I have loved 57-year-old Sandy Bullock for more years than I can remember. When I was online dating, my profile used different character names of hers and I wrote about my choices in my previous blog, calling her my “alternate universe best friend.”

JUST this side of creepy.

Why do I love Sandy so much? Let me count the ways!

I could tell you what everyone else says about her talents, her loving family life and her incredibly generous, done on DL philanthropy… but instead, I’m going to share with you what her characters have taught me.

Bonus: Sandy’s chemistry with every single one of her co-stars in these films is #couplegoals.

Again, is she part celestial being? Asking for a friend.

Speed

“Get your ass behind the yellow line!”

Annie literally saves the day and a busload of some frankly irritating passengers instead of mooning at Jack the whole movie. Now THAT is some kind of will power… I mean, this is Keanu at his most hotness. Come on. Then she tells him to leave her to die alone, handcuffed to the bus pole. Wow. Could you BE any more selfless?

I would like to be as plucky, sarcastic and physically brave in any situation as Annie, let alone with a ticking bomb. I do hate driving and I would immediately launch myself at Keanu like a fired missile butt!

Where would we be without aspirations? And by we, I mean me.

Miss Congeniality

“You think I’m gorgeous… you want to kiss me… you want to hug me… you want to love me…”

I identify with this Gracie Hart FBI ugly duckling into a beauty contest swan on a deeply personal level. While not ever needing to be crowned, my own “teenaged boy from the 70s” style will ensure that I would never even get into the audience to watch the show.

Also still waiting for an airplane hangar’s worth of people to fashionably transform me, fyi.

And while Gracie crushes her job, her incredibly awkward, social interaction aka flirting with the very fit Benjamin Bratt? Check. But also like her, I would want to excel at my work and do what I know is right, regardless of authority stating otherwise.

Hope Floats

“Once upon a time, your mama knew what it meant to shine.”

I love love love Sandy in this completely underrated film. As Birdie Pruitt, humiliated by her husband and best friend on daytime TV, she flees back to her Southern hometown. Former Queen of Corn royalty, she’s now an emotionally absent mother and an ungrateful daughter. #deadinside

How Birdie discovers herself not just as a reflection of how others see her – Stepford wife, popular girl, crazy mother – is a delicately filmed journey. And Harry Connick Jr. does such great work as someone who has known and loved her for a very long time…

I would wish for Birdie’s resilience. And her Southern accent. And definitely Harry aka Justin Matisse, architect and hotty with a heart of gold.

While You Were Sleeping

“The truth was that I fell in love with you… all of you. I went from being all alone to being a fiancée, a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister and a friend.”

I may or may not have fantasized about a handsome guest or two while working at a five-star hotel… because I’ve been single forEVER and invisible to the naked eye since I turned 50. Of course.

I feel Lucy Moderatz’s loneliness to the bone.

I have also been estranged from most of my family for a very long time. Would I die to be adopted and take a side of loving parents and siblings to go with my comatose fiancé?

Yes, please.

And how much are you a fangirl of furniture building, low key amazing Bill Pullman versus flashy, trashy Peter Gallagher? And by you, again I mean me.

I would want Lucy M’s honesty, giving up her dream come true under dodgy circumstances, and for sure, I’d want her happy ending with the man she really falls in love with.

Two Weeks Notice

“Please don’t tell me you called me out of a wedding to pick out a suit.”

As Lucy Kelson, Sandy segues from a crunchy, construction protesting hippy to corporate lawyer/ hand holder of billionaire playboy George Wade, played with irresponsible charm by Hugh Grant.

Watching Lucy wield her principles at George, who is addicted to her organizational skills and ability to make decisions, is so satisfying. She is so crisp! He is so malleable and this side of sleezy! It’s a match made in Slurpy Heaven!

I have real admiration for a life well regimented and that is Lucy K. Wound a tad too tight, even for a twisty bobcat pretzel? I can relate. Making a stand for those same principles that George dodges so well? I would wish to be that firm in my conviction.

Conclusion

I honestly can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched these Sandy standards but every quote brought back a flood of happy viewing memories.

Do I know these are just made up people? Yes.

Do I still love and attribute their every goodness to my otherworldly bestie?

Ummmm, of course.

Are you a Bullock stalwart as well? Did I mention all your faves or did I miss some? Shout out to The Proposal, The Blind Side and The Heat! And what do you think it is about Sandy that encourages long term, lightly obsessed love?