Sandra Bullock is Mary, an obnoxiously juvenile crossword creator, hot for golden-boy cameraman Steve (Bradley Cooper), obsessively stalking him across America. It’s remarkable enough that All About Steve is centered on a character so profoundly unwatchable—Mary’s know-it-all nattering borders on being sadistically anti-social, as if it’s a dare for the other characters to punch her lights out—but what’s truly astounding is how unbelievable Bullock is in the role. Bullock seems too seasoned and looks too, let’s say, well-preserved in her mid-40s to be slumming it as either an adolescent girl trapped in a woman’s body or a woman who mistakenly thinks that age 15 is the height of maturity. Comedy’s new MVP, Ken Jeong, has a supporting role, but he’s allowed to make a mistake every now and then.
This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2009.