This time around, Sandra Bullock arms herself with hairspray, a broken heart and a makeup artist for yet another FBI mission in "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous." Throwing together some one-liners, Las Vegas and Louis Vuitton, Sandra Bullock pulls off a sufficient sequel, one that avenges her bad-sequel track record after an insipid performance in "Speed 2."
After the first movie established Gracie Hart as a tomboy turned beauty queen, the sequel focuses on "fabulous" fashion, trusty teamwork and world peace, of course. Gracie is assigned the mission of acting as the "new face of the FBI," one that entails countless press conferences with T.V. stars like Regis and Oprah. Gracie only trips twice in this movie, making it immediately evident that she has left behind her tomboy image and embraced the vogue world of Park Avenue. Her mission would not be complete, however, without Agent Hart's assigned bodyguard, Agent Fuller (Regina King).
Although the two characters clash, one favoring Fendi, the other Everlast, their on-screen cohesion essentially makes the movie. The duo plays off each other to create side-splitting strings of one-liners. It is their interaction that gives the sequel the same amount of wit as the original and fuses together the lackluster storyline. The two journey through Vegas dressed as showgirls, encountering a handful of interesting characters, including Dolly Parton.
As expected, this film lacks any substantial plot development. Gracie's glam mission is interrupted when her best friends, Miss United States (Heather Burns), and Stan Fields (William Shatner) are kidnapped by two seedy brothers. This lack of a tragedy sends Agents Hart and Fuller on a crazed adventure through Vegas, where they predictably stir up trouble in a nursing home, a night club, a casino and a hotel, and not to mention jeopardize the image of the bureau.
The sequel brings new scenery into the picture, that of the FBI Headquarters in Nevada. This is where Gracie runs into trouble with her superiors, and the scrappy plot seriously begins to fall apart. All of this can be overlooked with the injections of knee-slapping humor, though, because who honestly anticipated a captivating plot? In addition to the humor, Gracie's extensive and classy wardrobe rivals that of any Hollywood star. She even pulls off a costume involving saggy faux boobs with panache.
For the most part, the movie sticks to the chick-flick theme, encompassing those glorious traits of girl empowerment and a happy ending. However, it falls a bit short by failing to find any sort of romance for our main star. Agent Eric Matthews (Benjamin Bratt) stole our hearts away in the original, but is nowhere to be seen in the sequel, nor is he given an apt replacement. Both Agents Hart and Fuller remain romantically independent, emphasizing their newfound friendship and acceptance of their femininity.
Although the sequel is not better than the original, it still retains some good fashion and fun. Despite the lack of a story, the actors all have good chemistry and produce a few good laughs. If you're looking for some light-hearted fun-and I mean light-then check out this movie on Thursday.
