Bullock's comic routine is gifted, but 'Congeniality 2' is just less of the same

With the 2000 comedy, "Miss Congeniality," Sandra Bullock had one of her biggest hits playing a slovenly, tomboyish FBI agent who goes undercover at the Miss United States beauty pageant and, in the process, finds herself embracing its shallow values.

MOVIE REVIEW

MISS CONGENIALITY 2: ARMED AND FABULOUS

DIRECTOR: John Pasquin

CAST: Sandra Bullock, Regina King, William Shatner

RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes

RATING: PG-13 for sex-related humor

WHERE: Bella Bottega 11, Cinema 17, Crossroads 8, Everett 9, Factoria, Galaxy Tacoma 6, Galleria 11, Gateway Movies 8, Issaquah 9, Kirkland Parkplace 6, Loews Alderwood, Longston Place 14, Majestic Bay, Meridian 16, Metro, Monroe 12, Mountlake 9, Oak Tree, Parkway Plaza 12, Renton Village, Valley Drive-In, Woodinville 12

GRADE: C

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In the inevitable "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous," she revisits this character without benefit of co-stars Michael Caine and Candice Bergen, and this time the results are decidedly mixed. She's mildly amusing but everything around her is weak.

The film, which is having a rare Thursday opening to get a jump on the Easter weekend, opens with a scene establishing how the fame Gracie Hart has acquired in Part 1 has destroyed her effectiveness as a field agent, and inspired her boyfriend to dump her.

So when her boss (Ernie Hudson) offers her the choice of a desk job or using her fame to serve as "the face of the bureau," she takes the latter, allowing a best-selling autobiography to be ghost-written for her and becoming the FBI's glamorous spokeswoman.

But when her old friend, the reigning Miss United States (Heather Burns) and the pageant's emcee (William Shatner) are kidnapped in Las Vegas, she ignores her PR duties and can't keep herself from jumping back into the thick of the action.

Besides the kidnappers, conflict also comes in the form of a smarmy, chauvinistic Vegas FBI bureau chief (Treat Williams) and a hostile, fellow woman agent (Regina King) who serves as her bodyguard -- so the film is also a mismatched buddy-cop farce.

"Miss Congeniality 2" also finds opportunities for Bullock to masquerade in various disguises and, with not one but two swishy supporting characters this time -- and its whole climax taking place in a drag club -- it's loaded with campy humor and gay stereotypes.

To be fair, Bullock is a gifted comedian: her timing and delivery are usually very good and she's developed a distinctive long-suffering persona that's given her an impressive longevity in an extremely hazardous era for women movie stars.

But the writing here is truly dismal. The script can never find a good reason for the movie to exist and it makes so many references to unseen characters, situations and old gags from the original that if you haven't seen that movie recently -- or at all -- you'll be lost.

P-I movie critic William Arnold can be reached at 206-448-8185 or williamarnold@seattlepi.com.