Miss Predictability?? (Miss Congeniality (DVD))

Member Name: ihatebroccoli

Product:	Miss Congeniality (DVD)
Date:	07/04/01 (263 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The official website is good

Disadvantages: The film...erm...isn't? (see review)

So, what’s new with this film? Well, not all that much unfortunately. I’m going to have to disagree with the majority of opinions in this section, which surprises me, and give it a thumbs down/sideways thumb (yes I know that’s cheating). Despite the fact that good ol’ Sandra was nominated for a Golden Globe and an American Comedy Award for this film, I have not been swayed. I’ll of course give you a chance to make up your own minds, but will just give you a few of the reasons for my rating.

~~The Plot (?!)~~
Sandra Bullock plays Gracie Hart, an FBI agent who lives for her job. She has no close friends, lives alone, and is unconcerned with her appearance as a woman. She is not afraid of standing up for herself, and makes self-defence a part of everyday life. The film opens with a flashback to her childhood, where she beats up the bully for being a bully, and then beats up the victim of the bully, for criticising her. This theme makes the transition to her adult life, where she puts aside her femininity in favour of self-protection, and there is no mention of her family life, or parents (in a more serious film, this could have been a bigger feature of her character). In a way, Gracie’s character reminds me of another of Sandra Bullock’s characters in “The Net”, where she plays a similarly defensive single woman, with few friends and an inability to trust anyone completely.

After making a mistake with a surveillance operation, leading to a colleague being shot, Gracie is taken off all cases, and put in a desk job. It is a little scene just after this, as she returns home after the incident, and hits a punch bag until she is exhausted, which made me think that I should perhaps give this film a chance. It shows just how alone and aggressive Gracie is as a character, and builds up her reputation for clumsiness, as she falls over several times in her own apartment. However, beyond this scene,
the inevitable farce takes over, and any intelligence the film might have built up is immediately lost.

When “The Citizen” strikes again, a mystery bomber who writes cryptic messages, Bullock is brought in to go undercover. The latest cryptic message has been translated to indicate the killer will attack at the Miss USA Beauty Pageant, and so someone must go undercover as an entrant in the competition, so as to cover the stage and protect the other entrants. Probably one of the very few genuinely funny moments in the film is when the FBI agents are sat around the computer looking for a suitable female agent to go undercover as a beauty contestant. By using a computer program which substitutes a persons clothing with any other clothing you choose, they try swimsuits on various FBI agents, to see who will look the most realistic, even Gracie’s boss, played by Ernie Hudson (who I always seem to associate with his character in The Crow, doh!).

Gracie’s colleague Eric, played by Julia Robert’s real life boyfriend Benjamin Bratt, finally finds her on the FBI database, and being as no one else has the appropriate physic, it is decided that she will go undercover as “Gracie-Lou Freebush”, the entrant for New Jersey. A virtually military operation ensues, to get Gracie looking up to scratch, and the assistance of a stylist (Michael Caine) is employed to train her in the ways of the pageant. I have to admit, I did find some of this funny, with the unkempt and boyish Gracie being introducing to the likes of waxing, plucking, and *not* eating everything in sight.

I won’t give the entire plot away, but it’s sufficient to say that Gracie manages to renew the FBI’s faith in her by saving the day at the pageant, even if it does involve playing a tune on the water glasses dressed as Heidi.


~~Why it didn't do it for me:~~
Firstly, I think the main reason why I found this film
to be quite poor, is its predictability. As far as I can see, there is no good reason why this film was made, other than to further Sandra Bullock’s producing skills. Obviously, it is intended as a comedy, but somehow, it just didn’t really make me laugh all that much. The real funnies were few and far between, especially when you had to deal with watching Bullock falling down all the time in her high heels.

I was absolutely astounded to find William Shatner in this film, and am still not entirely sure why he agreed to accept the part (other than for the work of course). Michael Caine I knew about, although again I am not entirely sure why he is in the film. His part could have been played by virtually anyone, but having said this, the character he did portray was well done and believable. Both of these male characters were very camply depicted, and made it seem even more like everyone at the pageant was taking too much oestrogen.

I found the film Drop Dead Gorgeous to be a much more interesting portrayal of the ins and outs of beauty pageants, and much funnier than Miss Congeniality. Drop Dead Gorgeous is a more intelligent look at the subject, whereas Miss Congeniality is a dumbed-down, frankly quite embarrassing attempt to make a comedy out of a very poor script. There are some funny moments, Gracie’s onstage demonstration of self-defence being one, as well as her relationship with “Miss Rhode Island”, but it just seemed so forced that I couldn’t really enjoy the story without wishing Sandra Bullock would stop playing herself.


A tagline for the film reads: “Unpolished. Unkempt. Unleashed. Undercover” and I could almost be cruel enough to add “uninteresting” and “unoriginal” to the list. Apologies to those of you who liked the film of course, but I just felt disappointed. I’d hoped to see something fresh, and at least with some new humour, but instead I
was faced with a tired story and predictable plot. Sorry Sandra, but I’d stick to driving the bus above 50 miles per hour!

Candice Bergen (Kathy Morningside) plays the part Kirstie Alley played in Drop Dead Gorgeous, the woman who won the crown all those years ago, under suspicious circumstances then, and now, will not have anything spoiling “her” pageant. The big difference between the two films of course is the masculine influence in Miss Congeniality, despite the obvious campness of some of the characters. Sandra Bullock, although definitely having “the walk”, is not a very convincing ugly duckling to turn into a swan. Cameron Diaz plays a much better ugly duckling in Being John Malkovich, with her wildly frizzy hair, and no make up look, or even Drew Barrymore as “Josie Grossie” in Never Been Kissed. The make up people definitely did well with the beauty pageant look, it’s just a shame they didn’t seem to try so hard on the “before” look. Well, I guess she’s Sandra Bullock, there’s not a lot you can do to make her look bad.

Well, see it if you must, but I just feel a bit sorry for old Miss Congeniality – there’s not quite enough funnies for it to be a comedy, nowhere near enough smooching for it to be a romance, and as for action, considering the film is full of FBI agents, there is precious little. I found that I spent most of the film trying to coerce my cinema-going-companion into finding something funny, anything, I found myself looking between him and the screen thinking, “c’mon laugh, *that* bit was funny, c’mon!” So, think yourself lucky that you got my review instead of his!

Watch out for Heather Burns as “Miss Rhode Island”, you may find yourself hearing “and then, last summer… at band camp” (American Pie) playing in your head as you hear her speak. I have to admit, I did like Gracie&#
8217;s “spy book” at the beginning though, and you can take a look at that and other things related to the movie on the official website: http://miss-congeniality.warnerbros.co.uk/main.htm l The site is in flash and features production notes, soundtrack listings, cast and crew information, and an amusing “contestant generator” like the software used on the FBI agents in the film (it’s a bit like “Guess Who” but with the cast members of the film – put it this way, you can see Michael Caine in a sarong any time you like ;-) ).

Summary: