Review: All About Steve (12A)**

She was on hysterical form as a book editor threatened with deportation in the smash hit romantic comedy, The Proposal, co-starring Ryan Reynolds. And with her role as a crusading mom in the true-life sporting drama, The Blind Side, which touches down in the UK on March 12, she became the first actress in history to headline a female-driven film grossing more than $200m at the US box office.

To top it all, it looks almost certain that she will be Oscar nominated as Best Actress for the inspirational role.

Alas, her complete faith as producer and actress in Phil Traill's quirky romantic comedy is horribly misplaced.

There is a germ of a good idea in Kim Barker's screenplay, which deviates from many of the cliches, but the execution is lacking and several scenes fall horribly flat, like when the kooky heroine hitches a lift with a trucker and cheerfully remarks: "Hey Norm, thanks for not raping me."

That said, Bullock has an innate gift for physical comedy and she polishes some otherwise dull scenes, providing a few hard-won laughs.

Mary Horowitz (Bullock) is a socially inept crossword puzzle compiler for The Sacramento Herald, who follows three golden rules: Is it solvable? Is it entertaining? Does it sparkle?

She lives with her parents while her apartment is fumigated, and they set her up on a blind date with Steve (Bradley Cooper), a cameraman for television news channel CCN.

Mary is instantly smitten with handsome Steve and she flings herself at him on the date, undressing him hurriedly in his van and squealing: "I'm going to eat you like a mountain lion!"

He panics, makes his excuses and leaves.

Soon after, the eccentric cruciverbalist loses her job and surmises that fate is telling her to follow Steve.

All About Steve is a film you want to love but for all of the leading lady's hard work, we spend more time fidgeting than smiling.

Despite Mary's quirks and obsessive behaviour, Bullock finds a sweetness and vulnerability to the character, but Cooper is bland – a fault of the ramshackle script – and more gags miss their target entirely than glance a blow, aside from when one character sighs: "Where's a decent tragedy when you need one?" and the universe duly answers.