I like a good sequel. Godfather II and The Two Jakes (Chinatown) come to mind because they were well written, well acted and continued the original story, though some time went by in the case of The Jakes. This picture had only one of those three, it continued the story of Gracie Hart, FBI agent but it did it without ANY of the good writing and acting. Nothing worked! The gags, the jokes, the "slick" lines, NOTHING! The first picture was original, fresh and funny. This one was extremely predictable and not funny in the least. Add to that bad acting, casting and just about every cliche ever used and you get a tired, worn out story that starts bad and gets progressively worse for two hours. After being in the Miss USA beauty pageant, Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) returns to normal duty only to find that she is so recognizable she can't perform as an undercover agent. The department decides to use her fame to PR the FBI into a better public image. Just as that decision is made, the winner of the pageant and reigning Miss USA is kidnapped along with the MC, Stan Fields (William Shatner) in Las Vegas. Gracie is assigned to go to Vegas and because of her notoriety she is given a bodyguard, a mannish, rough and tough broad with a BAD and hateful attitude. Sam Fuller (Regina King) is so disliked that nobody will work with her and she and Gracie hate each other from the jump. When they get to Vegas, Gracie can't stick to her PR work and is determined to solve the case. She then has problems with the Vegas Chief (Treat Williams), which..................OH! ENOUGH ALREADY!!! Look, producers seem to think that when they have a hit (sometimes, quasi hit) all they need to do is throw together a few people with names and a script and, Voila! (that's French), instant hit sequel! It didn't work this time. It was slow, unfunny and the casting was way off. The funny thing about it is, I like all of these people but they just didn't fit the roles given them and the script sucked! I think I would have fallen asleep but I was in such disbelief of how bad this picture was I had what's called "Matinee Insomnia". RECOMMENDATION: If you want to see Bullock (and she is cute), rent the original or better yet, get "Speed". Leave this one alone, it's a total P.A.S. (Piece'a shit). TWO "UNARMED AND FORGETTABLE" THUMBS DOWN! (Congenially!) Movie Review © 2005 by Terry Anderson |
