Miss Congeniality (PG-13)
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Benjamin Bratt, Michael Caine, Candice Bergen
Release Date: December 22, 2000
Runtime: 1 hr. 49 mins.
Genre: Comedy, Action/Adventure
For her entire life, Gracie Hart has dreamed of emulating the career of her mother, Emily, a highly esteemed FBI agent who died in the line of duty. Unfortunately, Gracie's aggressive nature has branded her as a loose cannon, and the only one in the bureau who actually believes in her is fellow agent and friend, Eric Matthews. When a terrorist threatens to bomb the Miss United States pageant, the FBI rushes to find a female agent to go undercover as a contestant. Unfortunately, Gracie is the only female FBI agent who can "look the part" despite her complete lack of refinement and femininity. She prides herself in being "just one of the boys" and is horrified at the idea of becoming a girly girl. To assist her with the emergency assignment, the bureau enlists the help of Victor Melling, an obsessive and pompous pageant consultant, to transform Gracie from a "woman without a detectable smidgen of estrogen" to "Gracie Lou Freebush," glamorous beauty queen. Transformation complete, Gracie must get comfortable with the mercilessly driven and perfectly coifed contestants, infiltrate the pageant and thwart the terrorists.
Review
As an FBI agent undercover at a national beauty pageant,Sandra Bullockturns on the charm but struggles with a predictable screenplay which neverquite captures the crown.
Story
When the Miss United States Pageant is threatened by the ''Citizen,'' one of the country's most infamous criminals, the FBI decides to infiltrate the pageant with an undercover agent as a contestant. Searching for the ideal candidate, special agent Eric Matthews (Benjamin Bratt) recruits fellow agent Gracie Hart (Bullock), who might look good in a bathing suit but is decidedly anything but ladylike. With only 48 hours to prepare, pageant co-hosts Kathy Morningside (Candice Bergen) and Stan Fields (William Shatner) bring in beauty consultant Victor Melling (Michael Caine) to transform this ''Dirty Harriet'' into a credible beauty queen so she can nab the killer.
Acting
No stranger to ugly duckling fables (see ''Love Potion #9''), the alwayswinning Bullock (who also produced the film) makes a believabletransformation and works double-time to fill the light story with smirkymoments. ''Law & Order's'' Bratt turns up the testosterone a notch for his FBIboy's club role, but comes across as a little too brutish and seems an unlikely love interestfor Bullock. Academy Award winner Caine enjoys himself and has the bestlines of the bunch as the aging fashion fruitcake advisor. Shatner andBergen are amusing but underused as the Martha Stewart/Bert Parks-likepageant co-hosts.
Direction
Phoning in this Pygmalian update with by-the-numbers storytelling and uninspired direction, Donald Petrie (''Grumpy Old Men,'' ''Mystic Pizza'') fails to mine the comic gold here, instead opting for easy laughs and predictable motions with such an obvious target. The formulaic screenplay (credited to Marc ''Forces of Nature'' Lawrence, Katie ''Mary & Rhoda'' Ford and Caryn ''The Nanny'' Lucas) has some inspired moments, like Gracie's water glass act and her emergency Starbucks run, but the bulk of the writing and set pieces need serious bathing suit padding.
Bottom line
A cute premise that fails to live up to its promise, this debutante isentirely dependent on Bullock's charm and should have prepped more for thebox-office pageant.
Synopsis
For her entire life, Gracie Hart has dreamed of emulating the career of her mother, Emily, a highly esteemed FBI agent who died in the line of duty. Unfortunately, Gracie's aggressive nature has branded her as a loose cannon, and the only one in the bureau who actually believes in her is fellow agent and friend, Eric Matthews. When a terrorist threatens to bomb the Miss United States pageant, the FBI rushes to find a female agent to go undercover as a contestant. Unfortunately, Gracie is the only female FBI agent who can "look the part" despite her complete lack of refinement and femininity. She prides herself in being "just one of the boys" and is horrified at the idea of becoming a girly girl. To assist her with the emergency assignment, the bureau enlists the help of Victor Melling, an obsessive and pompous pageant consultant, to transform Gracie from a "woman without a detectable smidgen of estrogen" to "Gracie Lou Freebush," glamorous beauty queen. Transformation complete, Gracie must get comfortable with the mercilessly driven and perfectly coifed contestants, infiltrate the pageant and thwart the terrorists.