Perhaps you've seen "Adam," the film about a guy with Asperger's syndrome meeting a girl without it. If you have, then you might think "All About Steve" heroine Mary Horowitz also lives with that form of high-functioning autism.
Gamely portrayed by Sandra Bullock, she's extremely bright if socially clueless, ultra-chatty about things that interest her (though not necessarily her listeners) and a tad obsessive.
To wit: After a blind date with handsome news cameraman Steve, she's smitten. The date was ever so brief.
Not only is Mary taken, she becomes attentive enough that Steve believes he has a stalker.
There's a flimsy notion at play in Kim Barker's screenplay that a delusional woman is funny, not menacing. (Two words: "fatal" "attraction.")
That said, Bradley Cooper — of the radiant blue eyes — portrays worry but never repulsion at the attentions of the crossword-puzzle constructor's misguided affections.
Still, for a spell, "All About Steve" feels like yet another romantic comedy about a smart woman who is simply stupid without a guy to complete her.
Co-workers celebrate an engagement as she looks on. Her boss at a small Sacramento paper tells her to relax, "Be normal." It's a directive she has to jot down, it's that foreign a goal.
By keeping us guessing whether finding Mr. Right is the moral, the movie remains a cut above romantic-comedy hooey like "The Ugly Truth."
"All About Steve" is slight but pleasantly so. The PG-13 rating allows for some frisky foreplay and nudging innuendo.
Thomas Haden Church is Hartman, the CCN reporter angling to become an anchor. Seemingly condemned to the role of cad, Church suggest it's second nature, playing arrogant then vaguely remorseful.
Ken Jeong ("The Hangover") is Angus, Hartman's and Steve's colleague and conscience. Keith David is their incredulous boss.
As the three newsmen hopscotch the country tracking breaking news, Mary follows the media circus.
Steve tells her to scoot. Hartman fuels her fantasies.
The comedy is often applied in broad strokes. Outside a hospital where two camps have faced off about a baby with a birth anomaly, Angus tells Hartman and Steve to get some tasteful interviews. Cue the big black woman and the tasteless.
But there's the sweet-tempered, too. Mary meets two freaks and geeks who add a nice bump to her daffy quest.
Mary is a character with enough contradictions to attract the likes of Bullock, who's all for a challenge. Her role as a demon boss in Manolos in "The Proposal" earlier this summer is a case in point.
For her part, Mary's footwear of choice is a pair of cherry red go-go boots. They're made more for gawking than walking, but what the heck.
Despite her downward-tilted head and her nattering ways, Mary really does want to connect. Watching her realize this isn't deep but it is sweet.