I just returned from seeing Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. My daughter said she thought it was "every bit as good as the original", but I was not that thrilled. Sandra Bullock did a good job with what she had to work with, but the plot was was very lame. Ms. Bullock did a good job with her trips and stumbles and made me laugh at loud several times with her seemingly seamless comedic timing.

Poor William Shatner is begining to make me uncomfortable he's so bloated and cartoonish. His makeup job didn't help either.

The character that stole the movie though was FBI Agent Sam Fuller playged by Regina King (the girl from 227). At first she's a tad hard to take, but she grows on you and she's a shining beacon in the sea of predictable other characters. Heather Burns who plays Cheryl Frasier, Miss America wasn't nearly as endearing as she was as Cheryl Frasier, Miss Rhode Island. She could of just phoned her role in.

It wasn't the worse #2 I've ever seen and frankly I didn't think it would be the better, but I'm a Sandra Bullock fan and again I say she did a good job with what she had to work with. Last week I watched her in Murder By Numbers and thought she was excellent playing straight drama and that plot held my attention from beginning to end.

How was the lesbian DA as the bad guy? I know many hate her.

As for this movie, I plan to watch it on DVD. What can I say, the first movie is a fun guility pleasure type of movie. I'm sure this can't be all that awful, as Bullock is really the draw. She's just rather fun to watch in whatever she's doing. Well, she couldn't save the cruise ship movie, but the rest I can generally watch.

The first one wasn't exactly critically acclaimed, so I'd wager that those who enjoyed the original will like the sequel.

Elisabeth Röhm was solid as always. She's fine actress IMHO and I was sorry to see her leave L&O. (The new gal will take some getting used to, but that show has gone through a LOT of gals and always seems to survive. The one I can't abide is Diane Neal (oink, oink) on L&O SVU. If they hadn't of toned her b*tch dial down I'd of quit watching the show...as it is, I think she stinks).

I doubt the 2nd one will bring in the $300 million the first one did, but there are scads of folks like me that went because I enjoyed the first one and saw Ms. Bullock on Letterman and she was charming as ever and perked my interest. I also had some credit left on my AMC movie card that one of my kiddos gave me for Christmas and this seemed like a good way to spend some of it. Lots of us Senior Discounters will go too because we know it's not going to feature blood and gore and we won't leave the theater feeling like we need a bath or a purge.....

Oh and before I forget.....the whole "lesbian thing" was st00pid teevee. It served no useful purpose other than to make the water cooler crowd scratch whatever itched the most and chant "what lesbian? who said she was a lesbian?" I thought she'd slept with what's-his-name with the eyebrows? Don't all the DAs supposedly sleep with him?? (Oh, yeah, HoustonDon I know some gals swing in 3 or 4 different directions....you don't have to draw me a diagram)... Anyway all I could figure was the writer must of gotten hold of come bad (drug of choice) that day.....

I have'nt seen the original yet,but was wondering something about the sequel.

How much screentime does the drag queen portion take up?

The reason I am wondering is,the hot Britney Valentine has some sort of role in the film,mostly as background/extra for the drag portion(along with some other drag queens). She reported about it on her website with some photos that peaked my interest.

www.britneyvalentine.com

I'd love too see her in action,but if it's a wasted barely noticeable scene/line. It would'nt be worth it.

Similar thing happened with Too Wong Foo,some cool queens had bit roles in the drag pagent near the begining of the film. Yet they barely got 1 second worth of screentime,which made it irritating and disappointing when you look forward to seeing them onscreen.

Frankly I didn't notice her. The drag stuff was very, very good though. The only odd thing was that so much garnish make-up was applied to Ms. Bullock that she almost looked like a man playing a woman instead of a woman playing a man playing a woman. Phew, that's confusing.... Since you'd be on the look-out for the background players, you'd probably see them more than I did... I think my whole bottom line on the movie is that I didn't mind spending the admission dough, but I'd never buy the DVD. The first one was the best.

A handfull of reviews from MetaCritic:

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Isn't exactly good - like "Legally Blonde 2," it's a more exaggerated, less buoyant sequel to what should have been a one-off comedy - but it's enjoyable.

Variety Robert Koehler
Lame and inoffensive.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It's unnecessary in the sense that there is no good reason to go and actually see it.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
As awful as the original was inspired.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Must be seen to be believed, though I'm not suggesting you actually see it.

Yikes!

wow....

Lesbian DA???

Maybe I missed that one... I don't remember a lesbian character, outside of Regina King, but that's not addressed.

JoBlo - 3/10

"yet another unambitious Hollywood fluffpiece born out of greed, sloth and safety nets. This film gets an “F” for Fuck Me!"

Review



Filmjerk - D-

"This sequel is dreadful in just about every way imaginable; its main focus is to routinely prove a nagging, egotistical point: Sandra Bullock finds herself hilarious."

Review

Oy. Guess the Rohmbot had the same processor in place for this.

Rohm was monotone in this just like she is monotone in everything else she has ever done.

Yes, my wife dragged me to this yesterday - all I can say is that it was better than Legally Blonde 2.

He meant that she played a lesbian DA on L&O, not this movie.

I really enjoyed the first one, but I'm not really hot to see this. As with most comedy sequels, I'm sure that whatever was funny in the first movie was beaten to death in the second.

I see.

Thanks!

Oh, so you were the ONE.

You forgot...

DVD Talk Texasgingersnap
It wasn't the worst #2 I've ever seen!

And I'm here to tell you I've had seen some pretty gross #2's in my time....

I thought it was a decent screwball comedy that evoked a lot of laughter from the afternoon crowd I was with at the theater today. I laughed alot, and Sandra Bulloch definitely doesn't take herself too seriously, which added to the laughs and likeability.

Not the greatest film ever, but for a couple of hours, it's fluffy entertainment.

I give it 2.5 stars or a grade of C+.

My feelings exactly.

I'm sure I can wait till the DVD release. Gotta see it for the Bullock hotness factor at some point.

I enjoyed this movie a lot. No, it's not Oscar-worthy, but what do you expect? It was fun and well worth the price of admission, especially if you like Sandra Bullock. Extra enjoyability factor if you've ever stayed at Treasure Island in Las Vegas.

To steal a review of another film:

"The worst 6 hours of my life:
1 hour to drive to the theater...
2 hours to see the film...
3 hours wondering why the hell I wasted the last two hours!"

Who said it had to be Oscar worthy?

I just wanted something funny, and for Bullock to calm the fuck down and remember how to act in a comedy.

I hate that other leading actress... she is so damn annoying

But her punch into Regis's groin was almost worth the price of admission.