Miss Congeniality (film)
historyMiss Congeniality is a 2000 comedy directed by Donald Petrie, starring Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine and Benjamin Bratt. A sequel, was released in 2005.
Plot
Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) is an FBI agent who goes undercover in the fictional Miss United States scholarship program/beauty pageant in San Antonio, Texas on the lookout for a terrorist. She, who is not traditionally attractive, is turned into a more attractive woman going by the name of Gracie Lou Freebush, with the same tomboyish habits (eg. snorting while laughing). She is seen overreacting to a gun-toting Texan, wearing a Tyrolean for her talent competition, much to the dismay of her mentor, Victor Melling (Michael Caine) and the director of the competition and former queen, Kathy Morningside (Candice Bergen), and using her on-stage talent to demonstrate self-defense techniques.
In the pageant itself, Hart, competing on behalf of the state of New Jersey was tabbed to advance to the top 10, but gets through on talent alone for the rest of the pageant. She eventually places as runner up to Cheryl Frasier (Miss Rhode Island). It is revealed at the end of the movie that Morningside and her son, Frank Morningside (gone under the name Tobin to hide his many crimes) have plotted to sabotage the pageant. They are caught after the title crown (which is rigged with a bomb, which, upon detonation, would assassinate the winner of the pageant, keeping Kathy Morningside from giving up her crown) detonates at conclusion of the pageant, and Gracie is awarded "Miss Congeniality" (although The Miss Congeniality award is usually given during the pageant itself, a custom in pageants such as Miss USA and Miss Universe) and starts a relationship with her partner Eric Matthews (Benjamin Bratt).
- Sandra Bullock — Gracie Hart
- Michael Caine — Victor Melling
- Benjamin Bratt — Eric Matthews
- Candice Bergen — Kathy Morningside
- Heather Burns — Cheryl Frasier (Miss Rhode Island)
- Steve Monroe — Frank Tobin/Morningside
- Ernie Hudson — Harry McDonald
- William Shatner — Stan Fields
- John DiResta — Agent Clonsky
- Wendy Raquel Robinson — Leslie Davis, Miss California
- Deirdre Quinn — Mary Jo Wright, Miss Texas
- Melissa De Sousa — Karen Krantz, Miss New York
- Asia De Marcos — Alana Krewson, Miss Hawaii
Production
Most of the movie was shot in Austin, Texas, though it was set in New York City and San Antonio. Exteriors of the St. Regis and a few street scenes were shot in New York. The interior of the St. Regis was actually Austin's Driskill Hotel. The Alamo and River Walk scenes in San Antonio were shot there. The pageant itself was shot at Bass Concert Hall at the University of Texas at Austin and the hotel hosting the contestants was the Hyatt on Lady Bird Lake, again in Austin.
Reception
The film opened fifth at the North American box office making $13,853,686 USD in its opening weekend, it had a 5% increase in earnings the week after, enough to make the film soar to #3. The movie was a box office hit, grossing more than $106 million at the U.S. box office and grossed over $212 million worldwide. It was nominated for several awards, including two Golden Globes for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical for Sandra Bullock and Best Original Song - Motion Picture for Bosson's "One in a Million". The movie received a 40% rating from Rotten Tomatoes and a 43 metascore from Metacritic, representing mixed or average reviews.
DVD release
The film was released on DVD in 2001, and included two commentaries, some deleted scenes, the theatrical trailer, and two documentaries. In 2005, a deluxe edition of the film was released, including different cover art for the DVD and menu. It contained the same features as the other DVD version plus a quiz hosted by William Shatner and a sneak peek at the second film. It was released a second time in 2005, as part of a double pack with the sequel Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous.
Track listing
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!align="center"|#
!align="center"|Title
!align="center"|Performer
!align="center"|Time
|-
|1
|"One In A Million"
|Bosson
|3:30
|-
|2
|"If Everybody Looked The Same"
|Groove Armada
|3:40
|-
|3
|"She's A Lady (The BT Remix)"
|Tom Jones
|4:21
|-
|4
|"Anywhere USA"
|P.Y.T
|4:06
|-
|5
|"Dancing Queen"
|A*Teens
|3:50
|-
|6
|"Let's Get It On"
|Red Venom
|3:26
|-
|7
|"Get Ya Party On"
|Baha Men
|3:20
|-
|8
|"None Of Your Business"
|Salt 'N' Pepa
|3:34
|-
|9
|"Mustang Sally"
|Los Lobos
|4:59
|-
|10
|"Bullets"
|Bob Schneider
|4:25
|-
|11
|"Liquored Up And Lacquered Down"
|Southern Culture On The Skids
|2:26
|-
|12
|"Miss United States (Berman Brothers Mix)"
|William Shatner
|3:38
|-
|13
|"One In A Million (Bostrom Mix)"
|Bosson
|3:33
|}