Miss Congeniality: Deluxe Edition (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Dolby Digital Trailer-Rain Theatrical Trailer Audio Commentary-Sandra Bullock (Actor) & Marc Lawrence (Screenwriter) Audio Commentary-Donald Petrie (Director) Featurette-Preparing for the Pageant Featurette-The Pageant Additional Footage-Missing Scenes Featurette-Sneak Peek At Miss Congeniality 2 Quiz-Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Beauty Queen?
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	105:40 (Case: 110)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (44:32)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Donald Petrie
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Sandra Bullock Michael Caine Benjamin Bratt Candice Bergen William Shatner Ernie Hudson
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$24.95	Music	Edward Shearmur

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    A trend of late is to re-release previously issued DVDs in an effort to promote the pending cinematic release of a sequel or similarly themed film. Such was the case with The Bourne Supremacy, when Universal released the poorly conceived The Bourne Identity: Explosive Extended Edition at the same time the sequel was due to hit cinemas. This trend is fine, so long as the new disc actually contains something new and is not merely the same thing with a different cover or purports to be a longer run of the film when in fact it contains nothing more than two crappy deleted scenes added to the overall running time.

    Roadshow have decided this marketing strategy is a good idea and have re-released the 2000 Sandra Bullock comedy Miss Congeniality as a Deluxe Edition. This is in an attempt to promote the cinematic release of Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous which is due to hit the big screen around the country any day now.

    Originally released way back in 2001, the first DVD release of Miss Congeniality was fairly well-stocked in terms of extras with two commentaries and a couple of shortish featurettes. Just what could be added to that original package to earn a deluxe edition tag would be interesting, and as it turns out what we actually get is not much.
 
    In this comedy by director Donald Petrie, Sandra Bullock stars as rough-and-ready FBI agent Gracie Hart. She's a real tomboy who eats with her mouth open, has a snorty laugh, and has little interest in her personal appearance. She doesn't even own a hair-brush and in her own words is having a 'bad hair decade'. FBI agent Eric Matthews, played by Benjamin Bratt, is heading a team investigating a bomber known only as "The Citizen" and gets a tip that the next strike may be in Texas at the Miss United States Pageant. He enlists Gracie to help.

    Of course, her level of involvement is over and above what she was expecting. She is actually entered into the pageant as Miss New Jersey and guaranteed a top five finish so she can get access to all the behind-the-scenes areas in an effort to flush out the bomber. Being the tomboy that she is though means that some effort is going to be required to get her presentation to a standard that will not make her the laughing stock of the pageant. Enter Victor Melling (Michael Caine), a seasoned veteran of the pageant stage who has transformed many a wannabe into a glamour queen. Little has prepared him for Dirty Harriet and he sets about an overhaul of epic proportions to turn Gracie into a credible Miss United States contestant inside 48 hours. These are some of the funniest scenes in the movie and prove what a good comic actor Sandra Bullock is. Suffice it to say that Gracie makes the grade and enters the pageant in search of the bomber. Obviously not is all as it seems, and between a scheming Pageant organiser, Ms Morningside (Candice Bergen), and a soon-to-be-retired host Stan Fields (William Shatner), Gracie uncovers more than she was expecting.

    This is a fun film that won't stretch the grey matter all that far. This re-release contains a grand total of two brief additional extras that see it earn the deluxe edition tag. If you already own the original disc there is absolutely no compelling reason to part with any of your hard-earned for this release.

Video

    It would appear this deluxe edition contains exactly the same video transfer that was found in the original release back in 2001. Back then I said this was an excellent transfer, and so with the same material again presented, I'll say it again - this is a rather excellent looking transfer.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect of 1.78:1 compared to the original theatrical aspect of 1.85:1. It is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is beautifully sharp and clear, with only a handful of cases of minor edge enhancement present. Shadow detail is not stretched too much as much of this is shot in bright light. Grain is not present and there is no low level noise.

    Colours are vibrant and rich with a wide palette on offer. There are no instances of colour bleed or oversaturation. Skin tones are perfectly natural.

    There are no compression problems. The transfer is free of any film-to-video artefacts and there are no film artefacts of any consequence.

    There are two sets of subtitles present, these being English and English for the Hearing Impaired. I sampled these extensively and noticed no major problems aside from the usual one or two word omissions.

    This is an RSDL formatted disc. The layer change occurs at 44:32, which is in exactly the same spot as the original disc and is barely noticeable.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are three audio tracks available, all in English; a Dolby Digital 5.1 main feature track, and two Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded commentary tracks.

    There are no dialogue problems. Dialogue is always clear and prominent through the centre channel. There are no audio sync issues - not the widest of soundstages is created here, with much centre channel focus.

    The musical score is by Edward Shearmur, and is mostly unremarkable but serviceable. The songs used are more prominent. Efforts by The Commitments and Tom Jones especially stand out.

    Surround channel use is limited, although given the type of film this is, this is not unexpected. Subwoofer use is also limited though not completely missing. It does not draw undue attention to itself.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    As with the original release there is a reasonable selection of extras available including two commentary tracks. Unfortunately it is the extras that prove the only difference between the original DVD and this new deluxe edition and to be honest the differences are not that great. All up we get an additional featurette on the making of Miss Congeniality 2 and a silly quiz hosted by William Shatner, where you can work out if you are pageant material. The only other difference is the three deleted scenes are now separated under their own heading instead of appearing in the two smaller featurettes and this disc loses the filmographies of the cast.

Main Menu Audio & Animation

Dolby Digital Trailer

    Rain

Audio Commentary

    This commentary is provided by Sandra Bullock and screenwriter Marc Lawrence. This is one of the rare occasions where the main star does the entire commentary track rather than having their brief comments edited in (she is the producer of the film which may explain that). This is also another star commentary that just doesn't crack it I'm afraid. Actors seem to spend most of their time either talking about themselves or simply giggling at what is occurring on the screen. To be fair, this commentary starts off slowly but does warm up and gain momentum once Sandra Bullock gets the hang of how the commentary thing works. It provides some interesting highlights scattered throughout (watch out for the lucky extras from the Samsung company in an early scene) and there is little in the way of extended periods of silence.

Audio Commentary

    Commentary from the Director, Donald Petrie. Repeats many of the anecdotal stories that Sandra Bullock and Marc Lawrence mention in their commentary. He does go into more detail in the development of the story, the reasons certain scenes worked the way they did and some of the casting choices made. It is not the easiest commentary to listen to. He is watching the film at the time, though he does leave many long pauses between comments.

Featurette - Preparing for the Pageant

    A very brief EPK style making-of. Fluff with lots of snippets of the film included. Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with snips from the movie in 1.78:1 widescreen. It is not 16x9 enhanced. Comes with a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded soundtrack. Total running length is 6:49. It also features English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles.

Featurette - The Pageant

    More of the same behind the scenes stuff, but does include a few funny outtakes. Presented in 1.33:1 with movie snips in 1.78:1 widescreen. It is not 16x9 enhanced and runs for 7:47 minutes.

Additional Footage

    Three deleted scenes - the same ones included in the making of featurettes on the previous DVD. They run for a combined 5:49.

Featurette - Sneak Peak at Miss Congeniality 2

    The whole reason this disc has been re-released. This is an 8:32 EPK style look at the new film. Nothing of any substance is included. In fact, from the preview contained here it looks like it is going to be a tough job to sell this as anything half decent.

Quiz

    Several questions (I gave up after 10 - sorry Ed it was just too much) posed by actor William Shatner. The sort of thing such as:

    Why Did You Enter a pageant?
    A) Because I'm beautiful and a shoe in to win
    B) Because it is a great way to make friends
    C) So that if I win I can use my title to help world peace!
    D) To raise money to pay for college.

    And there are a whole lot more just like it.

Theatrical Trailer

     This is a generally amusing trailer that contains some footage not in the final cut (the lesbian joke with Gracie's dad). Presented in 1.78:1, it is 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded sound. It runs for 2:22.

    Aside from the addition of a French soundtrack, the Deluxe Edition release in region 1 is exactly the same as the region 4. Alternatively you may want to look at the Limited Deluxe Edition which includes a movie ticket to Miss Congeniality 2 (which you can't use) or the two disc version which includes the deluxe edition and the movie soundtrack.

        Miss Congeniality - Deluxe Edition has been released solely to spark interest in the newly released sequel Miss Congeniality 2 - Armed and Fabulous. The original film is a mildly enjoyable comedy that comes with a fairly wafer-thin plot but an amusing performance from Sandra Bullock.

    The video presentation is exemplary and the audio is serviceable but unremarkable. They are exactly the same as the original release.

    The extras are an almost identical repeat of what can be found on the original disc. If you already own that disc there is no reason to buy this one.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall