Sandra Bullock returned to form in this energetic comedy from director Donald Petrie that focuses on the world of beauty pageants. Bullock's determinedly unfeminine FBI agent is drafted in as a beauty contestant after warnings of a bomb attack on the Miss United States competition. Pampered and preened by contest expert Michael Caine (who doesn't allow his campness to stray into caricature), Bullock uncovers her own feminine side and has some of her preconceptions shattered. Her relationship with FBI colleague Benjamin Bratt sparkles with sexual chemistry and the gags come thick and fast. The antics of the competition's hosts, Candice Bergen and William Shatner, are slightly overplayed, but on the whole this is great fun.

When the local FBI office receives a letter from a terrorist known only as 'The Citizen', it's quickly determined that he's planning his next act at the Miss America beauty pageant. Because tough-as-nails Gracie Hart is the only female Agent at the office, she's chosen to go undercover as the contestant from New Jersey.