Miss Congeniality (2000)

Director: Donald Petrie
Writers: Mark Lawrence, Katie Ford
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, Benjamin Bratt, Candice Bergen, William Shatner, Ernie Hudson, Heather Burns, Melissa De Sousa / Steve Monroe / Wendy Raquel Robinson / Ken Thomas / Gabrielle Fowles
Genre: Action/Comedy/Crime
Region: USA / Australia
Languages: English / Russian / French / Hawaiian / Spanish
Released: 2000-12-22 (USA)
Series: [1] Agent Belle
Runtime: 109 minutes
Also known as: Beauty Pageant Undercover (Hong Kong) / Spicy Queen (Taiwan) / Miss Beauty Pageant / Miss Friendship / Beauty Pageant Police Lady / Crush Story
Rating: IMDB 6.3 / Rotten Tomatoes 41%

Movie Synopsis
Gracie’s mother was an excellent federal agent who unfortunately died in a mission. Gracie (Sandra Bullock played by Sandra Bullock) grew up and inherited her mother’s career and became a federal agent. Gracie was tempered and unkempt since she was a child. As a “tomboy”, she was not popular. Only her partner and friend Eric (Benjamin Bratt Benjamin Bratt) understood her.
The FBI learned that a group of terrorists were planning to make a terrorist attack during the Miss America pageant. In order to thwart this conspiracy, the FBI decided to send undercover agents to participate in the pageant. The task naturally fell on Gracie. With the skillful hands of the stylist, Gracie made everyone’s eyes shine, and her “tomboy” character naturally made this mission full of jokes.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until the night of the Miss America gala. However, when Gracie and all the beauties stood on the stage, an accident happened!

“Miss Congeniality” is a 2000 action-comedy film directed by Donald Petrie and starring Sandra Bullock, Benjamin Bratt, and Michael Caine. Bullock plays Gracie Hart, an FBI agent who goes undercover as a contestant in the Miss United States beauty pageant in order to catch a terrorist who is planning to bomb the event.

Initially, Gracie is resistant to the idea of participating in the pageant, as she is a tough, tomboyish agent who feels out of place in a world of beauty and fashion. However, she soon begins to embrace her feminine side and becomes close with the other contestants, including the kind-hearted and ditzy Miss Rhode Island, played by Heather Burns.

As the pageant progresses, Gracie and her partner, Eric Matthews (Bratt), work to identify the bomber before it’s too late. Along the way, Gracie learns important lessons about self-confidence, teamwork, and embracing her own unique qualities.

“Miss Congeniality” was a box office success, grossing over $212 million worldwide. It received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising Bullock’s performance and the film’s humor, while others criticized its formulaic plot and stereotypical portrayal of beauty pageants. Nevertheless, the film has since become a cult classic and spawned a sequel, “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous”, in 2005.