Comparing Miss Congeniality and Its Sequel Miss Congeniality 2

My next article on movies that spawn sequels is one of my all time favorite comedies "Miss Congeniality."

I go on record in saying that I love Sandra Bullock. I think she is a highly underrated actress with a great deal of on screen charisma and a girl next door beauty that trascends time. She is fun to watch on screen, particularly when she is engaged in physical comedy.

In "Miss Congeniality", Bullock plays FBI agent Gracie Hart. To say that Gracie is a mess is a major understatement. She barely looks feminine, with her grungy tomboy clothing, makeup free face, and straw like hair. However, she is a good FBI agent. She's not a bit afraid to get down and dirty, which explains her nickname "Dirty Harriet."

When the bureau gets information that a uni-bomber wanta-be intends to make an explosive appearance at an upcoming Miss USA Pageant, Gracie seems the most unlikely candidate to go undercover in the pageant; but undercover she does go. With the help of a beauty consultant Victor Melling (played by Michael Caine), Gracie makes an amazing transformation to become totally babelicious.

With backup in tow, including her handsome hunk partner Eric Matthews (played by Benjamin Bratt), Gracie reluctantly heads off to the pageant to try and save the day. At first she is like a fish out of water, trying to fit into what she believes to be the typical beauty pageant contestant mold. However, slowly but surely she begins to make friends with the other contestants and emerges from her own self-imposed shell. As she does, she realizes that her snap categorization of these girls is totally off the mark.

Gracie takes a instant like to Cheryl Frasier - - Miss Rhode Island (played by Heather Burns). She is, therefore, heart broken when it appears that Cheryl might be a part of the conspiracy. Determined to get at the truth, Gracie invites Cheryl and several other girls out for pizza and beer. The ploy works and Gracie finds out Cheryl's deep, dark secret, which ultimately eliminates her as a candidate. But that means everything is back to square one, as the bureau races against time to find the real guilty culprit.