Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous_360P

I found the first Miss Congealed fascinating. As a movie, it was a pleasant enough space filler. But what it had going for it was the sheer excellence of engineering: engineering to Bullock, I mean. Every actor of limited range knows the story of Kate Hepburn, how she wore out the one thing she could do, then engineered a vehicle ("Woman of the Year") which folded that one thing into an appealing enough character that she could take from film to film without anyone really noticing. Bullock is an actress of extremely limited range who deliberately found a perfect film in the first one. Like all carefully engineered vehicles, it exploits "folding," where the performance of the film (which has Bullock pretending to be a cop) contains a performance (the cop pretending to be a contestant on stage). The idea behind folding is that we the audience enter the film and increase our closeness to the story. That's important for these kinds of projects, the ones that Drew Barrymore does best these days. This sequel has folding as well, but on steroids: Bullock as poster girl (mild folding) playing a man playing a woman (serious folding), with her in a "Priscilla of the Desert" costume in the final sequence. This sequence involves yet another "play," the Treasure Island skit in Las Vegas. But along the way, they forgot to write any competent lines to fill this vessel. You can see that Bullock was in charge of the script and hobbled it through her desperate move to create a "Woman of the Year." Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Trailer—Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous

After her mass notoriety working undercover as a contestant in MISS CONGENIALITY, Special Agent Gracie Hart(Sandra Bullock)becomes the new celebrity face of the new FBI. When Miss United States(Heather Burns)and pageant emcee Stan Fields(William Shatner)are kidnapped in Las Vegas; Gracie and her new and reluctant partner Sam Fuller(Regina King)go against top brass and spring into action. The powers-that-be think that Hart may be too pampered to go undercover again. Miss Priss and her anger management failure partner put their animosity aside to successfully accomplish their assignment and make the FBI look good. This contrived comedy slides to the edges of boredom. The cast is completed by: Treat Williams, Ernie Hudson and Enrigue Murciano. Shatner's silliness is worth pity. An obligatory sequel is not always the best idea.

I saw this at a special screening and was very pleasantly surprised. I'm not usually a huge fan of sequels, but this for what it is, is incredibly entertaining on its own merit. I love Sandra, so that may be one of the reasons I liked as much as I did, but that being said, the rest of the cast makes this without a doubt one, of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. This will definitely get a vote of must see from me to all. The movie goes quickly at the beginning, and then it slows - but it keeps you interested. Sandra and Regina are so good together. Wardrobe is GREAT! Sandra dressed as the old woman is hilarious and there are many other great costumes as well. The slow parts only help to make this a real movie. I will make this a definite repeat movie.

Just horrible! No thought what-so-ever went into the script for this disaster. The writers were to capitalize on the success of M.C.1, only they thought they could just throw a series of disconnected events together with some whippy dialog and they would have a movie...(See Caddy Shack II). It is as disjointed as a train wreck! Skinny plot, never establishes the characters, weak motives, lame "brilliant deductions" (i.e. "She called them Pirates so they must have them at Treasure Island" or "You'll have to lean over me to shoot her, so..." sorry, I never understood what "brilliant deduction" this was supposed to evoke. It wasn't even funny. Sandra and Regina fighting? I'd rather watch Pee Wee Herman by himself!

This movie starts a couple of days after the first one ended. Gracie is chosen to be the new face of FBI, a model to every agent by appearing in public, holding press conferences or even writing a book. Meanwhile, her best and only friend, Miss USA, has been kidnapped by two people who want a five million dollars ransom. Together with her makeup crew, her bodyguard (Sam) and a newly met agent from Vegas, she must save her friend before it's too late. It's a movie who's story is a bit exaggerated and somewhat predictable, being focused more on the interaction between Gracie, her crew and her "fights" with Sam rather than on the action itself. It still follows the same pattern as the first movie, like being funny and entertaining but it's not as well-rounded as its predecessor. I know it could have been a better movie but unfortunately it isn't, thus leaving a sensation of mediocrity, of a sequel made just because the first installment had success.

The first Miss Congeniality was decent "junk food" entertainment. My 12 year old daughter ranks it as one of her favorite movies. We saw "MC 2: Armed and Fabulous" last weekend. The sequel is just "junk". For the $31.00 I spent for my family of four, I felt robbed. Even my daughter made a "prune" face when I asked her if she liked it. Sandra Bullock was very likable in the first movie. In this one, not so. Very little of the unsophisticated Gracie playing a beauty pageant contestant came through, and that made it a bore. Last, and maybe most important, the absence of Michael Caine, Candice Bergen and Benjamin Bratt left three big holes that Sandra Bullock just couldn't fill on her own. Don't waste your money to see it at the theater. If so compelled, rent it when it hits DVD.

I gave this movie 2 stars out of 10. I would have given it a 1 but I enjoyed the first Miss Congeniality so emotion swayed me to give the movie an extra 1 star. I had hoped the sequel would be as good or better than the first but it was not. The jokes were stale, the chemistry was non-existent and the story was uninteresting. This movie had none of the charm, story and chemistry as the first movie. The story begins with our heroine, Sandra Bullock, coming off of the beauty pageant sting and suddenly finding fame. This however, hinders her ability to conduct her job since too many people now recognize her. Since the FBI needs some good publicity, they tap her for the job. She is given a female bodyguard, played by Regina King, whose character is almost the same as Sandra Bullock in the first Miss Congeniality. They go on a publicity junket until a friend of Bullocks is kidnapped and she goes and save the day.

This movie was not bad. This movie was not stupid. It was not a travesty. It was not a black mark. It was a sequel. And it filled that role quite well. Sandra Bullock returned in Miss Congeniality 2, thankfully, and really completely saved it. There was a rumor going around that they weren't going to use her in the sequel, but luckily they realized their mistake. Ms. Bullock makes the show worth watching all by herself. Though she did have an OK ensemble to work with (particularly Heather Burns and Regina King), this is her show, and hers alone. Without her, it could easily have become all of the above listed things. But it's not! It's really not bad, and has some genuine laughs along the way, with an especially funny drag queen scene. So, if you're a fan of the original, go see it. It won't compare to the first, and never could have, but it is still worth seeing. 5/10 stars for me. Jay Addison