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Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005)
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Reviews Counted:144
Fresh:20
Rotten:124
Average Rating:3.9/10
Consensus: Sandra Bullock is still as appealing as ever; too bad the movie is not pageant material.
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Picking up soon after the events of the first film, this inspired sequel opens with agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) back in action against a team of lady bank robbers, only to have her cover... Picking up soon after the events of the first film, this inspired sequel opens with agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) back in action against a team of lady bank robbers, only to have her cover blown by her newfound fame. In an effort to capitalize on the publicity--and as a result of being dumped by her boyfriend from the first film--Gracie lets herself be made into the feel-good ambassador of the FBI, helped by the staggeringly hip Joel (Dietrich Bader) and his stylists. The change is not good for the brash Ms. Hart, however, who is soon appearing on morning television and dispensing fashion tips instead of girl-power platitudes. Of course this phase doesn't last long; some goons out in Las Vegas kidnap Miss Congeniality (Heather Burns) and host Stan Fields (William Shatner), prompting Hart, with her intensely angry bodyguard, Sam Fuller (Regina King), to strap on her guns and get back in the game. Her method of operation includes beating up Dolly Parton, defying a sexist FBI bigwig (Treat Williams), and faking cramps. At one point she disguises herself as an old Jewish woman in a wheelchair, and later she's a Las Vegas showgirl doing "Proud Mary" at a drag club. Bullock's good-natured performance recalls the old-school comedic talents of Bob Hope or Barbara Stanwyck; she effortlessly makes Gracie Hart a unique and complex woman who is capable, sarcastic, intuitive, impressionable, and a secretly lonely tomboy. Also a plus is the refreshing lack of a male romantic interest as Hart and Fuller don't need some handsome guy to ride to their rescue and they aren't going to let sexual discrimination stop them from getting the job done. [More]
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Regina King, Enrique Murciano, William Shatner
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Regina King, Enrique Murciano, William Shatner, Ernie Hudson, Heather Burns, Diedrich Bader, Treat Williams
Director: John Pasquin
Director: John Pasquin
Screenwriter: Marc Lawrence
Producer: Sandra Bullock, Marc Lawrence
Composer: Randy Edelman
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
The main problem with the film is that it's at least 30 minutes too long - the plot simply isn't strong enough to sustain a two hour running time and the film runs out of steam way before the end.
Labours to recapture the magic and ends up both getting the tone wrong and making its central character rather unlikeable.
Bullock struts her stuff well, but this comedy lacks freshness and sags in all the wrong places.
Bullock returns with the grim inevitability of a natural disaster, and it’s every bit as cheaply predictable as the first film
[MC2 is] like a firecracker that spirals all over the place, exploding in some places and fizzling out in others. Luckily, there is more exploding than fizzling.
Sandra Bullock and Marc Lawrence bring us a sequel that’s just as “congenial” as the first movie… and that's a unique achievement.
For giving us a completely new story about the further adventures of Gracie Hart, Miss Congeniality 2 is a fine sequel.
The picture is going to have fun with or without you, so you might as well give in.
Bullock lifts an ill conceived screenplay into an area of some appeal. A valiant effort is one kind of recommendation; her overriding huggability another.
While the original relied on too many pratfalls and a charmless romance, the sequel utilizes snappy dialogue and a female buddy pairing with the terrific Regina King
The film occasionally drags and overstates points, especially in a sticky-sweet coda. Yet we're always invested in the anxious Gracie and abrasive Sam.
The jokes are hit or miss, but the appealing teamwork of Bullock and King gives the movie gleam.
It's an enjoyable (or at least educational) study of what Bullock and her favored writer-producer Marc Lawrence have rightly identified as the star's best comedy assets.
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