I am deeply indebted to this comedy. I now know that if you put hairspray on your bottom, your swimming costume doesn't ride up. Otherwise, it doesn't contribute much to the sum of human knowledge.
Nevertheless, it is a better prospect than its lightweight predecessor, largely because it has a better script, and Sandra Bullock, who hasn't really distinguished herself since Speed, bites on it with grateful abandon.
In the first film, she played a tomboy FBI agent who went undercover as a beauty queen.
Armed and Fabulous picks up the story three weeks after she has come second in a pageant; her bosses now want her to exploit her new-found celebrity by dressing up and becoming "the human face of the FBI". This means no more action and a lot more media attention.
She is recognised wherever she goes and, though she rails against it all, it does enable her to feel better about losing the boyfriend we never see. (He dumps her by phone in one of the most natural scenes in John Pasquin's otherwise flimsy film.)
The agent looking after her, and hating every minute, is Regina King, who is deeply serious about her job and likely to cross-buttock slam anyone who gets in her way - including Bullock, who hates her right back.
The pair make a good team - Bullock plays funny with some flourish - and the first third of the movie has enough bons mots to satisfy most punters. But a lengthy patch in the middle drifts as Bullock tries to become a proper agent again. She succeeds, of course, and escapes the clutches of the local agency boss (Treat Williams), at one point dressing up with the furiously reluctant King to perform in a drag show.
The dead mid-section should have been shortened, but at least this is not just a staler copy of its predecessor. I predict a very healthy box-office return.
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed And Fabulous
Cert: cert12A
