Bullock is cute as ever. Her script selection (28 Days, Hope Floats), though, remains suspect.
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
If, as has been much noted, lampooning beauty pageants is like shooting fish in barrel, why do all the movies that attempt it end up looking sadder than the third-place runner-up?
Bullock knows how to showcase her vulnerability, but unfortunately she can't compensate for plot implausibilities that don't have to be implausible, or clichés that don't have to be clichéd.
The screenplay ... is a reeking refuse heap of recycled cliches and half-baked humor that only occasionally rises even to the level of a so-so TV sitcom.
The movie is whipped into a froth with ... skill and humor -- just like those Doris Day comedies.
Assures us that a silk purse can be made from a sow's ear, but that's never true for a bad script.
[Bullock] trips, we laugh, but we also hope she gets up -- so she can do it again.
Bullock seems to be stuck in a rut of cookie-cutter roles in films with half-baked concepts.
Doesn't exactly turn things around for [Bullock], but it's funny enough and agreeable enough to at least start her on the road back.
It isn't bad so much as it lacks any ambition to be more than it so obviously is.
Seems predicated on the notion that today's audiences will tolerate just about any kind of plot hole, continuity lapse, or 'I don't think so' moment.
Gracie isn't just unattractive outside, she's unattractive on the inside, and the whole point of Makeover Movies is you're supposed to want to identify with Cinderella.
Seems happily, deliberately second-rate, as if its ideal audience consisted of weary airline passengers.
It is funny and knowing, detached enough to take a bemused stance toward its calculated tone.
[Bullock's] spunky humor and vibrant screen presence haven't been used this well since While You Were Sleeping.
Like any good beauty pageant contestant, it tries to make everyone happy, and ends up looking as if it's held together by Vaseline and duct tape.
What makes it a good movie ... is Bullock herself in a strong role that appeals to the feminist in me.
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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