In producing Miss Congeniality, [Bullock has] cast herself ideally, so as to show off her tomboyish giddiness, with a hint of sexy brashness.
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.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for sexual references and a scene of violence
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Dec 22, 2000 Wide
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.
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Reviews for Miss Congeniality
Only a real diva can pack mace and a gun under her evening gown and still look good.
Although the script grants its leading lady some snappy verbal and physical humor, the film flickers and dies under a surfeit of stereotypes and one critical piece of ill-judged casting.
It takes some doing to make a beauty pageant flick that features an intellectually vapid caper plot while being a slap in the face to feminism.
It's one thing to be far-fetched -- we'll put up with a lot in a broad comedy -- but it's quite another to be so absurd as to render the film utterly unbelievable.
Despite the film's predictable trappings, Bullock shines, tackling the physical comedy with bodacious aplomb.
For Bullock fans, it's a delight, jolly junk in the season to be jolly.
There's something so friendly and unabashedly silly about this production that it pretty much won me over.
Stuck in its sitcom-style take on an easy target for ridicule, director Donald Petrie chooses cutesy over clever.
Had the proceedings had more bite or intelligence to them -- let alone humor -- the film could have been far better.
It's unlikely that Miss Congeniality will stem the backwards slide of Bullock's career momentum.
[Caine's] performance is probably as deft as the one he gave last year in The Cider House Rules.
An ideal vehicle for Sandra Bullock, who just keeps proving she's one of the finest physical comediennes in Hollywood today.
Petrie's formula of keeping it light and bright, and not too confusing, works.
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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