MOVIE REVIEW: Ms. Congeniality 2

FBI agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) is not Michael Corleone, Anakin Skywalker, or even Shrek. The original Ms. Congeniality left no audience member rapt in anticipation of her continued life saga. While Ms. Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous is among the most unnecessary sequels in film history (perhaps since Jeepers Creepers 2), it actually succeeds as a cute, fun and campy second chapter following the first’s formula.

A typical comedy sequel reverses the plot of the first film and tries to augment the parts that made the original funny. In Ms. Congeniality, tough cop Gracie Hart begrudgingly turns into a beautiful woman (this is, like, so hard for Bullock) while fighting crime at a beauty pageant; in Armed and Fabulous, the glam has gone to Hart’s head and she must shed her egotism and the Gucci before she can save her best friend Cheryl, the pageant queen from the first (Heather Burns).

Hart has been dumped by boyfriend/partner Agent Matthews (Benjamin Bratt) (who doesn’t even appear here) and instead has to put up with a version of her former self, irate agent Sam Fuller (Regina King). Instead of being preened by prissy Michael Caine, Hart has the assistance of the more overtly gay Joel (Diedrich Bader).

Everything about Ms. Congeniality 2 is more over-the-top than the first. The first film found its humor in mocking the tackiness of beauty pageantry; the second takes the FBI team to Vegas, the capital of camp and glitz. Homosexual stereotypes and humor abound in both films; ironically, the now girly Hart is actually “gayer” in the second, as she performs in a drag show and pokes (the actual) Dolly Parton’s (fake) breasts.

Ms. Congeniality 2’s lack of a male lead, catfights, and tampon jokes only reinforce the girl-power theme. It avoids having a saccharine message on the importance of female “friendship” or overtly sexual comedy and stays cute by never taking itself too seriously. Rather than being like Waiting to Exhale women’s-lib drudge, it more closely resembles a male buddy comedy like Bad Boys. Except that instead of excess violence there’s just a whole lot of Vuitton.

The film’s main failing is that, despite being a star vehicle for Bullock, it is her performance that weighs it down. She just seems tired of playing the funny, cute action heroine and it shows as she unenthusiastically utters, “Hey, careful, my guns are in that Fendi.” Considering that Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood has been her most challenging film, one wonders why the pretty comedienne hasn’t knocked off Julia Roberts in a jealous rage yet.

Ms. Congeniality 2 is a very predictable piece of fluff, but, sometimes, a sweet comedy sequel that knows exactly what it’s doing is more enjoyable than a failed philosophical epic (think Matrix Reloaded). While occasionally slow and awkward (and about twenty minutes too long), the movie is a light guilty pleasure in which everyone can enjoy indulging.

—Staff writer Kristina M. Moore can be reached at moore2@fas.harvard.edu.