Written by: Susan Granger
http://www.susangranger.com

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous poster

When last seen, klutzy FBI agent Gracie Hart was not only crowned Miss Congeniality but she saved the Miss United States Pageant from sabotage. Now it's ten months later. Her romance with a fellow agent has fizzled and she can no longer go undercover in the field because everyone recognizes her. And she's still a social misfit. With the help of a personal stylist (Diedrich Bader), she has no choice but to become the new PR "face of the FBI." While suffering from an all-too-familiar, selfish toxic fame syndrome, she's jolted back to reality when her pal Cheryl Frazier (Heather Burns), a.k.a. Miss United States, and pageant host Stan Fields (William Shatner) are kidnapped by thugs in Las Vegas. That's when Gracie realizes she really needs to befriend her ferocious body-guard Sam Fuller (Regina King), but their bantering, antagonistic relationship is forced and whatever bond of kindred spirits they forge is painfully contrived.

Writer/producer Marc Lawrence and director John Pasquin seem starved for inventive ideas. Everything seems old, hackneyed and artificial, particularly Sam's outrageous and inexplicable "anger management issues" and a chase involving Dolly Parton. Only the comedic charm and vivacity of Sandra Bullock keep the entertainment quotient from sinking like the pirate ship that wages war in a lagoon outside the glitzy Venetian Hotel.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous" is a labored 5, delivering a muddled girl-power message about maintaining one's individuality. It's far from fabulous.

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