Review of Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005) by Ben L — 05 Jun 2012

Before I go completely negative in this review I should probably be fair and talk about the one thing they got right. They didn't sidestep the first film and pretend it didn't have repercussions. They dealt with the fact that an FBI agent who has become a national news story can't just step back into the unknown field agent role. They told the story of how an agent might move on after that. Sadly, that is not a very interesting story.

This film tries desperately to cling to the formula of the first film, but without the slob-makeover aspect it loses a lot. Instead somehow Hart is changed by her new look and becomes as superficial as the women she despises in the first film. That seems like an odd personality shift. As a result of Hart's new personality they have to write in a tough-as-nails partner to keep the action going. Oh, but don't forget that a gay stylist added something to the first film so instead of thinking of a new idea they just include a new gay stylist. Despite this desperate grab to add comedy they don't manage to draw a single laugh in the whole movie.

The story is so blah and uninteresting. The clues that Hart finds are extremely obvious and make you wonder what, if anything, the rest of the FBI was doing to solve the case. Perhaps they, like the audience, just didn't care that much about the ransom victims. There are so many plot holes that make zero sense, so many plot points that are added for no apparent reason, and at the end they give the audience the ultimate slap in the face. After spending the whole movie establishing that Hart can't be an ordinary agent because of her notoriety, they make her an agent anyways, as if this new story didn't add to her fame. Basically they copped out because they couldn't figure out a good resolution for the character so they just wrote the ending they thought the audience would like best. That's what Miss Congeniality 2 is all about, trying to cater to an audience instead of trying to tell a good story.