All About Steve (2009/Fox Blu-ray)
Picture: B-
Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: C-
Sandra Bullock has had a great 2009, once again the #1
female box office star (The Proposition
and The Blind Side outperformed
expectations and the latter was her best film in years) and one of the few star
names with any drawing power any more.
But one recent comedy she made hardly made a dent and when you see Phil
Traill’s All About Steve, you’ll see
why. It has an amusing performance by
Bullock as a wacky gal who becomes obsessed over an in-the-field cameraman
(Bradley Cooper) and will follow him anywhere in this attempt to open up the
occasional comedy we would call “the houseguest from hell”. It offers terrible improve moments, jokes
that usually don’t work and has an endless list of missed comedy
opportunities. This is actually still an
improvement from screenwriter Kim Barker, whose License To Wed (2007, reviewed elsewhere on this site) was one of
the worst would-be comedies of many recent years.
Still, Bullock is funny outside of the script and the
supporting cast including Thomas
Hayden Church,
Ken Jeong, Howard Hesseman, Keith David and Beth Grant try to make this work,
but it never does. Director Traill comes
from TV sitcom directing and just cannot make the transition to a
feature-length narrative, but maybe he’ll try writing his next project and
we’ll see what happens.
The 1080p 1.85 X 1 AVC @ 26 MBPS digital High Definition
image was shot on film, but this is a little soft throughout and color can be
odd. Director of Photography Tim
Suhrstedt (Extract, Idiocracy) knows how to lens a comedy,
but cannot save this either. The DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 track is shockingly weak and dialogue is limited and
practically monophonic throughout. The
mix is far too much towards the front speakers and center channel. Extras include Digital Copy for PC and PC
portable devices, cast/crew feature length audio commentary, a wacky duet, Gag
Reel & Deleted/Alternate Scenes all with optional audio commentary, Life After Film School episode with
Traill worth catching and three behind-the-scenes featurettes.
- Nicholas Sheffo
