It’s been a while since Sandra Bullock’s last appearance on the big screen – 2002’s romantic comedy hit, “Two Weeks Notice,” co-starring Hugh Grant. She returns with “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous,” the sequel to one of her biggest hits in recent years. Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac team up for the first time in the romantic comedy, “Guess Who.”
“Miss Congeniality” was released more than four years ago during Christmas and grossed $106.8M, her third highest grossing film behind “Speed” ($121.2M) and “A Time to Kill” ($108.8M). The critical reaction to the film wasn’t as successful – it scored a 39% on the Tomatometer. Though critics thought Bullock was funny and charming in the original, she couldn’t overcome a bad script that made the movie seem like a fluffy, unoriginal sitcom.
The sequel is doing much worse. “Miss Congeniality 2” will be the third sequel to be released this month, and it’s also the worst reviewed as of this writing. “The Ring Two” and “Be Cool” have Tomatometers of 21% and 28%, respectively. “Miss Congeniality 2” is recording a hostile 18%. Critics say the film, in addition to being as predictable and generic as its predecessor, is a “big mess” and devoid of “genuine laughs.”
Her previous sequel “Speed 2: Cruise Control” sank at the box office and almost hit the bottom of the Tomatometer with a 4% score.
Bullock currently has an average Tomatometer of 43%.
In direct competition with “Miss Congeniality 2” is the interracial romantic comedy “Guess Who,” starring Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac. In case you’re wondering, Ashton Kutcher dates Bernie Mac’s daughter in the film, not each other. Critics’ reactions are mixed. They think it’s funny enough and like the chemistry between Mac and Kutcher, but the movie falls apart in the third act. As of this writing, it reads 47% on the Tomatometer. That’s a lot higher than Kutcher’s average Tomatometer of 20%.
It’s another week of which film critics dislike least. Between the two comedies opening wide this week, that would be “Guess Who.”
