'Miss Congeniality' mixes satire and sentimentality

By Joko E.H. Anwar

Miss Congeniality **1/2 (Out of ****); Comedy/Action, 109 minutes; Starring Sandra Bullock, Benjamin Bratt, Michael Caine, Candice Bergen, William Shatner; Directed by Daniel Petrie; A Fortis Film/Castle Rock Entertainment Presentation

JAKARTA (JP): We all know the drill at beauty pageants. A bevy of beautiful women parade in bathing suits, and then change into evening gowns, to represent the best of womanhood.

And then there is the talent show. Some sing, some dance and some act. Some even come up with something more creative like um.. bottle-juggling.

The final, nail-biting stage is usually an interview, the proof, the organizers say, that a beauty pageant is not merely about a woman's physical attributes but also her intellect.

Well, they can save their breath telling that to the ardent opponents, who say the contests are nothing more than meat markets.

In Miss Congeniality, tomboy Gracie Hart (Bullock) is nonplused as to why any woman would want to put herself on parade.

The headstrong FBI special agent dismisses the contestants as "bikini stuffers" who give no-nothing answers about what they can do for world peace.

Gracie has always been an aggressive woman. As a little girl, she defended a boy she was attracted to from school bullies.

She grew up to be a smart, independent woman and she kicks butt as an FBI agent.

But Gracie faces her greatest challenge when an upcoming Miss United States beauty pageant receives a threat from one of the country's most feared psychopathic terrorists called "The Citizen".

The bureau decides to put an agent in an undercover mission as a contestant in the pageant.

Unfortunately, finding a female agent who will pass as a contestant is no easy task and the only one who meets the criteria is on maternity leave.

Swaggering colleague Eric Mathews (Bratt) who heads the mission has to use Gracie.

The problem is that while she may look good in bikinis due to her rigorous workouts, she lacks the beauty queen finesse. She snorts like a pig when she laughs and looks like one when she eats, among other things. She never spends time for personal grooming and she does not even brush her hair like most women do.

Eric has to enlist help from Victor Melling (Caine) whose golden days as a beauty pageant consultant came to an end after he made a small mistake.

Victor's task is to transform Gracie from a no-nonsense feminist into Miss New Jersey, something that needs a miracle a as Gracie does not even own a dress and has to be taught to walk like a lady.

Through Gracie, the film pokes fun at beauty pageants all over the world with unabashed sarcasm. Unfortunately, it does not have the guts to keep the attitude going until the end.

The result is a harmless, if not forgettable, comedy. It is a mainstream Hollywood escapist fantasy, but still funny enough to amuse.

The film opens with a bunch of FBI agents nailing some Russian bad guys in a restaurant.

The scene is so lame -- it seems to be there just to introduce Bullock's character -- that it prepares us for the worst to come of a movie with a highly formulaic premise.

However, the film was not all that bad. In fact, the film is quite appealing and has many genuinely funny moments, thanks to its strong cast who overcome the weaknesses in the script.

Bullock seems to be having so much fun playing her role, which requires more comic physicality, that audiences are not left wondering if Goldie Hawn could have done it better.

Bullock, who also produced the movie, plays her character with slapstick and sarcasm -- and pushes them to the extreme.

She is brash, humorous, effectively regaining her status as one of the most adorable actresses working in film today.

While Bullock shines, her costars do so as well.

Caine is delightful to watch as a suave beauty pageant expert, relishing playing his Pygmalion scenes with Bullock. He may be sincere or simply a professional giving his all in a light role, but the veteran actor is simply adorable.

Bergen gives a witty performance, as good as her Murphy Brown, as pageant director Kathy Morningside, a former Miss United States who has devoted her life to defending the pageant from the threat of "enemies" -- inconsiderate feminists and ugly women.

There is also another sparky role played by William Shatner as the pageant's veteran master of ceremonies, very much like the figure of Burt Parks, the fumbling emcee of the old Miss America contests.

The film also benefits from the fine photography from veteran director of photography Laszlo Kovacs and production designer Peter Larkin who also provided his talent in Tootsie.

It's too bad that the script, written by Marc Lawrence, Katie Ford and Caryn Lucas, is often cheesy and predictable.

Bullock is one of those "unfortunate" actresses who, like American sweetheart Julia Roberts, has been typecasted.

Given that, Bullock's stardom, which she gained after playing her charming, independent-woman role in Speed, has been hampered lately by a string of lame scripts.

Miss Congeniality is definitely not the movie that will make her win her status back -- but it certainly gives her a promising restart.