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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.

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