MISS CONGENIALITY
Year: 2000
USA & UK: Warner Bros
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Benjamin Bratt, Michael Caine, William Shatner, Jennifer Gareis, Ernie Hudson, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Candice Bergen, John DiResta, Heather Burns, Diedre Quinn, Melissa De Sousa, Asia De Marcos, Eric Ian Goldberg, Mary Ashleigh Green, Cody Linley, Steve Monroe, Jeremy Denzlinger
Director: Donald Petrie
Country: USA
USA: 111 mins
UK: 110 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for sexual references and a scene of violence
UK Certificate: 12 contains moderate violence and sexual references
USA Release Date: 22 December 2000
UK Release Date: 23 March 2001
Synopsis
The Miss United States Pageant, hallowed and revered home of American beauty for the past fifty years, has received a threat from one of the country's most infamous criminals, the "Citizen." The F.B.I. has been tracking this psychopath forever as his rampage of bombings, shootings and arson terrorizes the nation. This may finally be their chance to nab him.
The plan? Simple. Get one of their agents into the pageant, undercover, as a contestant. Fix the judging so she's on stage right to the end, in the "top five." Equip her with a state of the art surveillance equipment. Finding that agent? Not so simple.
A computer search of all available female agents turns out a decidedly unphotogenic group, except for Special Agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock). She looks terrific on the computer in a bathing suit; she might even fool everyone in an evening gown, especially if she puts a brush to her hair. But Gracie doesn't own a brush. Or a dress. Or high heels. Or as her fellow agent and head of the undercover operation, Eric Matthews (Benjamin Bratt) puts it - she's a "car wreck." And Gracie has no desire to join the ranks of what she refers to as a "bunch of bikini stuffers who only want world peace."
Which is why the Bureau hires beauty pageant consultant Victor Melling (Michael Caine) to transform Gracie - or as he re-names her, "Dirty Harriet" into Gracie Lou Freebush - the perfect pageant contestant. Henry Higgins had a day at the beach compared to what Vic is up against in beautifying a woman "without a detectable smidgen of estrogen." But the fate of the pageant hangs in the balance, and considering that Gracie's refusal to follow orders has already placed her job in jeopardy, this may be her last chance to make it in her beloved Bureau.
MISS CONGENIALITY is a comedy that stars and is produced by Sandra Bullock (28 DAYS). The film also stars Academy Award winner Michael Caine (THE CIDER HOUSE RULES), Benjamin Bratt (THE NEXT BEST THING), Candice Bergen (TV's MURPHY BROWN) as the poised former beauty queen and head of the Miss United States Pageant, Kathy Morningside; William Shatner (STAR TREK) as Stan Fields, the veteran, about-to-be-fired emcee of the pageant; Ernie Hudson (GHOSTBUSTERS) as McDonald, Gracie and Eric's tough, by-the-book boss; and John DiResta (15 MINUTES) as Clonsky, an F.B.I. agent working with Gracie and Eric.
