Bullock's FBI doll turns action hero once again

Deliriously funny if instantly forgettable, Miss Congeniality 2 permits Sandra Bullock to do what she does best: impersonate a female. Virtually alone among actresses of her generation, Sandra Bullock chips away at the damsel-in-distress model, customizing roles to her own specs.

Typically Bullock plays the take-charge tomboy who kicks major keister and dresses more like Ken than like Barbie. Because she resists gender stereotyping, on the sexual spectrum she is nearer the androgynous Johnny Depp and Keanu Reeves than she is to girly-girls Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan. Bullock, Depp and Reeves are sexy because the battle of the sexes rages inside them.

But much as I adore Bullock, she's almost invariably better than her movies.

In Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, Bullock reprises her 2000 role as Gracie Hart, the FBI agent who goes undercover as a beauty pageant contestant and uncovers a criminal conspiracy. Pageants may be dead in the real world, but not in Miss Congeniality.

The sequel reunites Gracie with Miss United States (Heather Burns) and the pageant host (William Shatner). As Gracie knows from prior experience, there is no more dangerous place on the planet than the zone between a beauty queen and her crown. And as she learns here in the film's funniest lesson, a marabou boa can be more lethal than a semiautomatic.

Gracie's notoriety precludes her from undercover work, so her boss (Ernie Hudson) promotes her to media relations: She will be the bureau's public face. Assigned a makeover maven (Diedrich Bader), Gracie evolves from a shuffling, braying, dull-tressed agent into a mincing, giggling, highlighted fashionista who represents the feds at press conferences and on TV.

At these media dog-and-pony shows, FBI agent Sam Fuller (Regina King) serves as Gracie's raging, reluctant bodyguard. Though Gracie has become self-important and obnoxious, she, too, is raging and reluctant. Sick of being FBI Barbie, Gracie itches to get back to active duty.

When Miss United States and her handler (William Shatner) are kidnapped in Las Vegas, Gracie and Sam spring into Lethal Weapon mode. They hijack the investigation from the agent in charge. As Gracie's superior, Treat Williams is supposed to be stern but visibly suppresses laughter whenever Bullock blunders in with her patented pratfall.

(This might be the place to file a complaint about the sorry spectacle of actresses falling on their faces. The sight of Bullock, Renée Zellweger and Debra Messing sweeping the floor with their chins is code for "don't worry, guys, she's not really threatening." Am I the only moviegoer who finds this unfunny?)

What is funny is how Bullock and King enjoy pulling the chain of command. Has it really been since The First Wives Club in 1996 that there's been a female-buddy movie?

In an underwritten role, King is resourceful as Bullock's partner, though it must be said that her pipes were more impressive as Margie the Raylette in Ray than as the Tina Turner impersonator here. Similarly, Shatner and Bader are fizzy fun and anyone who sees the movie will give Dolly Parton the tiara for sportsmanship.

Bullock completists will note that Miss Congeniality 2 was written by Marc Lawrence, who wrote and directed her in Two Weeks Notice, one of her best pictures. Here's hoping they collaborate on something that good again.

Contact movie critic Carrie Rickey at 215-854-5402 or crickey@phillynews.com.

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous ** 1/2

Produced by Sandra Bullock and Marc Lawrence, directed by John Pasquin, written by Marc Lawrence, photography by Peter Menzies Jr., music supervision by John Houlihan, distributed by Warner Bros.

Running time: 1 hour, 55 mins.

Gracie Hart. . . Sandra Bullock

Sam Fuller. . . Regina King

Agent McDonald. . . Ernie Hudson

Stan Fields. . . William Shatner

Collins. . . Treat Williams

Parent's guide: PG-13 (sex-related humor)

Showing at: area theaters