All critics have biases.
WWTW loves a good zombie movie, rolls his eyes at period romances and, as painful as it is to admit, loves train wreck movies.
You know the kind – films so atrocious you can’t look away despite your better judgment.
For a while Sandra Bullock’s film “All About Steve” hovers near that glorious sweet spot. Just consider the following themes touched upon in this alleged romantic comedy:
Cicadas. Deaf children. Abandoned mines. Fumigation. Crossword puzzles. Apple head sculptures. And stalking. Can’t forget stalking.
Hard to believe a movie with all those gems could go awry in the final half hour, but “All About Steve” isn’t your typical disaster.
The movie, out on DVD and Blu-ray Dec. 22, casts Bullock in one of her least likable roles to date, a crossword puzzle guru named Mary with the social skills of a gnat.
She may look beautiful on the outside, but Mary is six kinds of crazy. She proves it when she pounces on a camera man named Steve (Bradley Cooper) on their first – and last – date.
But when he makes an excuse to end the date early she doesn’t take the hint. Oh, no, not Mary. She decides to follow him when his job forces him to travel to cover a series of silly news stories.
Our Mary is seriously unhinged. And for a while that makes for some unsettling comic moments, especially when Steve’s blowhard colleague (Thomas Haden Church) tries to sic Mary on him for competitive reasons.
It’s all jaw-droppingly bizarre, but the comic elements fall in place in less than expected ways. And Bullock goes for broke as Mary, unafraid of making her anything but a woman who needs a frequent flier for the nearest shrink’s couch.
Through it all, “Steve” somehow finds the time to mock the CNN/Fox News/MSNBC style of news reportage. But soon the story reverses course, finds the formulaic tone it had been avoiding for so long and decides to make Mary into a conventional heroine.
Not smart.
“All About Steve” dares to be different, but ultimately the rom-com leaves the edge behind for a fuzzy finale.
(Photo: Mary Horowitz (Sandra Bullock) thinks she’s in love with cable news cameraman Steve (Bradley Cooper). Complicating things is the fact that he thinks she’s crazy! Photo credit: Suzanne Tenner)
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Too bad about this train wreck; otherwise, Hometown Girl Bullock would have had a career-high hat trick this year – even more impressive for an actress “of a certain age.”