Rating: 
Summary: Good for those lazy afternoons with nothing to do
Review: I think that this was the wrong film for Sandra Bullock. It had it's moments, but on the whole her film "While You Were Sleeping" was much funnier. Bullock tried to carry off the role of a tough, just one of the boys FBI agent, while at the same time learning to be feminine. This is not her fault, the writers simply didn't provide her with the material to work with.
Rating: 
Summary: Miss FBI
Review: Sandra Bullock rocks, in this movie about a FBI agent turned into a prom queen. This funny film shows you the ups and downs of model life and FBI want-a-be's will think twice before useing a gun. Rent it today.
Rating:
Summary: A Joy, Beginning to End
Review: This is not a movie about an FBI agent who goes underocover at a beauty pageant. Nor is this a movie about a frumpy girl who finds some self esteem. The plot is only there to create the flimsiest of excuses for some world class comic and ensemble acting. This film is simply about brilliant humor and the joy of performance. Does anyone criticize the Marx Brothers films because Groucho makes an unlikely African explorer or dictator? Sandra Bullock's performance is one of the finest comic performances in a generation or two. She deserved, at the very least, an Oscar nomination. Her timing is impeccable and her willingness to uglify herself goes far beyond the level of what most actresses would do. Also, her accent and her gestures are absolutely authentic Jersey City. The other actors are also wonderful here especially Michael Caine, who is flat out brilliant. William Shatner and Candice Bergen are wonderful. You forget their previous roles as they are so perfectly cast. The other girls in the pageant are marvelous. Even the small part of a video technician is hilarious. I disagree with the other reviewers about Benjamin Bratt. Of course he's not believable as an FBI agent and he's stiff as a board: he's supposed to be. He's a straight man, pure and simple and his performance is clever, his line readings always surprising. Great comedy is not about believability or plot. It's about timing and acting. It is one of the most difficult challenges for actors, for writers, and for directors. Miss Congeniality is, in my opinion, one of the great comedies of the decade, up there with the Austin Powers films, albeit quite different. I've seen it five times, three times in the theater, twice at home. I could see it again at the drop of a hat. I hope that the producer (Sandra Bullock) continues to make such marvelous films. Like Clint Eastwood, she may have to wait years for the critics to catch up, but they will. She is that great.
Rating: 
Summary: Women Will Enjoy This Romance Vehicle Once
Review: This is an amusing trifle which my friend Joyce and I took in at the Cinemark theater matinee right before it went to video/DVD. We enjoyed ourselves, had some good laughs but seeing it once was more than enough. This is based on an FBI agent's (Bullock's) having to go undercover in a Miss America-like pageant as a contestant to prevent a terrorist event. It pokes gentle fun at beauty pageants in general and promotes a romance between star FBI agents Sandra Bullock and Benjamin Bratt. There are some over the top performances by Candace Bergen, William Shatner and Michael Caine, all involved with the pageant from business stand points. I can't say any of those three distinguished him/herself here but they were ok. There seems to a recent deluge of these beauty pageant movies. "Beautiful" with Minnie Driver is another and she portrays the self absorbed aspect of such a contestant pretty well. However, the movie gets very sidetracked with the issue of whether she is the real mother of her niece or not. Another is "Drop Dead Gorgeous" which takes the broadest satiric swipe at beauty pageants, involving a talent demonstration that is probably worse even than actually ever seen in a pageant (which is saying a lot). My favorite beauty pageant movie is"Smile" from the 1970s with Bruce Dern in the lead as a mover and shaker in the pageant world. It contains all the cynicism and realism missing from these other versions. "Miss Congeniality" probably is the best romance vehicle of all of them and if you are looking for a pleasant romantic comedy with an attractive leading man (Bratt), this will do nicely. However, I would really love to see an entirely different movie than has yet been made about beauty pageants. I would love to see a first rate writer-director, such as Oliver Stone, take on beauty pageants and show us the true underside of them as he did with football in "Any Given Sunday." Until then, the above movies are what we've got instead. Naive fool that I was, I never imagined that beauty pageants would still be with us in the year 2001, much less that the USA would have seen a real-world child beauty pageant murder, the Ramsey one.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than expected
Review: Okay, I admit, I laughed out loud watching this surprisingly good movie. Dumb jokes for sure, but still very funny. I kept thinking, I can't believe I am actually laughing at yet another spoof of a beauty pageant. Sandra Bullock was better than I have seen her since "Love Potion #9" and perhaps it's just a case of lowered expectations, but it has been a long time since she didn't seem over-rated and over her head as a star. The DVD has good commentary from both Bullock and the writer, and separately the Director.
Rating:
Summary: Funny Movie Up to the Ending
Review: This was one of the better movies of 2000 - right up to the end. However, the over all story line was destroyed because the ending sent a message to women and girls that you have to be beauty-pageant beautiful in order to get the good looking guy. Not a message I want my daughter to get. That's too bad because Bullock was excellent as the klutzy FBI agent infiltrating the Miss United States pageant.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Sandra's finest hour.
Review: Okay...I'll admit it... I watched this movie. It's not something I am proud of, but it was a busy night at the old video store, and I took what I could get. Maybe it's just me, but what was this movie supposed to be? The premise isn't bad. Actually I like the idea of the FBI trying to put a frumpy agent undercover as one of the world most beautiful women. Unfortunately you really need a little bit of believability to try to pull this off. The big problem is that the FBI is made up to be some sort of bumbling group of morons that can't go five minutes without making some crude comment about a woman's physique. So anyway, the FBI decides to send it's (seemingly) worst group of agents to apprehend a serial killer who is supposedly stalking a beauty pageant. Soon lots and lots of jokes and bit's are paraded around at the expense of the contestants, and along the way our heroine manages to fall in love, while learning that you can't judge a book by it's cover. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! Okay here's my biggest problem. Bullock is supposed to this smart top notch FBI agent who hates all of the "Pretty Woman" stereotypes. Then why does she fall in love with a man that wouldn't even give her the time of day until she got all "gussied up"? Is she really more shallow than we thought? I know I'm amking too much of this, but let's at least try to pick a statement a stick to it. This movie has two and half saving graces: 1.Sandra Bullock, 2. Michael Caine and 1/2 is William Shatner and Candice Bergen. (I only give them 1/2 because they just aren't in it long enough) Bullock manages to bring a great deal of charm and wit to a script that did it's best to keep her down. And Caine effortlessly steals nearly every scene in which he appears as the flamboyant pageant coach. Shatner and Bergen are perfect as the aging pageant veterans (see Burt Parks). On the downside Ben Bratt proves the theory that good hair and nice smile can only take you so far. I really liked him on Law & Order, and maybe I shouldn't blame him for the awful material he was given to read. But then again, I have to assume he saw the script before filming began. "Miss Congeniality" does have some very funny moments, but just not enough to overcome the rest of this very dull movie. If you want to see it, then please do me a favor, rent it first. You'll be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: Sandra Bullock fans, it's ok to rent this movie
Review: I like Sandra Bullock's works in general. I have found her characters likeable and watchable, and I haven't felt intellectually insulted by her movies (though I haven't seen Speed). I'll say right out that the cop-scenes in this movie were awful. For this movie to be a gem the actors needed to be more convincing as FBI agents. Go into this movie deciding to turn off your brain any time there are more than 3 agents on the screen. Again the opening FBI standoff was simply bad film-making. The composition of this movie is basically half Charlie's Angels (every episode: "I have an idea, let's go undercover") and half Sister Act ("I'll show these prudes how to party"). It was a good decision to make the Pageant contestents privately smart and with their own sense of honor. That kept the film afloat. When Ms Rhode Island laments "I went Rain Man" it gave all the contestants a human depth. William Shatner delivered a great camp-performance, which is a compliment because that's what he was tasked to do. So this film is clearly camp and that is the two edge sword, since it's clearly not camp-enough. It's a bad decision to start out with real-world weapons and stake-out tactics, and then descend into camp. However, I found the film to be an enjoyable ha-ha diversion, so long as you're not looking for a terribly smart movie. Warn your friends that this is a dumb-but-enjoyable movie and you will all be ok.
Rating:
Summary: HILARIOUS
Review: I saw this movie in the theatres and I must say that it is one of the funniest I have ever seen. You see Sandra Bullock in a completely different light. It's a movie to buy and watch with a group of friends that just want to laugh. BUY IT!
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking
Review: This movie is really keen. I don't know why the critics think it's juvenile. I'm 14 years old and I thought it was very deep. Truly mature viewers will find it thought-provoking. Is life really a beauty pageant, are we all like Sandra Bullock, and how much does a nice gown contribute to self-awareness? These are the kinds of important questions addressed here, with style and aplombe galore. Much better than Pokemon.
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