Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Miss Congeniality (2000) - Caine, Bullock and Shatner shine in low-brow romp

8/24/2020

Miss Congeniality (2000) - Caine, Bullock and Shatner shine in low-brow romp

♥♥♥

Star Sandra Bullock looks radiant on this poster for Donald Petrie's Miss Congeniality

FBI's agent 'Dirty Harriet' Grace Hart is tasked with infiltrating the Miss America pageant in order to avert an attack from the mysterious 'citizen' killer.

Miss Congeniality is written by Marc Lawrence (Noelle (2019)), Katie Ford (Little House on the Prairie (2005, miniseries)) and Cary Lucas (Pride & Joy (1995, TV-series)) and directed by Donald Petrie (Mystic Pizza (1988).
The high-concept idea that runs Miss Congeniality doesn't have much in terms of unpredictability or plausibility to its credit, and especially the FBI environment it conjures up seems grotesquely improbable. The sincerity of the film's morale and the inevitable kisses are also very slight.
But if you can accept Miss Congeniality with the appropriate low-brow expectations, it offers something besides these deficiencies:
Sandra Bullock (Forces of Nature (1999)) is as endearing as ever, (although some of her comedy misses the mark); Benjamin Bratt (Snitch (2013)) is handsome and fine as her romantic interest; William Shatner (Barbary Coast (1975-76)) is a bowl of laughs as the pageant show's host, a ham part that's not far from Shatner's own celebrity persona. And then there's also Michael Caine (The Wrong Box (1966)), who is phenomenal and hilarious; his scenes are generally the film's best. Miss Congeniality esteems itself as gay-friendly, satirical, decent popcorn-munching fun fare.

Watch a short trailer for the film here

Cost: 45 mil. $
Box office: 212.7 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 4.72 times its cost)
[Miss Congeniality premiered 14 December (Hollywood) and runs 110 minutes. Shooting took place from May - July 2000 in Texas, including San Antonio and Austin, and in New York City. The film opened #5, behind fellow new release Cast Away, holdover hits What Women Want and How the Grinch Stole Christmas and fellow new release The Family Man, to a 10 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #3 and spent a total of 6 consecutive weekends in the top 5, grossing 106.8 mil. $ (50.2 % of the total gross). The film's Box Office Mojo international sheet is regrettably incomplete, but its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets appear to have been Germany with 17 mil. $ (8 %) and the UK with 14.1 mil. $ (6.6 %). The film was nominated for 2 Golden Globes, among a few other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. Bullock returned as star in sequel Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous (2005) with John Pasquin directing. Petrie returned with How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)). Bullock returned first in Murder by Numbers (2002). Miss Congeniality is rotten at 42 % with a 5.12/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Miss Congeniality?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (6-24)

8/24/2020

Miss Congeniality (2000) - Caine, Bullock and Shatner shine in low-brow romp

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