Why So Blu?

All About Steve (Blu-ray Review)

Sandra Bullock seems to be effective in the comedic role, but why?  Is it the direction she’s given?  Is it the script she memorizes?  Sure, one or both of those play a role in her success in these types of films, but how about her God-given comedic timing?  She is truly underestimated from a critic standpoint in regard to this attribute though her films’ successes at the box office validate it.  Now throw in Bradley Cooper, Thomas Haden Church and Ken Jeong and you’ll get to know All About Steve.

Film 

Sandra Bullock stars as the very quirky Mary Horowitz; a cruciverbilist who takes her job to heart.  A what?  Oh, that’s someone who creates and designs crossword puzzles.  Mary is struggling at her newspaper job, trying to maintain the little foothold she has in keeping the crossword afloat.  Sure it’s one of the most commonly viewed sections of a newspaper, but her editor thinks otherwise. 

Suffering from a bit of the doldrums, Mary heads home to prepare for the inevitable blind date she’s been thinking about, arranged courtesy of the parents.  Not being much of an optimist, she heads downstairs to face her date who is none other than, well, Steve (Bradley Cooper).  Mary is instantly swept off her feet by the chiseled looks of her no-longer blind date and the chaos begins. 

Steve is a news crew cameraman who is teamed up with producer Angus (Ken Jeong) and vanity-laden reporter Hartman Hughes (Thomas Haden Church).  Needless to say, Steve’s duties send him around the country in a variety of situations that can range from protests to hurricanes.  Mary, not getting the hint, follows Steve from location to location in the hopes of winning him over.  The antics are ridiculously silly and quite often outlandish, but this is what makes the movie just plain fun.  Take it for a good 99 minutes of laughs as Bullock, whose expressions are priceless, becomes the very nerdy, red boot-sporting, overly talkative, ultra-hyper, giddy woman in love.  In the middle of it all, Steve is trying to avoid her, Hughes thinks he’s trying to win an anchor job when he’s really closer to getting fired and Angus has just about had it with everybody.  All About Steve isn’t going to win any awards but who needs those?  Enjoy this semi-romantic comedy for what it’s worth.

Video 

The film’s video comes across quite crisp with a vibrant palette in this 1080p presentation.  You will find an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with an AVC encode.  The enjoyability factor is only enhanced here with very little grain to speak of.  This is an example of night shots done right where the visual noise is kept to a minimum so your attention remains focused to the humorous story at hand.  The clarity is so good here it even picks up Mary’s slightly overdone makeup job.  Now those are some pink cheeks!

Audio 

The sound of this film hammers it home pretty impressively; not something I expected from a non-action flick.  Even during some of the extras on the disc does this attribute get highlighted to its max potential.  Dialogue was front-driven while music accented the film well through the rear channels in addition to those up front.  Your sub-woofer will not play possum here either.  There are some happening moments where you will experience some boom-boom bass.  It’s a very clear, intelligible track that I was not able to find many faults with.  Some scenes could have made more use of surround sound capabilities but other than that, it’s a high score here.

Special Features 

Of all the special features on this disc, only one was in the mundane standard definition presentation.  Everything else is brought to your homes in beautiful 1080i.  I would have to say this film had the best collection of extras I have encountered thus far on a Blu-ray film.  There were outtakes, spoof interviews, still photos and more to round out this very enjoyable roster of goodies.  There is also a second disc included containing a digital copy of the film.

• Commentary by Kim Barker (writer), Sandra Bullock, Thomas Haden Church, Bradley Cooper, Ken Jeong, and director Phil Traill
• Deleted/Alternate Scenes – Here we have 6 scenes not used in the film; Pandemic, Yamamotos, Old Cowboy, Upstage the Local Weather, Parents Call Steve, and Angus’ Rant.  Overall, you’re not seeing much entertainment value here but these can be viewed with the aforementioned commentary specific to these scenes (9:14).
• Gag Reel – A can’t-miss on the extras list, this features also has a commentary feature but I found it’s best watched without the interference of people talking over it.  There are a few good laughs waiting for you here.  I think it’s safe to say this was a fun movie to work on (5:29).
• Bradley Cooper & Ken Jeong’s A Capella Duet – It’s just weird.  The two stars perform an exaggerated song and embrace in front of rolling footage from All About Steve; commentary available (10:38).
• Hollywood Dish with Mena Micheletti – Please don’t pass this one up as it rivals the gag reel for laughs.  Reno 911‘s Kerri Kenney acts as fictitious show host Mena Micheletti while conducting mock interviews with the cast and pissing everyone off in the process (17:47).
• All About All About Steve – This is a backstage discussion with the writer, director, and various cast members about the film’s characters (10:38)
• Crew Snapshots to Mary’s Rap – I’m not sure who’s doing the rapping but those are some goofy lyrics.  This urban tune is all about Mary Horowitz while production stills alternate on the screen (3:26).
• Fox Movie Channel presents Life After Film School with Phil Traill – This is the only standard definition extra on the list.  Three film students have an in-depth discussion with All About Steve‘s director, Phil Traill (23:42).
• Trailers – There are two trailers here with a total runtime of 4:46.  The first trailer is for a film called Adam while the second is for 500 Days of Summer.

Final Thoughts 

It certainly didn’t out-do another 2009 romantic comedy of Sandra Bullock’s (The Proposal), but it was a good 99 minutes spent watching All About Steve.  I’m on the fence of buy versus rent here so I will give this movie the benefit of the doubt and lean toward the former, not the latter.  It’s not deep, it’s not powerful.  It’s just fun and there’s a good message at the end.  Oh, and speaking of the end, stick around after the credits.  There is still some footage, albeit brief, to be watched.  

 

Bring home All About Steve today!