Line #118 Film/MissCongeniality


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/misscongenialityqu.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:The most beautiful klutz in the USA...]]
3
4	->''"I am in a dress, I have gel in my hair, I haven't slept all night, I'm starved, and I'm armed! Don't mess with me!"''
5	-->--'''Gracie Hart'''
6
7	''Miss Congeniality'' is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Donald Petrie, written by [[Creator/MarcLawrenceFilmmaker Marc Lawrence]] and starring Creator/SandraBullock, Creator/MichaelCaine, Creator/BenjaminBratt, Creator/WilliamShatner, Creator/ErnieHudson, and Creator/CandiceBergen. Produced for Warner Bros. by Castle Rock and Village Roadshow.
8
9	When a terrorist threat is made to the Miss United States pageant/scholarship program, the FBI must send in one of their [[UndercoverModel undercover agents]] to find out the truth and stop disaster from occurring. But who can they send? Their list of possibilities is quickly narrowed to a single contender, Gracie Hart (Bullock), who is slender, pretty and fetching in a swimsuit. Now for the snag... she's also a hard-hitting, gun-toting {{tomboy}} whose demeanor is about as feminine as Creator/DolphLundgren.
10
11	As events continue, it becomes apparent that disaster may well be nigh, and it's down to Hart to successfully pass as a pageant contestant with the help of beauty pageant coach Victor Melling (Caine), win the trust of the other ladies, and discover who is planning to turn a harmless pageant into a horror movie.
12
13	Followed by a 2005 sequel, ''Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous''.
14
15	----
16	!!The first movie contains examples of:
17
18	* AmbiguouslyGay: Victor Melling (Creator/MichaelCaine), the man hired to teach Grace etiquette and how to be feminine.
19	-->'''Victor Melling:''' [''teaching Gracie how to glide''] See? Glide. It's all in the buttocks. Don't I look pretty?
20	-->'''Gracie Hart:''' It takes a very secure man to walk like that.
21	** And of course played with later on...
22	--->'''Victor Melling:''' He's with me.
23	--->'''Eric Matthews:''' [[MistakenForGay I'm not "with him" with him]], you know? It's not like...
24	--->'''Victor Melling:''' Come on, Muffin!
25	** Of course, he is ''very'' eager to get Eric to join Gracie and him for lunch when he first meets him.
26	* AmbiguouslyJewish: Gracie, since Hart is a fairly common Jewish last name, her natural hair state is a wild mass of dark brown curls, and she occasionally uses YiddishAsASecondLanguage.
27	-->'''"Gracie Lou Freebush":''' Dear Jesus, please forgive me for not praying to you before I had a bite of my bagel and schmear.
28	* AnnoyingLaugh: Gracie, who laughs and snorts.
29	* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Other hints of attraction and the urgency of the situation aside, Eric's cry of "Gracie!" as she [[spoiler: fumbles with the rigged crown]] is filled with just the right emotion to invoke this trope. Props to Benjamin Bratt!
30	%%* BackgroundHalo: Kathy Morningside gets a Background Crown.
31	%%* BadassInANiceSuit: The FBI agents.
32	* BabyTalk: When Eric balks at helping Gracie finish her self-defense demonstration, Gracie uses baby talk to gather support and encouragement from the crowd, and to shame him into helping her finish. He regrets it later.
33	* BeautifulAllAlong: Gracie is picked to go undercover because of this, thanks to some computer software that shows what several FBI agents would look like in a dress.
34	* BeautyContest: The movie centers on a tomboyish FBI agent being required to go undercover in one.
35	* BelligerentSexualTension: Hart and Matthews, ''big time.'' The more refreshing part is that the sexual tension is clearly present ''before'' she gets the makeover, which keeps him from being a SatelliteLoveInterest.
36	* BetrayalByInaction: As Gracie frantically tries to plead her case to her superior, she is chewed out and dismissed while her partner stands there silently, never saying a word in her defense. Afterwards, she lashes out at him, who snaps, "Don't look at me like I betrayed you or something". To which she responds, "No, betrayal implies actually doing something. You just stood there."
37	* BigEater: Gracie, which is part of why joining the pageant is agony for her. Donuts and pastries are replaced with carrots and celery.
38	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Kathy Morningside, though portrayed as antagonistic towards Gracie and defensive when it comes to feminists putting down the Miss United States pageant, overall seems to genuinely care for the contestants, what they represent, and how the pageant – Errr, "Scholarship Program" can benefit the girls. [[spoiler:It turns out she's actually a bitter, malicious psychopath who wants to blow up this year's Miss United States winner with a rigged crown as retaliation for getting fired by the TV network.]]
39	* BrainlessBeauty: Gracie starts the film thinking all beauty-conscious women are this. She's later proven wrong. During the announcement of the final five contestants, it's noted that several of them are college graduates with Cheryl notably specialising in ''nuclear fission''.
40	* BrainyBrunette: Gracie, through and through.
41	* BrickJoke: During the pageant when Gracie is trying to get at Cheryl, she punches Mary Jo in the face. In the finale, Mary Jo can be seen wearing a band-aid on her nose.
42	* TheCastShowoff: An in-universe example. When Gracie is stuck without a talent before the show, she decides to improv and show her FBI combat training instead.
43	* ChekhovsGun: When Gracie first arrives at the pageant a woman in the background is wearing the outfit Gracie ends up wearing for her talent performances. Presumably Gracie and Victor borrowed the outfit as there was no other costume for her to wear.
44	* ChekhovsGunman: Frank, who turns out to be [[spoiler: Kathy Morningside's son]] helping her out on the scheme.
45	* ChekhovsSkill:
46	** Gracie idly plays a note on her water glass during her first meeting with Victor. She eventually uses water glass playing as her talent for the pageant.
47	** In the prologue young Gracie steps on a bully's foot and hits him in the face. These are two of the points, along with solar plexus and groin, that she uses in her self-defense demonstration during the grand final.
48	* CloudCuckoolander: Cheryl, whose airheaded utterances make her look like a KindheartedSimpleton.
49	* ConcertClimax: The end, as a musical performance celebrating the crowning plays... but unfortunately Gracie has to stop a bomb.
50	* CuteClumsyGirl: Gracie, even ''before'' they put her in something other than sneakers.
51	* DeadpanSnarker: Gracie ''and'' Eric ''and'' Victor.
52	* DirtyHarriet: A variant. Even invoked by Melling.
53	-->'''Victor Melling:''' They've got their southern belles, their midwestern farmer's daughters, spunky Western cowgirls, and I have... Dirty Harriet.
54	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Gracie's desperate to save Cheryl by yanking the rigged crown off her head makes her look like an insanely jealous losing contestant.
55	* DonutMessWithACop: Gracie attempts to conceal donuts in her dress because she's starving, having been forced to subsist on celery and carrots.
56	* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Victor does this when Gracie tries to point out that the crown is rigged:
57	-->'''Gracie:''' It's the crown!\
58	'''Victor:''' Yes, it is! You can taste it now, can't you?\
59	[''Gracie is taken to the stage, wildly pointing at her head while she protests about the crown, while Victor cheers her on'']\
60	'''Victor:''' Yes, yes. You ''wear'' the crown, ''be'' the crown, you ''are'' the crown!
61	* DrunkOnMilk: One of the first scenes shows Gracie at a bar ordering "a pint" and the bartender asking if she's sure. He hands her [[HeartbreakAndIceCream a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.]]
62	-->'''Eric:''' You're starting early today.\
63	'''Gracie:''' Yeah, I figure I'm gonna get chip-faced.
64	* EmbarrassingNickname: When Eric creates her cover ID, he gives her the name "Gracie Lou Freebush," a name she made fun of earlier in the movie and that she absolutely '''loathes.'''
65	* ExtendedDisarming: Gracie can hide an amazing number of weapons (and donuts) in her pageant gown.
66	-->'''Victor:''' What? No armored car?\
67	'''Gracie:''' That would be in my other dress.
68	* FairCop: Gracie Hart. Although she starts as a mess of a woman, her looks are a plot point, since she's the best candidate to go undercover at a beauty pageant despite [[{{Tomboy}} her unladylike demeanor]].
69	* FaintInShock: As soon as Cheryl sees that the crown was a bomb, she faints in Gracie's arms (who discovers she's heavier than expected...).
70	* FemininityFailure: Gracie, being a tomboy FBI agent with zero interest in more feminine pursuits, has trouble fitting in with the more girly contestants she has to blend in with, and has to follow Lessons in Sophistication by Victor Melling to improve her act.
71	* FreudianSlip: After one of the losing contestants in the pageant suddenly comes out as being a lesbian as she walks off the stage, Stan Fields accidentally makes one.
72	-->'''Stan:''' And we'll be right back with our five final lesbians. --''Interviews''!"
73	* FrozenDinnerOfLoneliness: Gracie prepares herself a frozen dinner after arriving back at her flat, in which she lives alone. Her rough behavior pushing people away is a major theme and plot point of the film.
74	* FunWithAcronyms: Gracie demonstrates a well-known self-defense mnemonic:
75	-->'''Gracie Hart:''' (on defending against an attack from the rear) Just remember to SING: [[PunctuatedPounding Solar plexus!]] [[AgonyOfTheFeet Instep!]] [[OffhandBackhand Nose!]] [[GroinAttack Groin!]]
76	* GeniusDitz: Cheryl, in spite of being a very naive and ditzy {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, turns out to actually be a nuclear physicist!
77	** That she's [[HiddenDepths much smarter than she comes across]] is actually [[EstablishingCharacterMoment made clear right away]] - despite her ditzy way of introducing herself, she immediately deduces Gracie's identity because she memorized the names and faces of all the other contestants from the pageant orientation pamphlet and Gracie (whose picture wasn't in it) is the only one she doesn't recognize.
78	* GladIThoughtOfIt: Eric pretty much steals all of Grace's ideas on how to handle the Miss America case, then congratulates himself for having thought of it.
79	* GroinAttack: The "G" in Gracie's impromptu "SING" self-defense course. In the second movie Regina King kicks the largest bad guy in the balls and tells him that she hopes he wasn't planning on reproducing.
80	* GunsInChurch:
81	--> '''Gracie''': He had a gun!\
82	'''Kathy''': This is Texas. Everybody has a gun. My ''florist'' has a gun!
83	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Cheryl. She's the first person to show kindness to and befriend Gracie, and has gold, shoulder length hair.
84	* HelpMistakenForAttack: Gracie's trying to get the crown off Cheryl's head to save her life, but everyone assumes she's an insanely jealous loser trying to steal it.
85	* HiddenDepths: The Miss America finalists, probably intentionally. Far from the air-headed bimbos Grace originally thought they'd be, they're revealed to all be very intelligent, accomplished women in their own right. For instance, Miss New York plays the flute, Miss California is a music major who sings opera, Miss Texas does charity work for children, Miss Rhode Island is a science major with a minor in particle physics, etc.
86	* HiddenWire: Gracie wears one of these, unless she's just had an argument with someone at the FBI.
87	* HotterAndSexier: With an extra pun for a bonus. When he see Cheryl's baton twirling at the preliminaries at the Alamo, she does a very innocent routine to patriotic music with a very conservative outfit. Later on, after Gracie encourages her to be more confident in herself, she does a much sexier routine to hip-hop music (with batons on fire, hence the "hotter.")
88	* ImprobableAge: Miss USA contestants have to be between 18 and 27. Sandra Bullock was 35 when the first film was made (an in-universe case of DawsonCasting, since Gracie mentions in an off-hand remark that she's at least thirty, but the FBI are still trying to pass her off as being in her twenties. When initially going through the files for a suitable agent, one of the criteria they set is that she be under 35).
89	** While they tried to explain Bullock's age as her being the best they can find, a few other girls were too old as well. Heather Burns (Rhode Island) and Deirdre Quinn (Texas) were all right, being 25 and 27, respectively, but Wendy Raquel Robinson (California) and Melissa De Sousa (New York) were both 33.
90	* InnocentlyInsensitive: Gracie makes fun of baton twirling as a talent, right before asking Cheryl what her talent is. Cue "kicked puppy" look from Cheryl, and "I could just kick myself" look from Gracie.
91	* InsistentTerminology: Ms. Morningside would like you to know that the Miss America contest is ''not'' a beauty pageant; it is a ''scholarship program.'' [[spoiler:Upon her arrest, she contemptuously calls it a beauty pageant during her MotiveRant. Grace is quick to throw her earlier words back in her face.]]
92	* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Mentioned as the one time one of Victor's girls didn't win the crown during his heyday:
93	-->'''Victor:''' The year we lost, the winner was a deaf-mute. You can't beat that.
94	* IronicEcho: After Victor, Miss Morningside teaches Gracie on how a Miss United States contestant should act – particularly saying "yes" instead of "yeah". [[spoiler:It comes back to bite Morningside in the ass when she gets arrested.]]
95	-->[[spoiler:'''Gracie:''' It is not a beauty pageant; it is a ''scholarship program''!]]\
96	[[spoiler:'''Morningside:''' ''(rolls eyes)'' Yeah, yeah.]]\
97	[[spoiler:'''Gracie:''' ''[[MeaningfulEcho Yes!]]'']]
98	* IronicName: Gracie is usually a nickname of "Grace," which is ironic since she's not really gracious (''def.'' "Courteous, kind, and pleasant") or graceful (''def.'' "Having or showing grace or elegance")
99	* TheLadette: Gracie is blunt and crude and the first scenes of the movie involve her drinking, kickboxing, eating like a slob, and talking crap to her male coworkers while disdaining traditionally feminine interests, even claiming she doesn't own a dress. Most of the movie's humor derives from her having to suppress this personality to go undercover in a role that requires her to act like everything she is not.
100	* LessonsInSophistication: Given Gracie is OneOfTheBoys, along with the beauty makeover she needs some of those from Victor to properly fit in a beauty peageant.
101	* LikeADaughterToMe: Vic says that if he had a daughter, she'd be like Gracie. Of course, he backpedals and says that's the reason why he doesn't have children.
102	* LipstickLesbian: Miss New York, who is beautiful, feminine, graceful and in love with another woman.
103	-->'''Karen''': I just want all the lesbians out there to know if I can make it to the Top 10 so can you! Tina! Tina baby I love you!\
104	'''Tina''': ''(in the audience)'' I love you Karen!
105	* LovableAlphaBitch: Miss Texas certainly wants to win and looks shocked and furious when she doesn't -- but she still helps Gracie out and is nice to the other girls. She also tries to intervene in what she thinks are Gracie's crazed attempts at taking the crown from Cheryl, not realizing that Gracie is trying to save Cheryl's life.
106	* TheMakeover: When Hart is transformed into "Gracie" for the pageant, with the assistance of a team of [[MakeoverFairy Makeover Fairies]].
107	* MeaningfulEcho: "I really do want world peace".
108	* AMinorKidroduction: We're introduced to Gracie when she's reading a Literature/NancyDrew book in elementary school. She defends a boy she has a crush on from bullies, but when he calls her a loser for making it look like he needs a girl to protect him, she punches him in the face and calls him a wimp when he runs away.
109	* MotiveRant: [[spoiler:Kathy Morningside delivers hers as she's being arrested, citing her rage at being fired by the TV network after years of service to the Miss USA beauty pageant. Grace corrects her by calling it a "scholarship program", repeating her words from their first meeting.]]
110	* MrFanservice: WordOfGod says that the scene with Benjamin Bratt at the pool was strictly {{Fanservice}}.
111	* MsFanservice: In a movie whose general premise requires casting several dozen of the most gorgeous women you can find? Where most scenes take place backstage where the girls are only half dressed in silk robes? Where several scenes are a literal parade of women in swimsuits? [[SarcasmMode You're kidding!]]
112	* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: A sleazy pageant assistant is reading off the names of the contestants. When he gets to Miss Washington, he comments, "Nice apples". Which Washington State is known for, but he's clearly referring to either her breasts or buttocks. Her reaction makes it quite clear this isn't the first time she's heard something like this.
113	--> '''Miss Washington''': Original. You come up with that all by yourself?
114	* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler:When Morningside's murder attempt is exposed at the end and she is arrested by Gracie, she blames everyone and everything but herself.]]
115	-->[[spoiler:'''Morningside:''' [''to Gracie''] You think you saved something tonight, but all you did was to destroy the dream of young women all over this country!]]\
116	[[spoiler:'''Gracie:''' What, you think that their dream is to get blown up? [[YoureInsane You know, you've got a really good shot at that insanity plea]].]]
117	* NoGuyWantsAnAmazon: When Grace was little, she was harshly rejected by a boy she liked because she beat up a couple of bullies.
118	* NotSoAboveItAll: Gracie illicitly brings in pizza, and several of the contestants chow down because they enjoy indulging like anyone else.
119	* ObfuscatingStupidity: Most of the girls come across as the stereotypes Gracie associates with pageants, but for the most part this is because the girls are all very well-trained in saying exactly the right things to get them the points needed to win, even if makes them seem brainless. [[spoiler:Cheryl, who spends most of the film appearing to be a sweet and gentle DumbBlonde, turns out to be a nuclear physicist.]]
120	* OneOfTheBoys: Grace Hart, before joining the Miss America pageant.
121	-->'''Grace:''' Is this like a woman thing?\
122	'''Eric:''' Don't kid yourself. No one thinks of you that way.
123	* PainfulBodyWaxing: At one point during Gracie's makeover we see wax strips being ripped off as she yelps. Then the scene cuts away to Matthews and Victor, who hear her scream from offscreen and then see her limp out from behind a screen. Vic turns to Matthews and another agent and says "bikini wax". Matthews and the other agent wince in sympathy.
124	* ParallelPornTitles: Gracie notes that the original Miss New Jersey would have had to drop out of the pageant anyway as she'd starred in a porn movie called "[[Film/Armageddon1998 Arma-get-it-on]]" before competing.
125	-->'''Stan:''' That was ''her''?
126	* PoorCommunicationKills: When Gracie realizes [[spoiler: the tiara is a bomb]], she tries to tell Victor, but he ends up DramaticallyMissingThePoint and she didn't tell [[spoiler:Cheryl]] who ends up winning the pageant.
127	* PrecisionFStrike: A loose wire getting reconnected resulted in Gracie getting a painful blast of feedback in her ear. When she screams out "'''Jesus Christ!'''" the other contestants are horrified. She eventually turns it around by saying she forgot to pray before eating her bagel.
128	* ProtagonistTitle: Gracie is the one awarded with Ms. Congeniality in the end.
129	* RapeAsBackstory: [[spoiler: Cheryl was sexually assaulted by one of her college professors and never told anyone until she drunkenly confides in Gracie during a night out.]] Played with in that [[spoiler:[[GenkiGirl Cheryl]]]] doesn't exhibit any of the usual angst issues associated with the trope.
130	* RealWomenDontWearDresses: Deconstructed. Grace spends the first half of the film thinking all women should downplay their femininity and be tough like men in order to be intelligent and respected, and assumes all beauty-conscious women are shallow airheads. During her time undercover in Miss America, she comes to see that most of the girls are incredibly intelligent, talented, well-rounded people with dreams and hobbies outside of looking pretty. (The pageant is, after all, a scholarship program, and many of the women use beauty as a means to gain that scholarship to move onto brighter tides.) She also comes to realize it's okay for ''her'' to wear dresses occasionally too, since doing so doesn't automatically subtract from her own toughness or savvy.
131	* RecitationHandclasp: As part of Miss California's opera stuff.
132	* RedHerring: A major plot point, concerning "The Citizen", the villain suspected of planning to blow up one of the girls at the pageant [[spoiler:or so the FBI believes as just before the final act, it's revealed that The Citizen has been apprehended and the case is very nearly closed as [=McDonald=] orders everyone to return home. Hart is the only one unconvinced and decides to see the case through to the end despite being forced to do so alone and as a private citizen]].
133	* RightBehindMe: Eric's boss, a ScaryBlackMan, doesn't appreciate being Photoshopped into a bikini.
134	-->'''Eric Matthews:''' We were just looking for someone to go undercover at the Pageant, sir. \
135	'''[=McDonald=]:''' And I'm the best we got. That doesn't inspire much confidence.
136	* RuleOfPool: After assuring her that she can handle the contest Eric pulls Gracie into the swimming pool with him. Gracie tells him that Victor's going to kill him for ruining her evening gown.
137	* RunningGag:
138	** Gracie keeps trying to sneak junk food after being restricted to vegetables while undercover.
139	** "You think I'm goooorgeous, you want to kissss me..."
140	* SecondPlaceIsForWinners: Gracie in the end of the film.
141	* SerialKillingsSpecificTarget: This is the BigBad's plan to get away with murdering the winner of the "Miss United States" beauty pageant: they set the whole thing up to look like it was committed by a notorious serial killer calling themselves "The Citizen". Backfires when "The Citizen" is captured by the FBI partway through the film, leaving the villains with nobody to pin their crime on.
142	* ShareTheMalePain: The ''entire audience'' groans and folds up a little when Eric gets hit with the G of Gracie's self-defense course.
143	** Gender flipped when two male agents wince sympathetically after hearing about Gracie's bikini wax.
144	* SheCleansUpNicely: Gracie provokes this reaction in Matthews and her other coworkers the first time they see her made up and dressed in feminine clothes.
145	* ShoutOut:
146	** Victor Mellin's "I haven't seen a walk like that since ''Film/{{Jurassic Park\|1993}}''!"
147	** [[Film/MidnightCowboy "I'm glidin' here!"]]
148	* ShutUpHannibal: [[spoiler:When Kathy is being led to a squad car by Gracie, she tries arguing that she did nothing wrong and that she helped Gracie become a lady. Gracie in turn rebukes her statements by saying that Victor did all the work and no girl wants to be blown up as she forces Kathy in the car.]]
149	* SlapSlapKiss: Gracie and Matthews, quite literally. They engage in physical combat twice.
150	* SnarkToSnarkCombat: Gracie and Victor, as best summed up by this:
151	-->'''Victor''': In place of friends and relationships, you have sarcasm and a gun!\
152	'''Gracie''': Oh, ''I'' have sarcasm? When every word that comes out of your mouth is dripping with disdain?
153	* SneakingSnacks: Gracie is found sneaking donuts underneath her dress by her beauty pageant trainer.
154	* SpannerInTheWorks: Ms. Texas and her penchant for gossip are the only reasons that [[spoiler:Hart finds out that Morningside is being fired and has a violent temper,]] both of which help solve the case.
155	* SpoilerTitle: Gee, I wonder who would win the ''Miss Congeniality'' special award?
156	* SupermodelStrut: The first time we see [[SheCleansUpNicely Gracie post-makeover in her blue dress]], she's doing a confident strut as she dramatically walks out of the building, even taking off her sunglasses and then [[ShakingHerHairLoose dramatically shakes her hair loose]], all in slow-motion. [[HeadTurningBeauty She draws the eye of every agent watching]], including [[ShipTease Eric]]. But naturally, she [[FemininityFailure almost ends up tripping herself right at the end]], prompting Eric to joke that it's still the same old her.
157	* TallDarkAndSnarky: Eric Matthews very much fits the description, and matches [[DeadpanSnarker Gracie]] [[SnarkToSnarkCombat jibe for jibe]] in this department.
158	* {{Tomboy}}: Gracie has always been one, as evidenced by the first scene of the movie which depicts her as a child objecting to being called a girl and punching out a bully on the playground.
159	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Gracie and ''every'' other contestant, except probably for Miss New York.
160	* TriumphantReprise: Tom Jones's "She's a Lady" first plays as Gracie arrives with the pageant girls (in a bit of irony). It gets played again at the end when [[spoiler: Gracie gets the Miss Congeniality award]].
161	* TrueLoveIsExceptional: Eric is implied to mostly date younger [[BrainlessBeauty brainless beauties]], yet ends up with the older, cynical, {{tomboy}} Gracie.
162	* TurnInYourBadge: [=McDonald=] tells Gracie to do so in so many words when she insists that Morningside must continue to be monitored after The Citizen is apprehended.
163	* UndercoverModel: Gracie at the pageant. She provides both the page quote and the trope image.
164	* UngratefulBastard: As a kid, Gracie defended a boy she liked from bullies, only to be insulted by him because he didn't want everyone to think he needed a girl to stand up for him. She responded by punching him in the nose.
165	* UnresolvedSexualTension: Gracie and Matthews. They constantly quarrel with each other throughout the movie, but they make it clear that they are attracted to each other. However, the movie never confirms if they get together by the end or not.
166	* WeaponizedHeadgear: [[spoiler:The Miss United States crown was rigged with explosives that Cathy Morningside intended to detonate as soon as it was handed off to the winner of the pageant.]]
167	* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: In the movie, Miss Rhode Island's baton twirling talent is treated this way. But during the talent scene at the Alamo, one girl's talent seemed to be ''making balloon animals.''
168	* YouGetMeCoffee: Mocked.
169	* YourHeadAsplode: [[spoiler:The rigged crown was supposed to do this to the winner of the pageant. Fortunately, Gracie is able to get it away from Cheryl before it does her any harm.]]
170
171	!!The second movie contains examples of:
172	* AmbiguouslyGay: One of the agents that work with Gracie. He enjoys cross-dressing as a dancer at a gay bar.
173	* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: After hearing criticism about her autobiography, Gracie reveals it was spiced up by a particularly melodramatic writer, who even wanted to change the conditions of her mother's death while in service of the FBI.
174	* BeYourself: The movie is all about Gracie discovering that after her {{Chickification}}, getting back her groove and acting as a ruthless FBI agent instead of a proper lady is refreshing, and ultimately she decides to give this lesson to a schoolgirl who idolized her, even reverting the girl's hair back to the [[HidingBehindYourBangs eye-covering bangs]] she wore before.
175	* BrokenPedestal: Vegas FBI agent Jeff Foreman is devasted when he realises that [[spoiler:his girlfriend and his supervisor are having an affair]].
176	* CampGay: One of the suspects Gracie and Sam look for is a drag queen resembling Dolly Patron. Several of the drag queens in the bar are this too.
177	* {{Chickification}}: A major plot point. A result of her BecomingTheMask after the first movie. Even after the real story comes out and Gracie becomes the face of the FBI, the girly-girl persona sticks.
178	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: A minor example; Vegas FBI supervisor Collins is still doing his job and isn't outright corrupt, but at one point he expresses the belief that Gracie is only interested in this case as material for her next book, rather than acknowledge that she's here to try and rescue her friend.
179	* ExtremelyShortTimespan: While not an ImmediateSequel per se, the movie still takes place during Cheryl's one year reign as Miss United States.
180	* HostageVideo: Cheryl and Stan deliver two to state their kidnappers' purposes - while shooting the first, Cheryl struggles to learn the lines. In the second, she sneaks a clue to Grace (see OutOfCharacterAlert).
181	* TheGamblingAddict: [[spoiler:The kidnapping happened because Stan is one of these, and Cheryl just happened to be in the wrong place as the loansharks arrived]].
182	* GenderBlenderName: Sam(antha) Fuller.
183	* GenderScoff: Samantha subverts the usual "Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em." phrase:
184	-->'''Sam''': Men! Can't live with them, can't--no, actually that's about it.
185	* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: Inverted:
186	-->'''Sam Fuller:''' You didn't just call me sister, because I don't recall seeing a skinny, white-ass girl growing up at the table. \
187	'''Gracie Hart:''' Okay, first of all... thank you for calling me skinny.
188	* MistakenForAnImposter: While investigating the abduction, Gracie is told there's a Music/DollyParton impersonator involved. Unfortunately, the real Dolly Parton shows up to announce a world-wide tour and Gracie chases her.
189	* OutOfCharacterAlert: Gracie discovers [[spoiler:Cheryl and Stan are to be drowned in a hotel's pirate ship because Cheryl says in a HostageVideo "my booty is in the line"]].
190	-->'''Gracie Hart:''' Cheryl would never refer to her ass as her booty! Cheryl would never refer to her ass, period! She calls it her "popo"!
191	* OvertOperative: As Gracie learns while trying to catch bank robbers, the fame she acquired from the pageant makes it hard for her to do secret agent work without being recognized.
192	* RecursiveCrossdressing: Sam and Gracie go undercover dressed as drag queens looking like Music/TinaTurner and a masquerade dancer named Coco. Sam Fuller's head almost explodes at the prospect of going undercover as a DragQueen:
193	-->'''Sam Fuller:''' I am not going out there as a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be Tina Turner. I can't afford therapy on my salary.
194	* RecycledSoundtrack: During [[spoiler: the scene where Sam and Gracie rescue Cheryl and Stan]], you can hear "Building the Crate" and "The Chickens Are Revolting" from ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'' in the background.
195	** In fact, this movie is one of the all-time great cases of RecycledSoundtrack, as the film is ''packed'' with [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385307/soundtrack cues from other movies]] (including two other Sandra Bullock movies, ''Film/TwoWeeksNotice'' and '''the first''' ''Miss Congeniality''). This does have some original music (by John Van Tongeren, Christophe Beck and Music/RandyEdelman), but apparently not much.
196	%%* SassyBlackWoman: Sam Fuller.
197	* ShowgirlSkirt: Gracie's showgirl outfit has one.
198	* SmokescreenCrime: Ultimately [[spoiler:Cheryl's abduction was this; the real target was Stan, and Cheryl was basically dragged along because she tried to help defend him]].
199	* TeamPowerWalk: PlayedForLaughs. Gracie and Sam are dramatically walking side-by-side and in sync, [[BadassInANiceSuit dressed in their grey FBI suits]] and wearing CoolShades while crossing the streets... then the moment gets ruined when a car horns at them because they're walking too slow.
200	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Sam and Gracie. Though the latter rediscovers some of her unlady-like behavior.
201	* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: As noted above, the movie is set during the year after the original movie -- despite being made actually five years later.
202	* VideoCredits: Aside from Sandra Bullock ([[BilledAboveTheTitle justifiable]]), all the other actors are accompanied by clips in their credits.
203	* VivaLasVegas: The major setting. There's even Sam being forced to perform as Tina Turner.

Context Film / MissCongeniality