Miss this stale, non-congenial sequel

PEGGY J. ROGERS

Movie sequels fall somewhere between being as good or better than the

original, like “Godfather II,” or being like a weekly episodic

television show with the same characters dealing with the same

situation, but with additional supporting actors and different

locations, like “Lethal Weapon 2,” “3” and “4.”

Both types of sequels have had their share of box office hits and

misses. Churning out sequels, however, is obviously a gamble film

producers are eager to make, including Sandra Bullock.

Bullock stars and produces in the sequel to her box office hit

comedy, “Miss Congeniality.” The sequel, “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed

and Fabulous,” has a title that fits the original story but falls

short of being related to anything in the second installment.

Picking up where the last movie left of, Gracie Hart has become

the media diva of the moment since solving the Miss U.S. murder while

being runner-up in the contest. Gracie is such a recognizable public

figure now, her fans gush over her frantically asking for autographs,

even when she is on undercover assignment.

This means Gracie draws too much attention to her while undercover

and is taken out of the field and groomed to be the poster girl for

the FBI, traveling across the country promoting the bureau as well as

her newly released book about her beauty pageant adventures.

Back at FBI headquarters a new agent, Sam Fuller (Regina King),

struggles with anger management issues in self-defense class. The

solution is to send Sam along as a bodyguard on Gracie’s

cross-country television tour. The assignment, naturally, makes Sam

angry.

Before Gracie or her traveling entourage get to the source of

Sam’s anger, friends of hers from the Miss U.S. pageant are kidnapped

and held for ransom. Never one to delegate, Gracie drops her book

tour and races across the country to Las Vegas to try to solve the

crime. Gracie’s bodyguard reluctantly tags along.

The kidnapping, however, is a smoke screen for what is most

important in the film: friendships.

“Miss Congeniality 2” is a female version of the cops-and-buddies

comedy drama “Lethal Weapon,” with script problems. Bad acting can

turn a great story into a boring one. However, even great actors

cannot turn a weak story into a hit. In movies, the story is

everything. Sandra Bullock and her co-star, Regina King (“Ray”) are

good actors and good at doing comedy. Good comedy.

The comedy in “Miss Congeniality 2,” however, has been done in so

many other comedies, including classics such as “Some Like It Hot”

and the contemporary multi-character-driven comedies of Eddie Murphy

and Martin Lawrence.

Some of the routines have been used so often they make you wince

with remorse, like when Gracie Hart runs after and knocks down

someone posing as a famous celebrity that turns out to actually be

the celebrity. Another embarrassing skit finds Gracie disguised as a

cantankerous senior in an adult-care facility, complete with sagging

breasts and gigantic false teeth. It is an outdated stereotype, one

that was popular a couple of decades back; that is when it was funny.

Homosexual and drag queen innuendos and nightclub performances also

appearing in the comedy have grown stale with time.

What is newer to film but usually reserved for an action movie is

the slapping, hitting and choking antics Gracie and Sam get into that

are meant to be taken as slapstick humor on the level of the Three

Stooges. Some viewers may find the behavior offensive or, at the very

least, not funny.

The film’s greatest strength is its actors, Bullock and King. The

sequel’s most obvious weakness is its disjointed, seen-it-all-before

script.

The comedy has greater appeal to teenagers with limited movie

experience. For adults, the sequel falls closer to being a weekly

episodic comedy show than being as good as or better than the

original, so watching it on television, on DVD or on pay-per-view

could improve your viewing pleasure.