- Title: Miss Congeniality
- IMDb: link
Wayback Wednesday takes us back to the year 2000 and Sandra Bullock starring role as FBI Agent Gracie Hart who goes undercover at the Miss United States Beauty Pageant to prevent a terrorist attack. The joke of the film is that the gruff feminist is far from a dream contest. Enter coach Victor Melling (Michael Caine), and his team, who helps Gracie fake it until she makes it (including the obligatory makeover montage) while the experience, and the friendship she makes along the way while searching for a terrorist, change Gracie’s opinions on pageants and those who enter them.
If a bit uninspired, Miss Congeniality at least knows what it is and has fun with the premise. Bullock’s likeability goes a long way to selling the film’s premise and the disapprovement from the likes of Caine, Benjamin Bratt as Gracie’s partner, and Candice Bergen as the pageant director are often entertaining.
The film was a box office smash but critical failure and inspired a best-forgotten sequel. More a collection of fun moments than a solid film (the whole terrorist plot needed to hold the gags together is a bit of a mess), Miss Congeniality is something of a guilty pleasure for the right audience as it still delivers its share of laughs, most notably William Shatner‘s deadpan reaction to one contestant’s description of her perfect date.
Watch the trailer | “Describe your perfect date”
