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MISS CONGENIALITY Send This Review to a Friend
Sandra Bullock has a flair for comedy, but otherwise flair is mostly absent in "Miss Congeniality," saddled with a workhorse of a script that tries hard but fizzles. Bullock has her moments, but she needs a much better vehicle in which to be funny. The film aspires to be part satire of beauty contests, part thriller and part romance, serving no category very well.
As Special F.B.I. agent Gracie Hart, Bullock has trouble following orders, looks slovenly, has a big mouth and shuns anything that might make her look feminine. But when it appears that a mysterious creep has terrorist designs on a pending beauty contest, Gracie is about the only one in the bureau who looks even passable when a computer drapes a bathing suit over her photograph. Presto, she's chosen to enter the contest on an undercover assignment so that she can keep an eye out for the expected perpetrator.
The joke lies in how to give her a makeover that can make her truly credible, a task that leaves the contest chief (Candice Bergen) deeply skeptical. So is Michael Caine as Victor, the makeover maven who must do the seemingly impossible job. Gracie is not a very willing subject. But, as you'll expect, after Victor, the target of some cheap gay jokes, is revolted at Gracie's awful eating habits and general roughness, he miraculously succeeds in making her runway worthy. The film does mine some satirical fun out of the bubble-heads in the contest, but that only goes so far. As for Caine, he always gives a good performance no matter what he is in. William Shatner does well enough in a cliched role as the beauty show host.
Benjamin Bratt, still best known for television's "Law and Order," is quite pleasant as the F.B.I. agent whose romantic feelings are awakened when he sees Gracie's transformation. But as the plot gears shift toward the thriller aspect, the film's descent accelerates. Director Donald Petrie obviously has worked hard to extract the most from Marc Lawrence's script, but "Miss Congeniality" lacks the consistency to make it click despite game Ms. Bullock's sometimes entertaining efforts. A Warner Bros. release.
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