Miss Congeniality 1 & 2, 2000, 2004

Miss Congeniality 1 & 2, 2000, 2004
Director: Donald Petrie; John Pasquin
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine (1); Regina King (2), Benjamin Brett (1)



Stage: home theatre, two Thursdays in a row. TV selection

The first part in short: Undercover FBI agent Gracie Hart shows no signs of having any femininity in her demeanor or appearance. Generally a bright and capable agent, she is in trouble at work when she makes an error in judgment in a case which results in a near disaster. As such, one of her by-the-books colleagues, Eric Matthews, who has never shown any inclination of thinking outside the box, is assigned to lead the high profile case of a terrorist coined The Citizen instead of her, while she is facing possible disciplinary action. Gracie pieces together the evidence to determine that The Citizen's next target will be the Miss United States beauty pageant. The pageant represents everything that Gracie abhors. Despite Gracie's mannish demeanor, Eric, with no other undercover female agent remotely fitting the demographic, assigns her to go undercover as a pageant contestant to see if she can flush out The Citizen...

The second part in short: After Cheryl Frasier and Stan Fields are kidnapped, Gracie goes undercover in Las Vegas to find them. (really in short :)


Preps: I cannot help it, Sandra Bullock is one of the cutest actresses in the whole world. As much as I can say that the movies she works in, are more or less stupid comedies, I cannot resist watching her. In my honest opinion, she could do more work like the Blind Side (oscar!), however, these two pieces are a typical selection, where she would normally cast and where she is notorious (famous).




Reality: Well, the first part takes you to the "miss USA" pageant and all the miracles that go with it. The behaviour, the make up, the fallen legend and the next hot thing in the oven. Meaning, I truly need to clean my obstacles before stopping laughing like I have never before. Now, to be really honest, the director took a deep dive into the world of laughter (from being a smartass at the police force, a tough woman without a single female cell in the body, to graceful Gracie Hart. My ironic veins were pouring when I was looking at that piece. Obviously I think Sandra is great. But only with the tone of the voice and the poses she makes, the funny laughter and the scenes themselves. Apart from that I don't think she is giving a good cast here, neither she's very into this role. But in general it suits her normal roles in more stupid romantic comedies, obviously she will also have a romantic fling,.. anyhow. The movie that cannot dissappoint you, if you are looking for a family Sunday evening fun. It will make you laugh, even more, it will make you admire the miss pageant (imagine that :) and it will make you think world piece. All in all, it does what romantic comedies are supposed to do. Love the characters and spread the love afterwards. However, this is a tough genre, lots of movies screaming for attention. This isn't one of the best, least said. i would place it on the other side of the curve. Nevertheless, I admit my affection towards Sandra and I will always watch it when on TV. Maybe one of the more stupid reasons I can name, but this is deriving from the heart, not really the mind. If you need to listen to my mind, don't waste your time on this piece (saying this for both of them), because it's really a waste of time.

Now, if I am more than swallowing the first part, the second part is merely a shadow of a first one. No imagination, scenes that cannot be real. Obviously a happy ending, obviously they need to attach it to the first part. Have you ever noticed how rare a movie lives up to the expectations if it's a sequel? In theory, a director should at least watch the first part before making the second one. The second part is simply stupid and underestimates the intelligence of the audience (ok, and so does 95 % of all romantic comedies, however in this one this is REALLY obvious). What was the director or script writer thinking, I don't know. They might have been high when agreeing on this. It's really a pain to the eyes to watch and I strongly speak against. Despite the fact I have my lovely Sandra. Even she cannot save the party for me.


My personal rating: 1. part - 6,0 (watchable); 2.part - 2,0 (blaaaaah. don't. seriously. Don't :)


Miss on IMDB 1 and on IMDB 2