Miss Congeniality 2000

Susan Stark, Detroit News: For Bullock fans, it's a delight, jolly junk in the season to be jolly. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: The screenplay lacks any sense of consistency, treating all the contestants derisively -- and then trying to convince us that, deep down, they're all really wonderful women. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: There's a whiff of desperation about Miss Congeniality. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Seems happily, deliberately second-rate, as if its ideal audience consisted of weary airline passengers. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: It is funny and knowing, detached enough to take a bemused stance toward its calculated tone. Read more

Houston Chronicle: [Caine's] performance is probably as deft as the one he gave last year in The Cider House Rules. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: Bullock seems to be stuck in a rut of cookie-cutter roles in films with half-baked concepts. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Pro forma hilarity. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Bullock is just plain funny. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: This film is a mess -- it can't make up its mind whether it wants to be a drama, a comedy, or an action movie. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It isn't bad so much as it lacks any ambition to be more than it so obviously is. Read more

Wesley Morris, San Francisco Chronicle: [Bullock] trips, we laugh, but we also hope she gets up -- so she can do it again. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: While there may not be many surprises, there's little to dislike either. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: This is minor stuff more suited to an up-and-comer than an established marquee headliner. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: A rinky-dink comedy. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: The jokes are lame, the set-up is stupid and Bullock, occasionally a winsome comedienne and here a co-producer, is annoying as heck. Read more