laryan's Full Review: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
Congeniality Isn’t Everything, But It Is Enjoyable
In the original “Miss Congeniality,” Sandra Bullock played Gracie Hart, an unkempt FBI agent, who is forced to go undercover at the Miss United States pageant. In just 109 minutes, she learns proper grooming, takes out the bad guys, beats up the good guy, and snags her man (Benjamin Bratt). I had two fears for Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous -- that it wouldn’t be funny and that it would be a sad rehash of the first film.
MC2 is not a sad rehash of the first film. However, it doesn’t quite carry the same biting humor of the first film either. MC2 opens roughly a week after the events in Miss Congeniality. Gracie is on undercover assignment with several agents staking out a bank that may be hit by the Housewife Bandits. Just as the bank robbers enter, Gracie is recognized by a customer. It is a rather tense hostage situation, but Gracie and crew manage to pull it off.
Because of the publicity surrounding the Miss United States pageant, Gracie’s days of working undercover seem to be over. To make a bad day worse, she gets dumped by Eric Matthews (Bratt’s character from the first film who fortunately does not make an on-screen appearance in this film) over the phone. The next day, she decides to take up her boss’ offer and become a spokesperson for the FBI. It’s also a way to rub Eric’s nose in the fact he let her go.
Following the cliché that any man who knows anything about hair, style or make-up must be homosexual, she is assigned “Joel” (Diedrich Bader) as her personal stylist. The next eleven months are a whirl of talk shows and book signings. Gracie completely loses herself into her pageant personality.
This comes to an abrupt ending when the current Miss United States, Cheryl (Heather Burns), and pageant host, Stan Fields (William Shatner) are kidnapped. Gracie is sent to Las Vegas as a spokesperson for the FBI, but really wants to find her friend, Cheryl. Besides Stylist Joel, and the two nearly faceless skin and hair care women, she gets the ‘bad attitude’ new agent, Sam Fuller (Regina King). Sam (which is obviously short for Samantha or some other appellation) is really where the show picks up.
Sam, due to her inability to get along with anyone else, does not like the new princess version of Gracie (not that Sam seems to like much) and she’s rather resentful of the babysitting duty. Gracie is torn between doing her job (being a role model/spokesperson for the FBI and looking gorgeous while she’s doing it) and doing her job (catching the bad guys and kicking the crap out of them if you’re lucky). Add-in the obligatory I-won’t-listen-to-you-because-I’m-an-idiot FBI Director (Treat Williams) and the one agent who does reluctantly listen, Jeff Foreman (Enrique Murciano) and you basically have it all right there.
THE GOOD
Sandra Bullock is a beautiful and talented actress. She can manage to rivet your attention just by walking on screen. The emotion she shows when she gets the break-up phone call from Eric is tremendous. She can play wounded, vulnerable and still come off as a strong character.
Her new partner, Regina King is a much better foil for her than Benjamin Bratt. King’s a strong, tough woman much like Gracie Hart started out as at the beginning of the first film. Despite her very belligerent demeanor, I thought she was extremely likable.
The rest of the cast performed very well. Whereas there was not the biting humor and social commentary of the original, there were still some funny ‘laugh out loud’ moments. But the best thing about the film is the fact that it does play up the women do not need a man to be successful and happy. I always felt the ending to the first film was unsatisfactory because Gracie Hart was not supposed to be happy until she won her man. Might I point out, her man barely recognized her as a woman until after he saw her all fixed up. I don’t like teaching kids that your image and finding a man are the two most important things a girl can do.
THE BAD
William Shatner is just as annoying as he always is. I did find myself hoping the kidnappers would just off his character. I believe I mentioned the movie is not as funny as the original. Let me mention that again -- MC2 is not as funny as the original. In fact, I think I could say it a third time, but I think you get my point.
The movie does also fall back on the stereotypes and clichés -- all stylists are gay and effeminate. And it takes us through the obligatory Las Vegas gay bar. The villains are rather stupid, which is a shame because it makes apprehending them so much easier.
LISA’S FINAL WORD
Despite the lack of humor, I’m still going to have to recommend this is a good comedy. It does have its funny spots, but they could’ve been so much more. I think it’s a good film for young women because it does have the underlying message that there’s more to life than finding a good man and being true to yourself should top the list.
All movies start out at 2 ½ stars in my books. Then it is average and I think everything should start out as average. So add to that:
1 star for a positive message
1 star for an engaging new character
½ star for not regurgitating the plot of the original film
-1 star for not being as funny as the original
-1 star for dragging out the same old, tired clichés
Overall: I do recommend this film at 2 1/2 stars, rounded up to 3. It’s not as great as it could be, but it’s not as bad as it could be. If you liked the original, you’ll probably like this.
I do not own this movie. I saw it at the cinema. But I probably will buy it when it comes out on DVD. It’s not a great movie, but it is entertaining.
This review was written using Dragonspeak Voice Recognition Software. Any mistakes are still mine.
Sandra Bullock returns as Federal Agent Gracie Hart in this action comedy and goes undercover in Las Vegas to rescue her best friend, the Miss United ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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