(2005) Miss Congeniality 2
Miss Congeniality was a masterpiece, but how does the sequel compare? It’s up there! I was afraid that they’ll just rehash the formula from the first movie, but they didn’t. They changed the formula, and it worked.
Story
After winning Miss Congeniality in the first movie, Grace became too famous for her own good. People are recognizing her everywhere, even during actual FBI actions, which results in one of them going south.
So, she can’t work on cases anymore, what to do? The FBI decides to turn her into “the new face of the FBI”. She will go around, promote values and be a PR stunt for the Bureau. Being heartbroken from Eric the Useless Moron (called it!) dumping her, and since this wasn’t an actual choice, she accepted.
Instead of getting a nice montage of her training, this time around we skip 10 months ahead and see her become a stylish fashion monster.
Her autobiography is out, and she’s just brainwashed enough to seem to enjoy her new job. The whole transformation made her a bit obnoxious and self-centered, but it was a role her bosses imposed on her.
However, appearing on talk shows and putting out PR fires isn’t the best, especially when her friend from the first movie gets kidnapped and everyone seems to be making stupid decisions pertaining to the case. She tries to get involved, but they ignore her and make fun of her, just like in the first movie. They turn her into a pretty face, and then demean her for being a pretty face. Who would think that the FBI are such dicks?
Gracie, once again betrayed and abandoned by her coworkers, goes almost entirely on her own, solves the case, and makes some new friends, one of which becomes her new partner.
She decides to drop the PR stunt nightmare and reverts back to being a tomboy. Happy ending!
Final Verdict
A decent remix of the formula from the first movie. This movie is basically Sandra’s Rocky 3 - becoming famous is nice, but what do you do when you get there? So many times, you trade your passion for glory and lose grip on the dreams of the past.
Luckily, Sandra fights just to keep them alive.
| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Story | 06 / 10 |
| Characters | 08 / 10 |
| Sandra Bullock on-screen-time | 10 / 10 |
| Eric manages to be an idiot without even being in the movie | 01 / 10 |
| FINAL RATING | 10 / 10 |