoned mine shaft), Steve & Hartman start to see her in a different light. You see, Steve feels that Mary is in the shaft because of him. And while down there, she performs a minor miracle for one other trapped being. Romance may or may not be in the future. But when she's reeled up, she finds welcoming arms.
Gosh, aside from a mini-second of humor here, a moment of meaningful drama there ... this was so very bad. I love Sandra Bullock. But what was she thinking signing up for this? HOW did this movie get green-lighted? Lots of people are making lots of $$ off of this insipid trainwreck; and that angers me, haha. Some viewers may find this movie refreshingly quirky (like my co-worker). Some may howl at the "jokes". But boy, I'm sure she/they are in the minority. I've seen decent movies about romantic obsession. But this one just doesn't work because we can't stand Mary OR Steve. Why the script turns us off to the both of them is beyond me. You know, it's pretty hard to sink lower than your normal, ill-conceived Matthew McConaughey/Kate Hudson romantic comedy, but this one eclipses them all.