Miss Congeniality

Makeover movies are not, as a rule, good. At least, they weren't until "Miss Congeniality."\n When Hollywood takes an ugly duckling figure and tries to transform her (because they are invariably women -- aren't there any men who need makeovers?), the same mistake is always made. An actress who is attractive in the first place is cast, and they try to make her ugly so she can transform mid-movie into an appealing swan. This has worked exactly twice: once in the 1980s with Bernadette Peters in "Into the Woods" and now with Sandra Bullock in "Miss Congeniality."\n Bullock plays Gracie Hart, an ill-mannered, unkempt FBI agent who picks her teeth, doesn't comb her hair and snorts when she laughs. Then Michael Caine as Victor Melling, the has-been gay hairdresser so typical of these sorts of films, takes a team of experts and forces Gracie to metamorphose into the svelte Miss New Jersey seen in the preview.\n The entire film mocks an American tradition -- no, not co-star William Shatner, although he does a fine job of mocking himself. No, it mocks beauty pageants ... er, that is, scholarship programs. The premise is by far not a new one, but "Miss Congeniality" winks at the audience so much, it could be a parody of the recent failures in the genre. Unfortunately, the too-sincere, pat, romantic, typical Hollywood ending nearly ruins the jocular mood, but the hilarious twist toward the end makes up for the sudden sincerity, and it is no less funny for its predictability.\n Bullock is her winsome, sarcastically funny self. Benjamin Bratt stands around making jokes and looking pretty. But the supporting cast steals this show. Caine is endearing yet sadistic, if that combination is humanly possible. He is disapproving but affectionate, whimsical and bitingly sarcastic. Shatner, as the clueless emcee, parodies himself and his image. And Bergen's aging beauty queen is most spiteful and hilarious of all.\n Some might say this film belongs on some network's movie-of-the-week TV lineup, but the level of satire measures up to the amount of cheesy falling-out-of-high-heels slapstick and dumb beauty pageant jokes.