All About Steve

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 centred 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. –Hillary Titley