Bullock calls all the shots in sequel

When we last encountered FBI agent Gracie Hart, she had just saved the Miss USA pageant, cleaned and glammed herself up to be a viable beauty-queen runner-up, made a ton of new friends and secured the affection of a hot fellow agent, Eric Matthews.

"Miss Congeniality" (2000), starring Sandra Bullock as Gracie, took in approximately $106 million at the box office.

Some 10 minutes into the sequel, "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous," which opened Thursday, Gracie's newfound celebrity forces her to give up undercover work. More significantly, she gets dumped. Agent Matthews disappears and is not replaced, and Gracie tumbles into a kind of love/hate relationship with her rough-edged female bodyguard and partner, Sam Fuller (played by Regina King).

We'll repeat that. What we have here is a comedy . . . a major studio release . . . starring prototypical girl next door Sandra Bullock . . . where Bullock's unlucky-in-love character . . . does not end up with the guy.

Can such things be?

Bet your wilted flowers and stale Valentine's Day candy on it, says Sandra Bullock, the producer.

"It wasn't a romantic comedy in the first place," says Bullock, who produced "Miss Congeniality 2," as well as the original, through her production company, Fortis Films. "I want women to be able to do the same thing that men get to do in comedies and say, 'That's a comedy.' Why does it always have to be a romantic comedy? Why does the girl have to end up with the guy? Why can't it be a buddy film?"

As long as Bullock is calling the shots, the answers to those last questions would appear to be "She doesn't" and "It can."

"Sandy's very smart, and she knows what she's done before," says Enrique Murciano, who plays a cute FBI agent with whom Gracie Hart does not become romantically involved. "I think she said in her mind, 'There's a great opportunity to make this a buddy movie.' I think she recognized that opportunity and went for it."

Benjamin Bratt, Michael Caine and Candice Bergen — all of whom were in the original — are absent from the sequel, although Heather Burns, Ernie Hudson and William Shatner return. Romance-free though it may be, "Congeniality 2" is certainly a comedy. In addition to Bullock and King nearly beating the tar out of each other on a regular basis, the story — set primarily in Las Vegas — features outrageous costumes, an over-the-top personal stylist (played by Diedrich Bader), running Dolly Parton gags and plenty of high-jinks. More important for its star/producer's purposes, the film also has something to say.