Movie Review: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous

Back in 2000 Sandra Bullock starred in a little film called Miss Congeniality. I remember seeing the trailers and thinking that it looked like it could be fun, even if it looked rather disposable. I never did see it in the theaters. I eventually saw it on video, and was amazed by how much I liked it. Bullock uses her tremendous charisma and just carries this ridiculous film from start to finish. Five years later (read now) trailers start popping up for a sequel. The first thing that went through my mind was "Huh?" This movie was so far removed from my mind that the thought of a sequel was virtually unthinkable. This movie never seemed like sequel material, yet here we are.



Despite the lack of a need for a sequel, Sandra Bullock returns five years later to her Gracie Hart character in a story that is wrangled and manipulated to have some sort of continuity, even if it is flawed, for with the previous film. This time around she has to save the Miss USA winner, Cheryl (the returning Heather Burns), and the shows host, Stan Fields (the also returning William Shatner). Ernie Hudson is also back as McDonald, Gracie's boss at the NYC FBI office.

The story is pretty much shown in the trailers, it is thin enough to be exposed in a 30 to 90 second clip on TV, or a 2 minute trailer at the theater. But to give you the quick rundown. The movie opens with Gracie undercover attempting to foil a bank robbery, and of course her newfound fame from the beauty pageant pays off in the only manner it could, the operation does go exactly to plan. This leads to the fact that Gracie can no longer work undercover, so what is a girl to do? Become the new face of the FBI and work some PR.

But before we can get there, we are introduced to our first new cast addition, Regina King as Sam Fuller, tough girl agent with an anger problem who immediately clashes with the lovably clumsy Gracie. Anyway, as you see in the commercials they are forced to team up and don't exactly get along. There is your personality conflict for the film, much like the love/hate with the Michael Caine character in the first film.

Back to the face of the FBI, apparently the makeover with the aforementioned Michael Caine didn't take, despite this movie taking place within a year of the original, movie time that is. Enter stylist Joel, played by the always funny (at least so far) Diedrich Bader, who goes on to remake her again.

The story, such as it is, kicks into gear when the kidnapping of Miss USA and Stan takes place. This leads to a series of misadventures, which play out predictably, so I while refrain from going into too much detail. Despite how ludicrous it is, I still had a lot of fun.

Of all the sequels I can think if, this is probably the most unnecessary. There was absolutely no reason to make this sequel. The plot is shoehorned to fit in with the first. I take back that unnecessary statement, I can think of a reason that this movie was made. Sandra Bullock has been away from the scene for a few years, and this provides an easy road back into the audiences good graces.

Bottomline. Anyway, for as needless as this film is ultimately, I still enjoyed it. Bullock is very entertaining in her own sweet way, and the rest of the cast falls into line. And as I reread this, it pretty much ends up the same way as the movie, pointless.

Mildly Recommended.

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