Miss Congeniality

Title: Miss Congeniality (2000)
Director: Donald Petrie
Genre: Comedy
Lead Actor(s): Sandra Bullock
Rating: PG-13
109 minutes

The best things this movie has going for it are Michael Caine as a pageant coach and William Shatner as a pageant host. The basic plot is that tomboy FBI agent, Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock), is forced to go undercover at the Miss United States Pageant to stop a copy cat killer.

All though this is not the most original comedy, Sandra Bullock does have some charm as the fish-out-of-water agent. Part of her charm is her awful clumsiness and thus makes what could have been a flat, bubble-head role into one with a bit of charisma. Her one-liners have good timing and delivery, although some are very unoriginal. It’s nice that Bullock keeps her temperament and behavior characteristics consistent throughout her transformation from Gracie Hart to Gracie Lou Freebush, her pageant name.

The best moments come from Shatner and Caine. Caine takes a role so different from the ones we are used to, that part of the appeal comes from the strangeness of it. Any movie that has Michael Caine saying “Don’t I look pretty?” is going to have some mildly funny moments. Shatner pokes fun at himself without being particularly obvious. His song at the end is particularly entertaining due to Shatner’s sheer persistence.

This is not the most original comedy, but due to some funny moments from the cast and entertaining performances by Caine and Shatner, the movie is spared from becoming a Valentine’s Day or its follow-up, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous.

**** 4/10