It's a sad point to make for a movie as clumsily manipulative as "All About Steve." It's one of those fiascoes that occurs when a big star uses clout to power a dead-weight caprice. Early on, even in nonactors' productions like "Speed," Bullock displayed admirable ease with the mid-spectrum of emotion; she began to show a new maturity a few years ago in the thriller "Murder by Numbers."
With "All About Steve" she finally manages to erase every ounce of her natural vivacity. She isn't enough of a virtuoso to pull off a role that's written like a cracked thesaurus. Thomas Haden Church redeems a moment or two of screen time in the role of a macho cable-news correspondent with a heart almost as big as his head. But he shares more chemistry with his producer, played with sly intelligence by that reliable scene-stealer Ken Jeong, than he does with his cameraman, Steve. And Steve himself is a blank - all the better for the filmmakers to twist him this way or that.
