Dutifully follows each cliché to its painfully obvious conclusion.
Miss Congeniality (2000)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:112
Fresh:45
Rotten:67
Average Rating:5/10
Consensus: Though critics say Bullock is funny and charming, she can't overcome a bad script that makes the movie feel too much like a fluffy, unoriginal sitcom.
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Genre: Comedies
US Box Office: $105,541,467
Synopsis:
The Miss United States Pageant, hallowed and revered home of American beauty for the past fifty years, has received a threat from one of the country's most infamous criminals, the "Citizen." The...
The Miss United States Pageant, hallowed and revered home of American beauty for the past fifty years, has received a threat from one of the country's most infamous criminals, the "Citizen." The F.B.I. has been tracking this psychopath forever as his rampage of bombings, shootings and arson terrorizes the nation. This may finally be their chance to nab him.
The plan? Simple. Get one of their agents into the pageant, undercover, as a contestant. Fix the judging so she's on stage right to the end, in the "top five." Equip her with a state of the art surveillance equipment. Finding that agent? Not so simple.
A computer search of all available female agents turns out a decidedly unphotogenic group, except for Special Agent Gracie Hart (SANDRA BULLOCK). She looks terrific on the computer in a bathing suit; she might even fool everyone in an evening gown, especially if she puts a brush to her hair. But Gracie doesn't own a brush. Or a dress. Or high heels. Or as her fellow agent and head of the undercover operation, Eric Matthews (BENJAMIN BRATT) puts it; she's a "car wreck." And Gracie has no desire to join the ranks of what she refers to as a "bunch of bikini stuffers who only want world peace."
Which is why the Bureau hires beauty pageant consultant Victor Melling (MICHAEL CAINE) to transform Gracie -- or as he re-names her, "Dirty Harriet" into Gracie Lou Freebush -- the perfect pageant contestant. Henry Higgins had a day at the beach compared to what Vic is up against in beautifying a woman "without a detectable smidgen of estrogen." But the fate of the pageant hangs in the balance, and considering that Gracie's refusal to follow orders has already placed her job in jeopardy, this may be her last chance to make it in her beloved Bureau.
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Candice Bergen, Michael Caine, William Shatner
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Candice Bergen, Michael Caine, William Shatner, Benjamin Bratt, Ernie Hudson, Heather Burns, Steve Monroe, John DiResta, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Deirdre Quinn
Director: Donald Petrie
Director: Donald Petrie
Screenwriter: Marc Lawrence, Caryn Lucas, Katie Ford
Producer: Sandra Bullock
Composer: Edward Shearmur
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for Miss Congeniality
A delightful, endearing little comedy with a wonderfully clever script and great performances from Bullock and Michael Caine.
A barrage of dangling plot strands, inconsistent characterizations, and suspense-free shootouts.
The screenplay lacks any sense of consistency, treating all the contestants derisively -- and then trying to convince us that, deep down, they're all really wonderful women.
The jokes are lame, the set-up is stupid and Bullock, occasionally a winsome comedienne and here a co-producer, is annoying as heck.
With Bullock, you don't have time to wrap your mind around the notion that she's a butt-kicking tomboy before she's reverted to her trademark cutesy-poo act.
Without help from either script or director, poor Bullock gets stuck as a distant runner-up in this featherweight farce.
It's an amiable comedy and provides a forum for [Bullock] to showcase her gift for comedy.
It's time for a career makeover for Bullock, who keeps squandering her girl-next-door likeability on trivial projects like this one.
It all coalesces in a TV-level pleasantness, which isn't quite enough to fill a big screen.
It misses so many genuine opportunities for comedy that it becomes another reminder of writers not doing their homework and slapping together a paint-by-numbers plot.
Just retype the plot, slap in the same complaints, and bam -- new Bullock movie review.
What say we let these folks take another stab at it with a better script, OK?
Things get as shaky as Grace adjusting to high heels when her warranted contempt for her vapid competitors is worn down by nothing more than superficial bonding at a giggly pizza party.
You could do a lot worse during the holiday season than this sparkling, congenial tale.
Latest News for Miss Congeniality
July 18, 2005:
In Other News: Marital Edition...Jude Law, Sandra Bullock, and Frankie Muniz
In Other News is back, with marital highs and lows alike to keep you gossip-mongers happy...starting with "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" star Jude Law, whose... More...
June 16, 2005:
In Other News...Sandra Bullock, Kirsten Dunst, and Brangelina
"Crash" star Sandra Bullock is speeding along the way to wedded bliss -- US Weekly reports she has set a date with boyfriend Jesse James to marry next month. More...
March 26, 2005:
Box Office: “Guess Who” Topped The Box Office?
Two comedies battled for box office supremacy this Easter weekend and the interracial romantic comedy “Guess Who,” starring Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac, handily defeated “Miss... More...
March 24, 2005:
Critical Consensus: "Miss Congeniality" Armed, But Unfabulous
It’s been a while since Sandra Bullock’s last appearance on the big screen – 2002’s romantic comedy hit, “Two Weeks Notice,” co-starring Hugh Grant. She returns with “Miss... More...
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