Gracie Hart, Sandra Bullock, a tough, quick-tempered FBI agent, is a slob – no wonder she's dateless. However, when the feds learn about a mad bomber threatening a beauty pageant, Gracie's the one to go undercover and that means a makeover by a veteran at the game, Victor Melling, Michael Caine.
Miss Congeniality is a mish-mash of various themes, partly Pygmalion, with Michael Caine's Professor Higgins tutoring Sandra Bullock's Eliza Dolittle, part satire on the beauty pageant business, part comedy, part thriller. It misfires on just about every level, and the few laughs there are you've already seen in the trailer.
Bullock, who produced, makes apredictable transformation from slob to beauty in a film which, for a mainstream comedy, seems unusually intent on blurring sexual roles – not a bad thing. Michael Caine could play this character in his sleep, and William Shatner does, indeed, looks somnolent at times. Donald Petrie's slow, uninspired direction results in a film which overstays its welcome.
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