For the longest time, Sandra Bullock was America’s sweetheart. It wasn’t just because she was a great romantic lead. It wasn’t for her superior drama chops. Those facts do both contribute to her star power. But it was, more than anything, because she’s funny. Most people saw her for the first time in a comedic context. And even in action movies like SPEED, she offered the most potent comic relief during tense situations.

Now, with Sandra Bullock's new movie, THE LOST CITY, Bullock is returning to comedy. The film, which co-stars Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, and Brad Pitt, finds Bullock in her most comfortable place: making wisecracks while crazy things happen all around her.

As we prepare for THE LOST CITY’s March 24 release date, let’s take a look back at Sandra Bullock’s best comedy roles.

This extremely early Bullock film stretches credibility as it features Sandra Bullock as a nerd who cannot generate any romantic interest in her life. Her character and her equally nerdy scientist partner invent an aerosol spray that, once applied, makes the subject insanely desirable to anyone who hears their voice. Bullock’s performance might be the only thing about this film that has actually aged well.

While LOVE POTION #9 was a smaller video store title many people might have missed, DEMOLITION MAN serves as a major introduction to Bullock’s style. Here she plays a chipper, enthusiastic cop who is obsessed with the 20th Century. This manifests in many scenes in which she constantly misuses aphorisms. It’s a great performance that easily doubles the film’s entertainment value.

Sandra Bullock is so likable that she was able to carry this rather bizarre romantic comedy which finds her character falling in love with the brother of a coma patient while pretending to be the coma patient’s fianceé. Yes, that’s the plot. And people loved it!

At a certain point, Bullock traded her “aw shucks” charisma for a more adult “person who gets stuff done” charisma. That transition is illustrated perfectly in MISS CONGENIALITY, in which Sandra Bullock plays a serious FBI agent who must go undercover as a beauty pageant contestant. The film works due to Bullock's performance, but we also have to give major credit to the great William Shatner.

Bullock brought her no-nonsense comedy persona to this romantic charmer about a tough boss who makes her assistant marry her in order to keep from getting deported back to Canada. Of course, they fall in love for real by the end of the film. And since it’s Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, we’re all pretty okay with that outcome. But if they didn’t fall in love it would be a very strange movie, is all we’re saying.

When it comes to comedic Sandra Bullock performances, it doesn’t get much larger than ALL ABOUT STEVE, in which Bullock plays a crossword writer who becomes obsessed with and stalks a cameraman played by Bradley Cooper. Bullock won a Razzie for this one, and she totally deserved it. But in a good way.

You’d think that a movie in which Sandra Bullock plays a straight-laced FBI agent who must team up with a sloppy, foul-mouthed cop played by Melissa McCarthy would easily be stolen by McCarthy. But you’d be wrong. While supplying THE HEAT with an obvious “straight woman” against McCarthy’s antics, it’s actually Bullock who ends up with the best moments in this one. The tracheotomy scene alone is a comedy masterclass.

THE LOST CITY is in theatres now!

All images courtesy of Paramount Pictures.