Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Deleted Scenes Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	110:35 (Case: 115)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (67:52)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	John Pasquin
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Sandra Bullock Regina King Enrique Murciano William Shatner Ernie Hudson Heather Burns Diedrich Bader Treat Williams Abraham Benrubi Nick Offerman Eileen Brennan Elisabeth Röhm Leslie Erin Grossman
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$39.95	Music	Christophe Beck Randy Edelman Steve Kipner

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Ok let's get one thing straight. The reviewer from UPN-TV whose quote is emblazoned on the back cover of this DVD proudly proclaiming "Charming, funny and even better than the original" either A) didn't see this sequel or the original, B) simply wants to get his name on a DVD, or C) doesn't exist, ala the famous David Manning bogus reviewer scandal. Put simply, Miss Congeniality 2 - Armed and Fabulous is anything but and could never ever be described as even better than the original. It is dull, silly, banal and just not entertaining at all.

    With that out of the way, just what is this poor sequel to the surprise 2000 hit starring Sandra Bullock all about?

    Gracie Hart (Bullock) is back at work as an undercover FBI agent, just weeks after finishing runner up in the Miss United States Pageant (the bits from the first film - Miss Congeniality). Unfortunately for Gracie, her new found fame has meant working undercover is proving almost impossible and when her familiar face causes a bank stakeout to go awry her boss suggests that instead of undercover work Gracie would be better suited to becoming the face of the FBI. The agency needs a bit of a public relations boost, and Gracie's fine female form and smiling face would be just the tonic.

    This is where the plot takes a nosedive (and we've only been going 10 minutes). The reigning Miss United States and Gracie's friend Cheryl (Heather Burns) and the retired pageant host Stan (William Shatner) have been kidnapped and are being held for ransom somewhere in Las Vegas by a couple of bumbling thugs.
   
    Gracie is sent to Vegas to provide nothing more than media support to the real field agents who are investigating the case, but with the help of her new bodyguard, the angry Sam Fuller (Regina King), manages to gain new leads on the kidnapping despite being warned off by those in charge.

    This is a silly film that is not a patch on the original. The absence of Benjamin Bratt as Gracie's love interest and the over-the-top performance of Michael Caine's makeover expert are just two of the elements missing, but the story is the weakest part. It just doesn't get out of first gear and 10 minutes in you know exactly where it is headed.

Video

    As expected an excellent video transfer is presented.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect of 2.40:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is beautifully sharp and clear, with no 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. The scenes at the Las Vegas shows are the highlight being bright, vivid and quite garish.

    There are no MPEG artefacts present. The transfer is virtually free of any film-to-video artefacts and there are no film artefacts of any consequence.

    Only two sets of subtitles are 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 67:52 and is barely noticeable.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is only one audio track available on this disc. It is a Dolby Digital 5.1 effort encoded at the lower bitrate of 384 Kb/s.

    This a pretty decent modern soundtrack with great dialogue levels, heaps of separation across all channels and a real solid low end.
   
    The musical score is mostly unremarkable but serviceable. The songs used are not as prominent as the original film.

    Surround channel use is reasonably consistent and quite immersive.

    The subwoofer use is 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

Main Menu Introduction

Main Menu Audio & Animation

Deleted Scenes

    12:39 of "missing scenes" that really add nothing to the overall plot. There is no commentary or text-based explanation of why they were chopped.

Theatrical Trailer

    Running for 2:20, this is a great way to see the film without the pain and best of all it's over very quickly. Contains a few laughs and the whole plot is summarised quite neatly.

    Soundtracks appear to be the only difference between the Region 1 offering and the Region 4 disc, with Region 1 gaining an extra French Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Pick the disc up wherever you can get it the cheapest.

    Miss Congeniality 2  - Armed and Fabulous should really have been titled Miss Congeniality 2 - Silly and Ridiculous. There is barely a funny moment in this poor sequel to what was a reasonably entertaining first film.

    The video and audio are as expected very good.

    The extras are incredibly thin on the ground. Sometimes I am thankful for small mercies.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall