Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous Movie Review:


Things haven’t been going too well for Gracie Hart (Bullock) sense becoming the runner up in Miss United States Pageant. She can’t work undercover anymore because people recognise her and her boyfriend has dumped her because of all the attention. To remedy this situation and to raise the profile of the agency, Gracie becomes the ‘face of the FBI’, touring the talk show circuit and even penning her own book. After ten months in the role, she hears the devastating news that her best friend and current Miss United States Cheryl Frasier (Burns) has been kidnapped in Las Vegas. Her crime-fighting instincts kick in and she heads to Vegas to solve the case, armed with her stylist team of course.

Five years after the success of the original Miss Congeniality, Sandra Bullock returns to the role of Gracie Hart but does she have what it takes to regain her box office crown?

Hollywood sequels very rarely improve on the original. Usually they are rehashes on the same idea only with a new villain or someone who wants to get revenge for what happened in the first film. ‘Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous’ happily doesn’t follow this trend. Instead of revisiting the pageant theme of the first movie and all the hilarity of watching Sandra struggle again with fancy gowns and excessive makeup, this film shuns this to utilise a completely unexpected plot device, the female buddy movie plotline.

More of a continuation of the story than a sequel, we meet Grace again three weeks after the events of the original movie. The publicity surrounding her after becoming the runner up in the Miss United States Pageant is making it impossible for her to go undercover anymore. Utilising this newfound fame she becomes the face of the FBI and is assigned an overly aggressive agent called Sam Fuller as a bodyguard, played by Regina King. Of course the two don’t get on at first but when the current Miss Untied States is kidnapped, the two have to work together to solve the case. This premise is completely different from the first movie and takes the series in a whole new direction. The movie is about the case and the relationship between these two women and there are no romantic distractions for either actress to get in the way of this plot device. This has been done many times before but very rarely with two female characters.

Sandra Bullock is a gifted comedic actress and the role of Gracie Hart gives her the chance to shine. Again we see the transformation from dedicated FBI agent into FBI Barbie, but this time we see the character become consumed by her newfound celebrity until her friend is kidnapped. There are quite a few ‘do you know who I am?’ moments that will get you laughing, as Bullock really plays with character’s fame and pull in the public and within the agency. Gracie also gets the chance to grow as well, a plot device that is really used on sequels, as Hollywood tends to stick with what is already proven. Regina King gets the chance to be the tough girl as Sam Fuller. An agent with anger management problems that no one wants to work with, Sam is constantly agitated and on edge, just looking for someone to hit. King plays the character exactly right, not pandering to the notion that you should instantly like her but she is one that grows on you as the film progresses. It is the onscreen bickering and tension between the two that drives the movie and what makes it all the more watchable.

The supporting cast is also good. Enrique Murciano plays naïve FBI agent Jeff Foreman with great gusto. Diedrich Bader is suitably over the top as stylist Joel. Treat Williams is as good as ever as the controlling Las Vegas FBI chief Collins and William Shatner, Heather Burns and Ernie Hudson return to their roles of Stan Fields, Cheryl Frasier and Special Agent McDonald, but don’t get as much screen time as they deserve.

‘Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous’ has to be commended for not taking the usual sequel route. While the story might not be the most original in the book, the premise of a female buddy picture is and this is why the film works. Fans of the original will be very happy but this is a film that can stand on its own and shows how a sequel can be different from the first movie and still be true to the original premise and characters.



Jamie Kelwick

Like the Bridget Jones sequel, this follow-up labours to recapture the magic and ends up both getting the tone wrong and making its central character rather unlikeable. Although at least this one's enjoyably amusing.

After solving the Miss United States case, FBI Agent Gracie Hart (Bullock) is too recognisable to work undercover. So she takes a job as the face of the bureau and becomes a minor celebrity. Then Miss United States (Burns) and the pageant host (Shatner) are kidnapped in Vegas, and doing PR isn't enough. Gracie tackles the case itself--against the will of the local bureau chief (Williams), but with the help of her feisty bodyguard (King), queer-eyed stylist (Bader) and a hapless local agent (Murciano).

There's enough rambunctious energy to keep us engaged, and Bullock is watchable as ever. But the filmmakers make the tactical error of focussing on Gracie's clumsy toughness rather than the fast-thinking charm that made the first film so much fun. The result is a significantly different character; this Gracie is still inventive and funny, but she's also pathetic, whiny and cruel. In this kind of role, Bullock feels both lacklustre and forced, although her engaging spirit re-ignites in the film's manic finale. Meanwhile, King is hilariously grumpy and tough as the sidekick with a massive chip on her shoulder. Both Bader and Murciano camp it up shamelessly, with sometimes hilarious results. And Shatner and Williams get the film's most thankless roles, while a few starry cameos don't help as much as they should.

There are sparks of strong wit in the script, but it feels watered down by bad rewrites and anonymous direction. You can just feel it straining desperately to be hilarious, going over-the-top in several ways (would an FBI PR budget really extend to limos and Vuiton/Chanel handbags?) and reaching out in desperation for the silly disguise scene, flamboyant drag queen sequence and of course the touching moment when the bickering agents finally bond. So the fact that Bullock and King actually make it entertaining is something remarkable, really.

Rich Cline

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