May 19, 2001 04:35 PM
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This film has nothing. The performances are universally terrible & cringingly over-the-top,. The idea for the story, if you want to call it that, is that Sandra Bullock is a tomboyish FBI agent who must go undercover at a beauty pageant. First of all, did somebody associated with this film think that audiences would believe Bullock as an ugly duckling? Her lone contribution to this persona is a pig-like laugh. Man, now that's acting and creativity all rolled into one.
PLOT:
From the time she was a young girl, Gracy Hart(Sandra Bullock) demonstrated very little grace, but lots of heart. We first meet the spectacled tomboy on a school playground where she rescues a boy being bullied. When the battered kid shows more disrespect than appreciation (he resents being bailed out by a girl), she pops him in the nose herself. Now notice the background music here, the audience is supposed to feel sorry for Gracy. That was funny acc to me. Me & my friend both noticed it & looked at each other & gave a smile to each other as if we knew then & there about the things to come. And boy were we right or what.
Skip to present-day. Special Agent Gracy Hart lives, talks, eats, drinks and acts like a blue-collar bachelor. And that’s how her coworkers treat her—like one of the guys. That is until a serial bomber drops a clue that his next target is the Miss United States pageant, and Gracie is the only one qualified to go undercover as a contestant.
But it’s one thing for Gracie to look like a beauty queen and another to carry herself like one. So the FBI hires gay pageant consultant Victor(Michael Caine) to turn her into a presentable female. Gracy proceeds to take over for Miss New Jersey despite her disgust for the whole idea of ''empty-headed bimbos'' parading around talking about ''World Peace''(now that was funny & one part which I agree totally with). As she strives to develop her feminine charms, she bonds with the other contestants and gets closer and closer to identifying the villain (Gracie is way ahead of her male colleagues on fingering the baddie, but the plot is so predictable that we figure it out well before she does). Inbetween all this is the budding romance between Gracy & her fellow agent & boss on the current mission Eric(Benjamin Bratt).
The script is clumsy and predictable. For one thing, the ''mad bomber'' whodunit creates no real mystery or tension. We know how it will end because we’ve seen it all before. Sandra Bullock not only stars in Miss Congeniality, she produced it. So it was Sandra all the way. Urs truly isnt a big fan of Sandra, which made matters worse for me.
This is one of those dumb girlie movies which target the segment of audience with minimum grey cells- yeah u guessed it right -TEENAGE GIRLS. And they have been successfull at it too I guess, what with the film been a hit in States & out here in b'lore too.
Lastly what promted me to watch this movie was jhilmil's review...& next time i'll think twice ... i'm dissapointed jilmil :( .
