When Sandra Bullock causes me to write run-on sentences

For the last fifty years here in America, the running gag has been that ‘The French’ like Jerry Lewis. As we’re very big on compartmentalizing, we assume every last one of them adores him, from the peaks of The Bellboy (1960) to the valleys of Which Way to the Front? (1970). Therefore, I’d like to direct them and Jerry lovers the world over to All About Steve (2009). If I were to compare it as I would a ripened wine, let’s say it shares the bouquet of The Big Mouth (1967) with the body of Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968), Jerry’s wild, as-yet-unnamed late-60s epoch where he defied so much of what was holy. Age and health issues prevent Mr. Lewis from working as he once did, and you may find it rather bizarre that his long, floppy clown shoes are now being worn by none other than Sandra Bullock.

    Yes, this is a jerk movie; and Sandra, although talented, capable, attractive and desirable, has made a career out of playing ugly, annoying or ill-mannered types who are often punished into submission. Look over her body of work and try to find one film where there wasn’t something mentally or physically off about the people she’s played and the road they take. Forget the temptation to blame agents, writers or directors; she’s got the clout to be her own producer and oversee her films down to the last frame. In the case of All About Steve, she does a burlesque on Anne Baxter’s Eve in All About Eve (1950), transforming her from ruthless ladder-climber into a nervous chatterbox stalker/predator in red plastic boots bent on hooking up with an unsuspecting schlub played by Bradley Cooper, with Thomas Haden Church as yet another clown in an ill-advised side-story, reminding me that Jerry’s co-star in Don’t Raise the Bridge… was Terry-Thomas, who was often funnier than Jerry just as Mr. Church can be in relation to Ms. Bullock. This is a very strange mix and an equally strange movie, and I found myself looking deep and hard at the screen for nearly all of its 99 minutes, bewildered by the directions it took. Just like in the old days with Jerry.