AUGUSTA, GA - Stalkers aren’t funny as a general rule, but in the film world they can be entertaining when viewers clearly understand they’re watching fiction. Adding the role of lunatic stalker to her résumé, Sandra Bullock still can’t seem to escape from her life sentence of romantic comedy hell. Luckily for the leading lady in her mid-40s, her new flick features Bradley Cooper, the star of summer’s sleeper hit “The Hangover.”

Bullock’s most recent film, “The Proposal,” was a formulaic but well-intended rom-com with a plot well in line with the actress’ other career-versus-relationship flicks like “Two Weeks Notice” and “Miss Congeniality.”

Stepping somewhat out of her element, Bullock plays a character whose demeanor is far from calm in “All About Steve.” On the contrary, she is an eccentric oddball who
obsessively chases a television news cameraman named Steve (Cooper) around the country after one blind date.

Thomas Haden Church co-stars as a hot-shot cable news reporter who helps Bullock in her pursuit of Steve, whose reluctance to deal with a quirky woman who shamelessly throws herself at him is understandable. Bullock’s slapstick antics and general neediness in this flick could make some men feel a tad uneasy between laughs.

Scottish actor Gerard Butler has tested out several movie genres, like the war epic graphic novel “300” and the cute but predictable Katherine Heigl rom-com “The Ugly Truth.” This week, Butler goes for new-age action hero in “Gamer.”

This flick comes from the minds of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the writing and directing duo behind the Jason Statham- fronted “Crank” movies. Butler plays the hero figure in an online video game where players control his movements in a war-torn virtual environment. The catch is that Butler’s character wasn’t created by programmer
masterminds; he is a real person and a death- row inmate who just wants to survive his time in the video game and find his wife and daughter. Unfortunately, no one has ever escaped the game.

“Dexter” star Michael C. Hall plays the villain, while other familiar faces in the cast include rapper Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and “The Closer” star Kyra Sedgwick.

Mike Judge is best known as the creative mind behind crude characters like “Beavis and Butthead” and the slacker rednecks on “King of the Hill.” This week he’s taking a shot at a flick with real people in it once again, hoping to measure the success of his 1999 hit comedy “Office Space.”

“Extract” is another comedy focusing on the workplace doldrums. Jason Bateman (“Juno,” “Hancock”) plays the boss at a sweetener factory full of accident-prone, dissatisfied workers. His wife (“SNL”’s Kristen Wiig) isn’t affectionate and withholds sex while a hot new temp employee (Mila Kunis, formerly of “That ’70s Show”) catches his attention. A long-haired Ben Affleck also stars in this Labor Day opener about a jaded workforce.

Horror fans are well acquainted with virus outbreak plotlines and the freakiness of outrunning diseased people who have mutated horribly because of their pandemic illnesses.

Chris Pine (“Star Trek”) stars in “Carriers,” a thriller similar to “28 Days Later,” where a small group of friends struggles to survive as an aggressive disease threatens to wipe out the human race.