Published: Wednesday, 20th January, 2010 4:57pm

Film File - All about Steve

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Mary Magdalene Horowitz (Sandra Bullock) is a cruciverbalist - a crossword puzzle constructor. With her brain spinning at warp speed with an endless stream of arcane information, she can come up with the perfect word - and dozens of others with the same meaning at a moment's notice - just don't ask her to be normal in any normal sense of the word.

A brainy gal brimming with grey matter, she still lives with her parents (Howard Hessman and Beth Grant), and can't have a chat without letting forth a stream of seriously educated words. Add in her fashion sense where she thinks the height of style is her knee-high patent red boots. Apart from that, she's grand altogether.

Nothing is typical in Mary's world, and that goes especially for relationships. When she is set up on a blind date with cable news cameraman Steve (Bradley Cooper), she's convinced the chemistry is undeniable - that he is 'the one'. Steve, naturally enough, thinks Mary is a bunny-boiler best avoided.

Mary, who just knows she's found her soulmate, decides to do anything and go anywhere to be with him, and begins to pursue the hapless cameraman relentlessly as he crisscrosses the country, covering breaking news stories. Mary's escalating infatuation with Steve is encouraged by the self-serving actions of news reporter Hartman Hughes (Thomas Haden Church), who enjoys torturing his insolent cameraman at every opportunity.

Caught between the loo-la Mary, who's never far behind him, and Hartman making his life miserable, Steve becomes increasingly unhinged. As this unlikely trio get caught up in the biggest breaking news story of the year, however, both men start to look at Mary differently as they realise her quirkiness is something unique and worth holding on to.

The plot idea of this film certainly is not bad, but sadly the acting is. Bullock, whose been on a losing streak worse than even Ipswich lately, needed a hit film badly - but it's not going to happen here. There are some halfway decent moments when Mary's conflicted Jewish-Catholic heritage provides a canvas to sketch the stereotypical psychological handicaps in such a scenatio, but these are vastly outnumbered by the cringeful moments where the script completely discards the excellent comedic talents of Haden Church and Cooper.

The film did well enough in the States, but it's hard to see it making any kind of humour impact on this side of the pond.