Miss Congeniality (2000) - Movie Night Reaction #132 *2-WEEK* EARLY ACCESS
Added 2024-09-17 03:26:59 +0000 UTC
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This was one of those movies I watched over and over again when I was younger. And there is a sequel. It's not as good as this one but still worth watching. For more Sandra Bullock movies I recommend Speed of course (if you haven't seen it) & The Lake House with Keanu Reeves, The Proposal (with Ryan Reynolds), While You Were Sleeping, The Net (where Sandra is also in some fight scenes),, 28 Days (with Viggo Mortensen aka Aragorn), Murder By Numbers (with Ryan Gosling, also fight scenes),), A Time To Kill (with Samuel L. Jackson & Matthew McConaughey), Two Weeks Notice (with Hugh Grant & Heather Burns who plays Cheryl in this) and Hope Floats. She's been in so many good movies. Fun facts: When Gracie and Eric are requesting for permission to plant an agent in the pageant, Kathy Morningside is sitting in front of a poster of a past pageant winner. When Kathy stands to correct Gracie's comment about the pageant, the shot is set up so that when she is fully upright, she is directly in front of the poster as if she is wearing the crown. This foreshadows that she is the mastermind behind it all. It also foreshadows her reason for doing so: She couldn't let go of her past as a pageant winner (which only happened because she cheated to win) and wanted revenge. There was originally supposed to be a storyline which included Gracie's mother. In the first scene, after young Gracie gets in trouble for beating up the two boys, her mother was called in to the school to reprimand her daughter. The story behind her mother was that she was a top FBI agent who was killed in the line of duty and Gracie became an agent to make her mother proud. This was cut because director Donald Petrie thought it was too much and that Sandra Bullock was already bringing enough sympathy to the character without it. Jennifer Gareis (who plays Donna Logan on The Bold and the Beautiful) was cast as the original Miss New Jersey. Originally, Gracie and Eric confront her at the gym and ask her to relinquish her title. Director Donald Petrie cut this scene because he wanted the story to move along faster. When he decided to cut her part out, he felt bad, and asked her if she would like to come back as Miss New York's lover Tina. You can see it here at 3:56: https://youtu.be/VHlYuyntMQ0?si=eSnRwqzVHb1G5RSH. It's got two other deleted scenes, a very funny dance rehearsal scene and another of Gracie at her father's wedding where he asks her if she's a lesbian and she says "I wish!" (it was actually in the trailer). Beauty pageants have long been criticised for being old-fashioned and misogynistic. In 2018, after nearly 100 years of Miss America competitions, the swimsuit competition was dropped and essentially "stopped" rating women based on their physical appearance. There is also a lot more diversity as in race, religion, sexuality, gender identity and disability. It's still not my thing but it's good to see how they have evolved with time. The "I'm walking here!" line is spoken by Dustin Hoffman's character in Midnight Cowboy (1969). When Gracie walks off screen after she yells at the taxi driver, Michael Caine can be seen covering his mouth laughing at Sandra Bullock's ad-libbed "asshole" remark. There is also a crowd of people across the street, behind a barrier. They're not extras but people watching the filming. When Gracie is doing the self-defense demonstration during the pageant, the last bit she does using the acronym S.I.N.G. (Solar plexus, In step, Nose, Groin) is an actual self-defense technique, except the G and N are switched. Also, Gracie introduces Eric as Eric Bob. BOB stands for Body Opponent Bag and is the name of the standup dummy she was training with when Eric asked her to go undercover. Sandra Bullock and Benjamin Bratt (Eric) did all of their own fighting. Stunt doubles were brought in only to make sure they were using proper form. At one point, she accidentally injured him when she had to kick him in the calves after he said "Yes, you have to wear the bathing suit". Sandra purposely didn't take part in the rehearsals for the first dance scene so that it was more genuine when her character couldn't follow the choreography. The scene with Gracie coming home after the mission in the restaurant was only scripted as "Gracie comes home and starts boxing". The rest (tripping, kicking the bed, microwave oven) was ad-libbed. At the opening premiere of the movie, when Sandra got out of her car, she actually did trip and fall down. After watching the movie, many attendants thought she staged it. Cheryl's answer to the question "What is your idea of a perfect date?" was actually used as an answer in a real-life beauty pageant. Sidenote: April 25th is "Official Miss Congeniality Day" similar to how October 3rd is "Official Mean Girls Day". Heather Burns had to learn how to twirl a baton for her role but drew the line at twirling a flaming baton. They brought in a professional for the pageant scenes. Hugh Jackman auditioned for Eric and Matt Dillon came close to getting cast, but the role eventually went to Benjamin Bratt. The movie was mostly filmed in Austin, Texas. The people working in Starbucks were actual Starbucks employees and Sandra Bullock owns the house where some scenes were filmed. The character "Stan Fields" is a reference to William Shatner's Canadian heritage. "Stanfields" is a very famous Canadian brand of underwear, known for its long johns. Room 103 plays a big part in this movie. It's Gracie's room number when Cheryl brings her hot chocolate, it's the room where the FBI agents are conducting their surveillance and it's Victor Melling's room when the team is breaking up. As Frank prepares the explosive crown in the prop room, the Queen of the Night aria is being sung on-stage. In Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute, the Queen of the Night demands that her daughter kill someone for her. The movie's theme song for the Miss USA Pageant was written by screenwriter Marc Lawrence and his 7 year old son, Clyde Lawrence. Marc wrote the lyrics and Clyde wrote the music. Marc also named the main character after his daughter Grace. The song playing over the closing credits is "Bullets" by musician Bob Schneider. He and Sandra Bullock were a couple at the time. Candice Bergen (Kathy) & William Shatner starred together in Boston Legal, Sandra Bullock & Benjamin Bratt appeared together as police officers in Demolition Man (1993), Heather Burns & Sir Michael Caine appeared in Bewitched (2005) and of course Sandra Bullock & Heather Burns appeared together in Two Weeks Notice (2002). Goofs: During the pageant, there are close-up shots of the audience and it is very obvious that in the balcony and back part of the audience, especially when seeing the 'men' with bow ties, they are mostly cardboard cut outs. As Kathy is trying to open a bottle of aspirin, her "assistant" Frank comes toward her, and she almost calls him by the actor's name (Steve Monroe). We hear her say "Ste- Frank..." When Gracie throws the crown up towards the Liberty prop, it does not fly normally. It's very obvious that it's a CG crown leaving her hand and flying through the air. Especially enjoyable if it's seen frame by frame. When Cheryl is twirling her batons, in one of the shots just before Victor and Eric are shown trying to get to Gracie, her stunt double is obvious. When the Top 10 finalists are announced, there are only 7 names called.
Heida
2024-10-01 02:30:43 +0000 UTC“I don’t know what William Shatner looks like” oh my trekkie heart just broke
Erin
2024-09-30 16:36:48 +0000 UTCAnnihilate her! Little Miss Morningwood. 😂🤣 Oh my gosh Zuff, it's so great to see you back!!!
Heidi Roush
2024-09-20 04:08:57 +0000 UTCThey love both Keanu and Sandra so it would be great! The action and romance is something they’d enjoy!
Ashlyn
2024-09-19 02:30:24 +0000 UTCI'm a bit torn on this movie. Haven't seen it in over 20 years. Hated every scene with the FBI in it, made me cringe every time. Everything without the FBI though, I enjoyed a lot. Totally agree with y'all that Eric did not deserve her by any stretch of the imagination, lowkey wish that storyline wasn't in the movie at all lol Just damn, every time I was getting in the groove and enjoying myself, the FBI had to come in and just ruin the whole mood, bleh. The first half of the movie was hard to get through lol just wanted to turn it off. Second half though (and conveniently when there were far fewer FBI scenes) I loved.
Mike
2024-09-18 09:02:48 +0000 UTCI've been wanting them to react to that one since I discovered their channel!! It's so underrated and hilarious! There's hardly any reactions for it and it's a shame, so they would literally but one of the first to do it.
Annie519
2024-09-18 05:25:25 +0000 UTCThis was great, now we need to get Drop Dead Gorgeous on the channel
JC
2024-09-18 00:34:22 +0000 UTCYess. This is such a fun watch! I agree though, in what world is Sandra Bullock not just beautiful. I don’t buy it 😂
Heather Geer
2024-09-17 16:31:35 +0000 UTCLove this movie. I hope you guys watch the second one. I think that one has more fun moments in it. Great reaction. Missed you Zuff!
Aya
2024-09-17 15:56:21 +0000 UTCmiss little morning wood…..annihilate her…..zuff we missed you💀😭
bateman bookworm
2024-09-17 14:32:59 +0000 UTC"Little Miss Morningwood" - Oh Zuff we really missed you!
Give peas a chance
2024-09-17 13:27:09 +0000 UTCZuff was on fire this reaction, so happy to have everyone back together again.
Cristy
2024-09-17 09:02:49 +0000 UTCthe spontaneous nose bleed was perfect timing with the red stain convo lmao
bella
2024-09-17 07:18:51 +0000 UTCso good to see you back, zuff 🫶🏻
carmela
2024-09-17 06:59:14 +0000 UTCThe bully in the very beginning is Jake Ryan from Hannah Montana 😂😂, another Sandra bullock classic is the Lake house
Kristal Whalen
2024-09-17 06:42:56 +0000 UTCHELL YES! I've been suggesting it for 2 years now. Keanu and Sandy are a dream team. They should do a double feature reaction to Speed and The Lake House, the two films in which they both star as the leads.
Cindy S.
2024-09-17 04:40:00 +0000 UTCHappy Birthday!!!
Reel Time
2024-09-17 04:36:52 +0000 UTClove this movie so much and get to watch w yall on my birthday! thanks for all the content guys 🫶
erykah
2024-09-17 04:22:29 +0000 UTCWe need to get these boys to watch Speed!
Ashlyn
2024-09-17 04:15:29 +0000 UTCu guys actually make my day
claudia
2024-09-17 03:59:28 +0000 UTCahh i just watched this for the first time yesterday and i loved it!!! so excited to watch
k
2024-09-17 03:35:11 +0000 UTCMy food delivery just arrived too. This timing is just 🤌✨
Rosie
2024-09-17 03:33:39 +0000 UTCYayyy!!
Tanya Murphy
2024-09-17 03:30:24 +0000 UTCso happy to have zuff back!!!
Daniela P
2024-09-17 03:30:05 +0000 UTClove this movie!!!
Katie ❤️ Guuuurl
2024-09-17 03:30:01 +0000 UTC
