Sandra Bullock used to make somewhat interesting movies. They were kind of light, and fun and she played a little kooky really well. She was great in Miss Congeniality and Murder by Numbers and showed her acting chops in Crash and as Harper Lee in Infamous (the Truman Capote movie no one saw but was pretty good.)
So what the hell has happened? Is it an age thing? Is it a script thing? Her most recent films The Lake House and Premonition were just dreadful, and made around $50 million each. Not great. Her last real success was in 2002 with Two Weeks Notice co-starring Hugh Grant (the man is a chick flick success magnet!)
But the problem is her next two films, The Proposal (opening this spring) and All About Steve (opening this fall) not only look painful, it seems that her characters have crossed over from kooky to certifiably crazy. I don’t like this trend at all. In The Proposal which is directed by Anne Fletcher (27 Dresses) Bullock plays a mean executive who abuses her assistant played by Ryan Reynolds. Turns out she’s from Canada and is about to be deported so she forces him to marry her or lose his job. This is not the intense and driven career women we have seen Diane Keaton or Sigourney Weaver play in Baby Boom and Working Girl. This is just plain old crazy.
She also stars in All About Steve where she plays a stalker! who after one date with a weatherman played by Bradley Cooper stalks him at work until he comes around and realizes he likes her. Awww. Gross. Stalk a guy enough and in the end he’ll discover some endearing traits about you and fall in love. The blame for this script goes to a woman Kim Barker who write the equally pathetic License to Wed.
Even more disturbing is that the trailers don’t even try to hide the contempt for her characters or show any redemption at the end. And these are supposed to be romantic comedies. They seem to enjoy playing up the fact that she is crazy.
The more I learn about the films coming out this year the more upset I get. It’s like the hatred for women — and not surprisingly I can’t just blame the guys for this crap. A woman directed The Proposal and a woman wrote All About Steve. I know that everyone needs to pay the bills and needs jobs but PLEASE think about what a young couple on a date will think about women when they see these movies. That women are crazy and need to stalk a guy to get him to love him. It feels not only like the positive energy of 2008 has been destroyed but that we are being punished for it.
Trailer for The Proposal:
Trailer for All About Steve:
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Not to mention the complete sexism of “The Proposal”! If this were a movie about a man forcing a female employee to marry him people would be up in arms!!
To be honest, in “All About Steve” she seems more “kooky” than “crazy” (not to mention WAY to skinny), but still not a positive portrayal of women.
No, it’s her gender that’s causing her career downfall. She’s slowly becoming the next Demi Moore and Meg Ryan, ugh.
Jennifer Aniston better watch out cos she’s next!
I really liked The Lake House. And Premonition was trippy. I think she was going for something beyond conventional rom com with both of those choices, and they clearly were not as successful financially as she would have hoped.
Bullock is turning seriously nasty. In both The Proposal and The Blind Side, she (or she’ll blame the writers) employ castration jokes. Try using one of those on a female character (like the Arabs do).
Remember Rosie “Fire Can’t Melt Steel” O’Donnell? She also used to be called the Queen of Nice.
Bullock is turning nasty feminist, and I won’t miss her when she’s gone.
I am trying to do a report on this lady and I don’t think my teacher will want drama on their so can you stick to her career and not her personal drama. ._.
I am trying to do a report on this lady and I don’t think my teacher will want drama on their so can you stick to her career and not her personal drama. ._.
{ 1 trackback }