Mary Horowitz (Sandra Bullock) is a crossword puzzle writer for a Sacramento, California newspaper. As brilliant as her puzzles are, her life is not—she’s socially awkward, lives with her parents, and her only friend is her hamster Carol. After a talk at a school career day where the children make fun of her obsession with words and her red patent leather go-go boots, Mary drags home to face a blind date that her parents set up with Steve Mueller (Bradley Cooper), a cameraman for a cable news channel. Contrary to her belief that he’s probably gay Steve turns out to be handsome and charming, and Mary is immediately smitten. When they go out to his car she attempts to pounce on him but is thwarted by the seat belt; eventually she succeeds. Steve is excited at first, but quickly finds Mary’s incessant talking about random facts and their destiny to be together very scary. He is saved by a phone call from work, which takes him out of Mary’s clutches. He says he has to go, and that life on the road is tough. He wishes she could join him, but since she has an important job it just won’t work out. He gives her an umbrella as a gift and escorts her out of his car before taking off into the night.
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