Miss Congeniality (14 December 2000)
directed by Denald Petrie
starring Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, Benjamin Bratt, Candice Bergen, Ernie Hudson, William Shatner
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MPAA rating: Studio: Castle Rock Entertainment Script: Marc Lawrence, Katie Ford, Caryn Lucas Music: Ed Shearmur Running time: 109 minutes Tags: beauty peagents; Comedy; FBI; Romance; undercover Tactical strength: [5/10]
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for sexual references and a scene of violence
Put a hard nosed, glamour neutral, female FBI agent undercover as a contestant in a major beauty pageant (under threat of terrorist attack) and you could get a lot of laughs. But the writers of Miss Congeniality didn't write an all-out gut-busting comedy. They might have started out with a semi-serious romantic comedy, but any plans for that went out the window when someone cast William Shatner as Stan Fields the beauty pageant master of ceremonies. Shatner makes any movie into a spoof. And Candice Bergen as Kathy Morningside, the pageant director, follows Shatner's lead.
So you get some grins and even a few legitimate laughs as you watch the transformation of Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) from a tough tomboy into a glamour queen. Michael Caine gives the best performance as Victor Melling, a pageant consultant who supervises Gracie's training and makeover. He plays his role fairly straight (except that he's gay), and provides the catalyst for Gracy's lasting transformation.
Of course, there's the requisite love interest, agent in charge Eric Matthews (Benjamin Bratt), realizes that he has liked Gracie all along, but only now finds her attractive once she's made over. Eric is shallow, but so is his role.
You won't have to work your armchair detective muscles very hard to figure out the guilty party. And you don't have to work hard to realize that Eric and Gracie will get together in the end. The only political statement comes from Gracie's change of heart toward the beauty contestants -- she takes them out on the town to party (probably out of character for Gracie in the first place) and they help her with final preparations for the final round of the pageant.
You leave the theater smiling, but feeling about as empty as the plot.
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