Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Sandra Bullock is seductive and serious as she takes down her man in Miss Congeniality 2. - CONTRIBUTED
IF THE concepts governing the creation of Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous were not so trite and ridiculous, it might have been possible to enjoy the film more. As is, the film is little more than a trip into beauty school, with a little violence thrown in.
Of course, it also doesn't help that the fabulously sexy Benjamin Bratt (who played Eric Matthews) does not make the return trip. That is a crime, but it also seems to be Bullock's modus operandi, as the same happened with Speed.
Miss Congeniality, the first film, is a cute tongue in cheek flick which pokes fun at the trials of a FBI agent who is thrust into the hairspray world of beauty queens. It was hilarious watching Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) bluster her way through. With her snorting and eating habits, Hart herself was worth laughing at and the beauty queens, especially Miss Rhode Island, now Miss USA (Heather Burns) were fabulously entertaining.
This time, however, writers Marc Lawrence and Katie Ford and director John Pasquin seem to actually expect us to take the movie seriously. The audience is supposed to accept that Gracie Hart has decided to trade in her FBI issue gun and settle for a curling iron. Seriously, how plausible is it that the only other job the FBI could find for her is to be another pretty face busily playing dressed up and trying to make the world better one curler at a time?
To make already dire matters even worse, the support cast of Armed and Fabulous is nowhere as interesting this time around. The first film benefited tremendously from the presence of Candace Bergman, who is consistently, sarcastically delightful (in the way that a knife to gut can be). William Shatner returns as Stan Fields, but he is barely visible and so not as helpful as before. The same is true for Heather Burns. Regina King, who takes on the role of Sam Fuller, an agent in desperate need of anger management therapy, is a heartening addition to the film, but she is simply not enough to redeem the light-headed nature of the flick.
KIDNAPPING
This time around, Gracie needs to help with the rescue of the current Miss USA and the competition's host, Fields. Of course, she need not have been too worried about these kidnappers, as they were very kind. Though they kidnap Miss USA, bind her, gag her, blindfold her and throw her in the back of a truck, they also manage to not mess up her hair.
So, though there are a few jokes to laugh about in Armed and Fabulous. It is not as spontaneous and funny as Miss Congeniality, because the characters are much less interesting. Gracie sells out on her convictions and her quickie fix about turn is not very convincing. As such, the film has really lost its heart. Instead of being light-hearted, it became light-headed.
But maybe it was all that hairspray.
