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Sandra Bullock’s latest film All About Steve is a tribute to stalkers everywhere. If you just hang in there long enough, you’ll eventually wear down the one you’re pursuing to the point where they see your charm. Yikes. That doesn’t make sense at all as I write it. Neither did the movie.

Actually, I laughed quite a bit during this film. However, most of it was a nervous, ‘We’re embarrassed for you’ laughter that stemmed from the awkwardness of Bullock’s Mary Horowitz. While I can’t say that I enjoyed her character much, she played her extremely well. Nerdy, brilliant, eccentric and oddly attractive, her signature red boots define Mary and her trek to find true love. That love is captured by Steve (Bradley Cooper), a CCN cameraman who happens to meet Mary on a blind date set up by their respective parents. While most guys will wish they had blind dates like this one, it quickly turns into a nightmare for Steve as he politely tries to end the date with Mary.

Egged on by her alternately intelligent and insane mind, as well as Steve’s friend and aspiring anchorman Hartman (Thomas Hayden Church), Mary follows Steve from breaking news story to breaking news story. Each of these stories is hilarious in their own way (watch for extra baby doll appendages and their intended subtle ‘news’ jokes) and highlight the two concurrent themes of Mary and Steve and the CCN crew after their big break. Adding to the crew’s hijinks is Angus, played by Ken Jeong (The Hangover‘s Mr Chow). While the three ‘buddy’ news guys attempt to keep their jobs and deal with the stalker in their own unique ways, Mary befriends her two new soul mates Elizabeth (Katy Mixon) and Howard (D.J. Qualls of Road Trip fame). Together they become the news wherever they are.

I will say, even though you see what’s coming, the scene with the kids running across a field had me laughing the most because of the absurd appropriateness of the premise. Alas, one scene does not make a movie worth watching.

Highlighting the bizarreness of the movie is the directors decision to put an ‘extra’ clip after the credits. The clip sums up the movie as a whole. Kinda funny, unrealistic outcome and took too long to develop.

This movie is fun, lighthearted and goofy. But it’s also weird, frenetic and awkward. The comedy settles in at the end and produces the right amount of introspection, but it doesn’t do either overly well. So, while I wouldn’t call it a great movie, it’s not a bad movie either. It’s an ‘entertaining rental when you’ve run out of other stuff to see’ kind of movie. You’ll enjoy laughing some at home, but not be disappointed you spent twenty bucks to see it at the theater.

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