Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

Review by Clint Morris

Your friends throw a party. They seemed to have a great time, but the collective judgement among the invited guests was that it was a fizzer.

Now, imagine you've just received an invitation to another party at the same domicile. Not exactly beguiling, right?

One can apply the same analogy to Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, the gratuitous but undisruptive sequel to the 2000 hit. Like the party, you'll probably go to the film, but you know exactly what you're going to get, don't you?

Still - doesn't mean we wouldn't like to be flabbergasted and find it the inclusive contrary.

Though a huge box-office success, the original Miss Congeniality was pretty much straight-to-video fodder disguised in a commercial hit's clothing. It may have had the enigmatic Sandra Bullock, a few good laughs, and the odd cameo (William Shatner, for one), but other than that, it was the kind of film purely worth saving for Cable - if only so you can get maximum benefit out of your subscription. Yep, that average.

And the sequel isn't that much better.

In the first film, tough-as-nails FBI agent Gracie Heart (Bullock) went undercover as a contestant in the nationally televised Miss United States pageant. Surely she could never return to real honest-to-good police work after that gig, right?

Spot on. Now, Gracie is not so much a hard-working agent as she is the cover girl for the bureau magazine. Instead of a gun, she carries a Louis Vuitton, instead of working murder investigations, she's either being photographed or singing the praises of her occupation on TV's Regis and Kelly.

She's the Paris Hilton of the agency in other words.

One thing leads to another - as it has to, for the film to advance - and Gracie is thrown back into the action. It seems that Miss USA (Heather Burns, reprising her role from the first film) and pageant host, Stan (William Shatner) have been kidnapped in Vegas, and Gracie has to swim against the slots to foil the kidnapper's plans, rescuing the twosome, and in turn, discovering that her old-self was a much 'truer' version of Gracie Hart. Cue the violins; give the joke-writers their lunch break.

A bubbly-enough affair with some good turns (Bullock's always steadfast in the light and fluffy), lavish locations (fantastic use of some of Vegas's best Casino's, notably 'Treasure Island' and 'The Venetian') and story bits and bobs that'll make the expected addressees smile and snicker, Miss Congeniality 2 looks great, but like a defective Caramello Koala, it's, well, hollow.

The plot's as thin as your library card, and there aren't enough laughs to even fill a three-minute spot on Letterman, but if you're a fan of the divine Sandra Bullock - you'll probably find Miss Congeniality 2 an easy enough tug to sail on.

2.5 out of 5

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
Australian release: Thursday 24th of March, 2005
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Regina King, Enrique Murciano, William Shatner, Ernie Hudson, Treat Williams, Heather Burns, Diedrich Bader, Eileen Brennan, Dolly Parton, Stephen Tobolowsky.
Director: John Pasquin.
Website: Click here.

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