11 out of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Not too shabby
danieljparsons from ,
29th December, 2009
'Oh Jesus she's got a machete! Where the hell did she get a machete? Oh, man! She's gonna pluck out my eyes, man! She is gonna carve my eyes out and she's gonna make me eat them! I swear to God I've read about it on the internet, man!' Bradley Cooper is hot. Here endeth the lesson. Oh, okay, the film. Well, All About Steve was a gigantic flop at the box office, hated almost universally by every critic going. Peter Travers called it 'unwatchable', and even reverent supporters of Bullock's output generally agreed that this was the nadir of her career. To me, this is grossly unfair. All About Steve never comes close to reality - it's true - none of the characters have anything genuine to them (if they did, Mary, for example, would have to be considered a psychopathic, albeit an intelligent one - or at least someone who is able to absorb a huge amount of knowledge - a 'nutter on the bus' if you will). I certainly seem to be in the minority of people not expecting something realistic, which I don't understand given the inherent daftness of the pitch and indeed the theatrical trailer. Taken as a sort of extended sketch show or a tied up skit, however, there's much to enjoy here. Whilst the writing is often awful there's something in the awfulness which just works, and I actually found myself laughing out loud at many scenes. Bullock takes her usual kooky act from the likes of Miss Congeniality and Speed and notches it up way past 11 but since every character is some form of caricature anyway it fits. Many of my friends will likely not want to talk to me for a long time for admitting this, but I actually had an ok time.
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