A-List: Top Five Sandra Bullock Roles
By J. Don Birnam
July 16, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
When Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her role as the Southern belle in The Blind Side, the popular narrative was that this was Hollywood’s reward and recognition of her as a consistent and reliable box office draw, much like when Julia Roberts won her Oscar. Given how lukewarmly the movie was received by critics (but not by audiences, who loved The Blind Side), there is perhaps some truth to that narrative - Hollywood likes to recognize its own, and Bullock fills up the movie theater, so it was her turn.
True: some of the movies she has been in would have made money likely regardless of her. Indeed, despite my opening paean, Minions likely was going to be a box office hit no matter what. But it is also clear that her star power has brought in people to the seats for vehicles such as The Heat and The Proposal. Can you believe that the latter (a movie which I confess to really enjoying) brought in over $300 million at the worldwide box office? Surely, the stunning success of that movie alone (and, no, it wasn’t thanks to Ryan Reynolds - who?) helped launch her to the podium of the Kodak Theater in 2009.
So today, I will look at some of her memorable roles. Bullock has had an up and down career, if you ask me, in the 20+ years that she’s been a legit Hollywood star. Epic disasters such as the internally inconsistent but-hilarious-if-you’re-hallucinating Premonition are best forgotten. The dishonorable list doesn’t end there, with the peaked-too-soon-before-the-Internet The Net also a movie worth discarding from her pile. And while I have to admit that I was moved by Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, given that it is the lowest-rated Best Picture nominee in almost a half century, I’m going to guess that most people reading this - including Bullock? - would prefer to forget this film.
I’ll try to focus the list on what Bullock’s good performances were, as opposed to the quality of the movie itself, but this is hard to do, particularly given some of the uneven roles that Hollywood gives women.
Before I begin, I’ll mention another honorable mention, aside from the obvious The Blind Side: Crash. If you’ve been following this space, you know I have a love-hate relationship with the film, like many Oscar bloggers do with many Best Picture winners, and I won’t go into the reasons for this one again. Suffice to say that Bullock did a good job in this one - it was one of her first serious roles that come off as believably (no, A Time To Kill really wasn’t one of them), and you actually feel sympathy (but also pity) for the scared but unfortunately racist privileged woman she plays. Funnily enough, that theme shares a connection to her role in The Blind Side.
As it turns out, Bullock’s roles often tend to be related, or even mirror images of each other. Who would have guessed?
5. Speed (1994)
The movie that put her on the map was really a Keanu Reeves vehicle, but it is Bullock who stole the show. Keanu is the cop in the lead, who is trying to save a bus full of people from blowing up under a terrorist’s ransom. But he finds an unexpected ally in Bullock, a passenger on the bus taken out of her comfort zone and forced into acts of bravery she didn’t know she was capable of.
Bullock is thus put in the middle of the action for the whole movie, and plays a pivotal role. For a basically unknown actress at the time, Bullock nailed it, and she did what she would prove later to do best: play the mostly helpless but endearing and charming girl. She’s not stunningly gorgeous a la Margot Robbie, she’s more witty, lovable, and even intelligent. You simply must root for her; she’s the ultimate understated heroine.
4. While You Were Sleeping (1995)
And fresh off the heels of her international success in Speed, Bullock made what is perhaps one of her few true romantic movies (most of the other romantic-type movies she’s made, including some to be found later on the list, have her playing a much different role and are more rom-coms). Here, Bullock plays a lonely subway worker who is secretly in love with a man she sees commuting every day. One day, she saves him from death but he falls into a coma, and the man’s family comes to believe that she’s his secret fiancée. Eventually, she falls in love with the family but, even worse (or better?) with the patient’s brother.
The story is as sappy as it is touching, as trite and clichéd as it is moving. With her puffy, pouty looks, Bullock simply nails the pity that one is supposed to feel for the lonesome woman who is happy to be in love with and have a family.
The outcome is as cheesy as the set-up, but you really can’t help fall in love with Bullock and with how emotional she is about the whole ordeal. As I mentioned, Bullock would never really reprise this role (the role of the starry-eyed, hopeless romantic) ever again, and for that reason alone this movie is noteworthy and deserving of the #4 spot.
3. Two Weeks Notice (2002)
In what was to become one of her core typecasts, Bullock arguably first introduced the too-busy-for-love, independent-minded but strong-willed woman that she would later replace endlessly like in The Proposal, in the 2002 rom-com Two Weeks Notice. Here, she stars opposite Hugh Grant, who is a greedy playboy to Bullock’s charming, witty, innocent, and lovable environmentalist lawyer. She ends up working for him but quits when his demands become unfair (sound familiar? The role reversal in The Proposal is obvious).
What is so good about this movie is that it clicks all the clichés and stereotypes of rom-coms again, as Bullock’s movies tend to do, but it’s just so much more enjoyable seeing it from her than from the myriad of other leading ladies that have attempted and failed at this genre. Indeed, Bullock, Julia Roberts, and Meg Ryan are perhaps the top three leading ladies of that generation, and Two Weeks Notice proves why: for all its obvious, predictable plot twists and turns, you care for the caring character, you’re charmed by the charming smile, and you are made to laugh by Sandra’s goofy demeanor.
2. Gravity (2013)
I think someone could write a thesis about Bullock’s filmography, and they would be able to conclude that she makes three types of movies. Serious, thoughtful roles (The Blind Side, Crash, A Time to Kill), bad-ass action movies (The Net, Speed, and now, Gravity), and rom-coms (mostly of the “tough woman who doesn’t have time for a man” variety - The Proposal, Two Weeks Notice). (Perhaps most women in Hollywood are forced into these boxes but with Bullock it seems clearer).
In any event, of the action genre, there is no doubt that Gravity comes out on top, and today occupies the #2 slot on the list. The movie itself is, as we know, fantastically made, and a former Best Picture winner at the Calvins here at BOP. But one can really say a lot about Bullock’s performance that does not even involve Cuaron’s genius. Bullock, essentially, is the film.
The story is about a woman with a sad past who finds herself with a renewed will to live when she is marooned in space by a serious of catastrophes. Bullock displays a full panoply of complex emotions - fear, resignation, sadness, and a renewed passion to live. Essentially, Bullock proved that she deserved her The Blind Side Oscar. (Spoiler alert) The scene where she communicates with a man on Earth whom she cannot understand, and later when she awakens from her George Clooney-dream and shuttles on back to Earth, is spine-tingling. The fact that she did all of this in an uncomfortable, heavy suit, being spun-around in front of a blue screen for hours in front of Alfonso Cuaron’s camera is also quite impressive.
In truth, Gravity is likely the best performance of Bullock’s career. But it is a different role that is my personal favorite…
1. Miss Congeniality (2000)
To me, Miss Congeniality is by far the best of the best, and the most representative of the Bullock movies. Indeed, every single one of her other movies is in a way derivative from this one (yes, even those that preceded it, somehow). Too-busy-for-love but independent woman? Check. Strong-willed? Check. Witty, lovable, and even intelligent? Check. On top of all of that, you have Bullock in a moment of danger (Gravity), chase sequences (Speed), police fire (The Heat), serious murder plot (A Time To Kill), and adorable, signature Bullock laughter.
In other words, Miss Congeniality is Bullock redux, and it is fair to wonder whether the title of the movie was simply meant to be an eponymous reference to the lead actress in the movie itself. Bullock, in other words, has come to embody most of the aspects of Gracie Hart, the character. She is not necessarily the epitome of the archetypical beauty you see in a pageant, but she is undoubtedly attractive if dressed up well. She can be rough around the edges at times, in her roles and in her demeanor, but she has a debonair smile that melts most. And she may be difficult to crack but is ultimately endearing enough to keep them coming back for more and more of her movies. But most fundamentally, it is in a popularity contest that she shines the brightest, even if she’s purposefully or actually aloof about it.
She is a true Miss Congeniality (but let’s forget about the god-awful sequel).