Sandra Bullock Wins Both Best and Worst Actress

March 8, 2010 — -- How many actresses can win awards for best and worst actress in the same weekend?

Sandra Bullock pulled off that feat Sunday, when she was awarded the Oscar for best actress for Oscar "The Blind Side" a day after receiving the Golden Raspberry for worst actress in "All About Steve."

Bullock's road to the Oscars has been paved with hits and misses. But "Blind Side" seemed to offer the Academy an opportunity to at last honor the 45-year-old actress.

Earlier this year, she scored a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award for her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy.

Critics agree that because of those wins, Bullock's body of work and the Academy's desire to recognize recognizable stars, the actress was favored over perenial nominee Meryl Streep to win.

"She's a very serious actress," said film critic David Thomson, author of the 2008 book "Have You Seen ... ? A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films."

"I think she's just lovely," said Thomson, "but I think she got nominated because the Academy is in a desperate state and has hardly any mainstream candidates around anymore."

"So the Academy searches around and it sees that Sandra had a good year and it reckons to award her for that, for being a good trooper," Thomson said. "She's done good work. She's got a lot of friends in the industry."

Bullock may have won because, according to Thomson's theory, she's "popular, and this might be a year in which popularity wins through."

Bullock kept up her pseudo-feud with Streep, which began at the start of the awards season. When Streep went to hug Bullock on her way up to accept the Oscar, Bullock jokingly rebuffed her.

Earlier she told The Associated Press how the whole thing got started.