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PLOT: Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) becomes the 'face' of the FBI and goes on talk shows to inspire people and to sell her new book. When Miss United States (Heather Burns) and Stan Fields (William Shatner) are kidnapped, however, Gracie leaps back into action.
Here's the bad news: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed And Fabulous is not as much fun as the original movie and it's as cluttered and clunky as sequels so often are.
And here's the good news: You won't much care. The comedic talent that let Sandra Bullock shine as a klutzy FBI agent in Miss Congeniality is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap lousy screenplays in a single bound. The story in Miss Congeniality 2: Armed And Fabulous is atrocious. Miss Bullock is terrific. The movie falls somewhere in between.
Bullock's bossy, clumsy, good-hearted character returns in this film to tackle an art-imitates-life-imitates-art kind of role. The aptly named Gracie Hart discovers that her beauty pageant job has made her well-known and popular with the public. This makes it impossible for her to work in the field as an anonymous FBI agent. Her only choice is to take on a visible role as "the face" of the FBI -- a spokesperson to inspire others and make the bureau look good by making public appearances, going on TV talk shows, and the like.
Gracie Hart's new job involves a fabulous wardrobe and lots of publicity. She begins to display signs of growing ego. Will fame and success spoil Gracie?
Gosh -- just the sort of dilemma movie star Sandra Bullock might face in real life. Luckily, Gracie's bodyguard is a disgruntled, angry female agent (Regina King) who will do her best to keep Gracie modest, and perhaps heavily bruised. Bullock and King duke it out in several scenes. These fights between the women drew plenty of laughs, but there's something creepy about them.
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In the end, Bullock and King have to work together to solve the kidnapping of Miss United States (Heather Burns) and Stan Fields (William Shatner).
Miss Congeniality 2 works its way in a convoluted fashion toward a happy ending. The cast -- no Benjamin Bratt or Michael Caine this time out, not a good sign -- includes Treat Williams, Ernie Hudson and Eileen Brennan. Diedrich Bader, playing a chipper gay fashion consultant and sidekick, gets some of the biggest laughs in the movie. He, Bullock and King get to mug and fool around shamelessly in a sequence set in a club full of female impersonators. That scene is one of several that seems conceived and thrown together for no particular purpose other than lite laughs. It's all pretty silly. Sometimes silly is just what you need.
(This film is rated PG)