“Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous” (Warner Brothers)
A few years ago there was a fresh, funny, romantic movie that starred everybody’s favorite actress Sandra Bullock. It was titled “Miss Congeniality” and made lots of money, won over new fans for Bullock, and showed William Shatner’s comedic side. It also featured a love story between Bullock and Benjamin Bratt. Fast forward a few years and “Miss Congeniality 2” has arrived. It will scare off fans of Bullock’s with its slow pacing, lack of romance, and embarrassing comedy performances by Shatner and newcomer Diedrich Bader.
The message here is that most sequels do not work. If they are coming off a strong original then the original will be remembered as being even better in people’s minds than it was. This makes the comparison even tougher. And if you aren’t as good in the second installment or better, then people are going to be disappointed. “Miss Congeniality 2” isn’t as good or better than the original, it is worse – much worse.
Bullock is back as Gracie Hart, the FBI agent who went undercover in the “Miss United States Pageant.” Now Gracie is back at the Agency and she is boyfriend-less. The character played by Benjamin Bratt has dumped her, and Bratt is never seen in the movie. That is a loss because it takes all the romance out of the film.
Gracie becomes the face of the FBI and goes around selling a book about her experiences, and making guest appearances on TV shows. She has her own personal bodyguard, Sam Fuller (Regina King), a woman who does not care for Gracie or obviously anyone else.
While on the road Gracie learns that her friend Cheryl (Heather Burns) has been kidnapped along with Stan Fields (William Shatner). She is “Miss United States” and he is the host of the pageant. Gracie is determined she is going to find these two and rescue them. The local FBI director (Treat Williams) wants her to stay out of it.
The makers of this movie have brought in King to spice things up with Bullock. The two are supposed to be complete opposites who learn to work as a team. Who cares! There love/hate relationship is tiring and the two actresses never get a chance to show any real comedy charisma.
Diedrich Bader, from the old “Drew Carey Show,” plays a gay publicist assigned to Gracie. He presents every extreme caricature about gays possible. Burns and Shatner are carryovers from the first film but add nothing to this one. After the success of his TV series “Everwood,” Treat Williams deserves a better role than this one.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and sexual innuendoes.
Sandra Bullock is one of Hollywood’s most popular stars. She is pretty, funny, and a good actress. So how did she end up in a tired old retread like this one Either she had a brain lapse or her people did. Let’s hope there is no “Miss Congeniality 3” or if there is – bring back Benjamin Bratt.
I scored “Miss Congeniality” an unfriendly 4 out of 10.
