Miss Congeniality (2000)

An F.B.I. Agent must go undercover in the Miss United States beauty pageant to prevent a group from bombing the event.

Director:

Donald Petrie

Writers:

Marc Lawrence, Katie Ford

Stars:

Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, Benjamin Bratt

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 7 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sandra Bullock	...	Gracie Hart
Michael Caine	...	Victor Melling
Benjamin Bratt	...	Eric Matthews
Candice Bergen	...	Kathy Morningside
William Shatner	...	Stan Fields
Ernie Hudson	...	Harry McDonald
John DiResta	...	Agent Clonsky
Heather Burns	...	Cheryl Frasier - Miss Rhode Island
Melissa De Sousa	...	Karen Krantz - Miss New York
Steve Monroe	...	Frank Tobin
Deirdre Quinn	...	Mary Jo Wright - Miss Texas
Wendy Raquel Robinson	...	Leslie Davis - Miss California
Asia De Marcos	...	Alana Krewson - Miss Hawaii
Ken Thomas	...	Agent Harris
Gabriel Folse	...	Agent Jerry Grant

Storyline

Undercover F.B.I. Agent Gracie Hart shows no signs of having any femininity in her demeanor or appearance. Generally a bright and capable Agent, she is in trouble at work when she makes an error in judgment in a case which results in a near disaster. As such, one of her by-the-books colleagues, Eric Matthews, who has never shown any inclination of thinking outside the box, is assigned to lead the high profile case of a terrorist coined The Citizen instead of her, while she is facing possible disciplinary action. Gracie pieces together the evidence to determine that The Citizen's next target will be the Miss United States beauty pageant. The pageant represents everything that Gracie abhors. Despite Gracie's mannish demeanor, Eric, with no other undercover female Agent remotely fitting the demographic, assigns her to go undercover as a pageant contestant to see if she can flush out The Citizen, who is perhaps one of the other contestants. Although the pageant administration, led by ...

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Plot Keywords:

beauty contest | fbi federal bureau of investigation | knee high boots | boots | pageant | 

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Taglines:

She's Got A Killer To Catch... Right After The Swimsuit Competition.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual references and a scene of violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

The state contestants featured are from New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Texas, California, Hawaii and Nebraska.

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Goofs

In the Laika Restaurant, standing at the back bar, Jerry holds a gun on Ivan's Russian bodyguard with the yellow shirt, seen when McDonald and his men burst into the restaurant. There's a male customer crouched down at Jerry's feet. While Gracie says, "You're not killing anyone, you peanut eating ..." the bar is visible behind them and the man crouching is seen, but Jerry and the Russian bodyguard are not at the bar. Gracie flips Krashow and in the next close-up, Jerry is back at the bar near the crouching guy, with his gun still pointing at the Russian bodyguard, who then shoots Jerry. Then in the next shot, that Russian bodyguard is not at the bar like in the previous shot, only Ivan and another Russian are there shooting at McDonald and his men.

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Quotes

[to models refusing pizza and beer]
Gracie Hart: It's lite beer, and she's gonna throw it up anyway.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: The Worst Films of 2000 (2001)

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Soundtracks

Semper Fidelis
Written by John Philip Sousa
Performed by Razumovsky Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Keith Brion
Courtesy of Naxos of America
by arrangement with Source/Q

User Reviews

Bullock is totally winning, and wins this contest hands down. Worth it just for her!

Miss Congeniality (2000)

A funny plot full of clever hooks, and an amazing, charming, full on performance by Sandra Bullock make this movie really funny. And warm. And fun.

It would be a mistake and shame to expect more from it, and there are times where it gets a little too silly for its own good, including some of the last half hour. But what works, works, and the first hour of build up, and of Bullock's transformation (and her sparks of humor and authenticity through it all) are first rate. Michael Caine supports her as he supports everyone in the business, with class and finesse. Benjamin Bratt, playing a kind of distant love interest for Bullock's FBI agent cum beauty contestant, is a little to aware of his good looks and doesn't quite relax enough to make him a star.

He could learn a lot from Caine and Bullock, who are both consummate actors capable of saving, and even lifting up, a mostly routine production. For lightweight fare, it's a joy. By the way, the only "Miss United States" beauty pageant is an "on-line" contest, with a hefty entry fee, and seems to be a commercial and possibly exploitive tie-in to the movie. The famous (and infamous) national pageants are Miss America and Miss USA. This movie is meant to play off the stereotypes of what the contestants are often like, and it provides for some pretty good fodder.

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. (UK)

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian French Hawaiian Spanish

Release Date:

22 December 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Miss Congeniality

Filming Locations:

Arneson River Theater, San Antonio, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,046,534, 24 December 2000

Gross USA:

$106,807,667

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$212,742,720

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castle Rock Entertainment, Village Roadshow Pictures, NPV Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1