Miss Congeniality

Comedy targets don't come much easier than the American beauty pageant industry, and this Bullock vehicle milks the subject for every last joke. Her earnest clowning wins audience sympathy, and while there may not be many surprises, there's little to dislike either. Bullock plays Gracie Hart, a rookie FBI agent selected to go undercover at a beauty pageant threatened by a psychopathic arch-criminal, and pageant consultant Victor Melling (Caine) is called in to groom and turn the agent into what she disparagingly calls a 'bikini-stuffer'. Physically the transformation is sufficiently dramatic to convince colleague Eric Matthews (Bratt) that she's not just another one of the guys after all, but smoothing the rough edges of her personality proves rather more difficult. Caine phones in a lacklustre performance, and as half of a romantic pairing Bratt is overshadowed by Bullock's undeniable screen presence. It's her movie, and for the most part she doesn't disappoint.