Miss Congeniality (2000)

Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) is a tomboyish FBI agent who is tasked with having to infiltrate the Miss United States beauty pageant as a contestant (Miss New Jersey) in order to prevent the threat of a bomb attack from a mysterious terrorist.....and HILARITY ensues! :)  Actually in this case it did as twenty-five years ago, this became a surprise comedy blockbuster and pretty much cemented the since-then Oscar-winning Sandra Bullock as one of our most popular movie starts in the decades since.  And she doesn't do it alone either: the stacked cast includes Benjamin Bratt, Michael Caine, Candace Bergen, and William Shatner.  Directed by Donald Petrie (How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, Mystic Pizza, Grumpy Old Men), let's return back to a simpler time when swimsuit competitions were actually something folks watched on TV and....bikini wax jokes were still funny. ;) 

Host: Geoff Gershon
Edited By Ella Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon 

Transcript

MISS CONGENIALITY - 2000

Directed by Donald Petrie

Starring Sandra Bullock, Benjamin Bratt, Heather Burns, Michael Caine, Ernie Hudson, Candice Bergen, John DiResta, Melissa De Sousa, Steve Monroe, Deirdre Quinn, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Asia De Marcos, Ken Thomas, and William Shatner

Genre: Action Comedy (Audio clip)

This film is just such a blast - just funny, endearing, and perfectly cast! Sandra Bullock has proven about as adept at combining comedy with some action as any other recent actress I can recall and just the overall premise of this movie really plays to all of her strengths.

She plays Grace, a tomboyish (as the cutesy opening credits flashback tells us) FBI agent who is ALL about the job and is tasked with going undercover at this movie universe's version of the Miss America pageant to potentially track a terrorist who is threatening to make a BIG splash at this year's event in Texas. And she's a no-nonsense Jersey girl who not only has no shortage of un-ladylike rougher edges but also has only disdain for the whole IDEA of beauty pageants. But of course, she has to transform herself into a full-on pageant contestant beauty queen with poise, talent, and grace with help from an effete Michael Caine as her "handler" and to the consternation of Candice Bergen as Kathy Morningside, the pageant hostess who feels threatened by her Grace's very existence.....and HILARITY ensues! :p
 Except that it does - most of the gags are aimed at relatively easy targets (Miss Hawaii introduces herself with "Aloha" which Grace can't resist making the most obvious crack about) but most of them also land pretty well thanks to crack timing from the cast.

Even Benjamin Bratt - probably well-trained from years of quick shoots alongside Jerry Orbach on Law & Order - brings some fun to the thankless role of the handsome love interest for Bullock's Grace. He has a silly gym fight scene early on with her which is playful and generally works....especially considering how cringefully bad similar scenes went virtually every other time around this era: Money Train, Daredevil....even Bratt's own basketball court face-off a few years later in Catwoman. :o 

There's so much obvious humor to be mined from this scenario and very little is left on the table...it all comes down to tone and everyone involved knows the movie they're in. Journeyman Donald Petrie directed this and I haven't really been a fan of most of his other broad comedies (Grumpy Old Men, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), but props to him for just getting everything right with a sitcom premise. 

Even with logical leaps aplenty and an overall story which doesn't really go anywhere you can't predict - the eventual villain reveal, Grace finds herself SHOCKED realizing that her fellow contestants have more depth than she realized - it all moves along briskly culminating in a genuinely bat-shit funny climax that (including The Shat's inspired singing) manages to out-Naked Gun...Naked Gun. ;) 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

I’m fairly certain that THIS particular song has already featured in this category before, though that was likely the original SMASH hit 1971 version from Sir Thomas John Woodwards himself….the iconic crooner from Treforest Wales, I’m referring to Tom Jones and the song is “She’s a Lady.” (Audio clip) 

THIS version kicks off a fun transition roughly about a half hour into the film as Grace arrives at the pageant in San Antonio.  But we also hear a remixed version from techno artist BT over the closing credits kicking in RIGHT after a triumphant freeze frame of Gracie Lou herself now anointed…..you guess it….Miss Congeniality, hey that’s the title!  The remix DOES sound pretty silly with all of the added distortion and beats but it still works. (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

Amidst a pretty strong extended cast filled with already established actors who ALL continued to thrive for years afterwards, I’m still kind of surprised that we haven’t heard as much from one of the lesser known performers in the cast who certainly steals her scenes….Chicago’s own Heather Burns who plays the winningly naïve Cheryl – Miss Rhode Island – who becomes fast friends with Bullock’s Grace.  She DEFINITELY delivers one of the film’s most unexpected laughs during one of the preliminary competitions. (Audio clip)

She has a nice comedic presence, very attracting, not sure why she never broke out but at the very least, she has been a steadily working actress in the twenty-five years since in films and TV….and wouldn’t you know it?  Several supporting parts in well-known rom-com’s too: You’ve Got Mail, Two Weeks Notice, Bewitched, and…..Manchester By the Sea.  Yeah that last one doesn’t qualify but would have loved to have seen more of her regardless. (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

I have to say that the sequence which puts this movie over the top HAS to be the final climax when the actual crown is awarded for Miss United States.  Just two minutes of pure hilarity AND suspense, which is NOT easy to pull off.  Basically Bullock’s Grace who is Miss New Jersey is the runner-up so the crown is being awarded to her new best friend at the pageant…. Miss Rhode Island who is played very winningly by Heather Burns.  So Miss Rhode Island is being handed the crown, only Grace knows that it's lined with explosives….UH-OH….so as she’s trying to wrestle that crown away, while in the background Bratt’s Eric is trying to wrestle the detonator away from Kathy’s snively son Frank played by Frank Tobin.  We’re cutting to backstage, we’re cutting to the control room, and we’re cutting to the chaos ensuing on the main stage as Grace has to punch out any one who gets in her way…. (Audio clip) 

And the TRUE capper for this sequence is that all the while, we’re seeing and hearing Bill Shatner KILL IT as the pageant's Bert Parks-like goofball host NAMED Stan Fields.  Amidst all of the chaos occurring on-stage including the PRICELESS image of Miss Rhode Island just STANDING in the middle with her eyes closed screaming like a little girl, we witness’s Shatners legendary spoken word/singing talents in full effect as he just keeps triumphantly bellowing out the "Miss United States" anthem with shameless abandon.  And the FINAL shot of this sequence IS the best: Shatner singing the final notes as the camera pans behind him showing a now burning cardboard Statue of Liberty in the background….THIS is why we go to the movies! (Audio clip)    

MVP (person most responsible for the success of this film):

Despite some canny direction, a witty screenplay, and a game supporting cast….this is STILL Sandra’s movie at the end of the day.  It’s a full-on movie star part which she just shines in.  The actress just never ceases to be charming and funny, even when she has to pretend to appear "ugly" early on....even during an on-the-nose Starbucks which opens the movies.  Speaking of which....would a bunch of New Yorkers in the morning tolerate ANY one cutting them in line to order two dozen Frappuccino's? 🤔 

For delivering what I believe is the BEST comedic performance of her storied career, Sandra Bullock is the MVP. (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 4.6 stars out of 5 

If Miss Congeniality can't even put a smile on your face at any point during its 110 minute runtime, then I don't know what else to tell you.  Happy 25th Anniversary to one of the most rewatchable studio comedies of the 21st Century!

Streaming on Apple TV Plus

And that ends another NOT TOO HOT, NOT TOO COLD, ALL YOU NEED IS A LIGHT JACKET…..review!