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STUDIO: Warner Home Video
MSRP: $27.95 RATED: PG-13
RUNNING TIME: 115 Minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Theatrical Trailer
• Additional Scenes
Sandra Bullock is still famous? Why didn’t I get the memo?
Now I know how that sounds. I mean yes she is more famous than I’ll ever be and
all, but seriously, what happened to her career?
I know she had to have some sort of juice after Speed and her filmography
is basically a collection of rom-coms. What is the riskiest movie role that she
has taken? I haven’t seen Crash yet but I guess that that is probably it. So
now it’s off to another adventure into predictability land, don’t forget the
popcorn.
The Flick
We open on what I am lead to believe is only a couple of
weeks or at most a month from the closing of the last movie. Special agent Hart
is back in the field and going on an undercover op to capture a group of bank
robbers who dress up like housewives. The operation goes south when a bystander
recognizes Hart as “that FBI agent from the pageant”. The incident leads to one
of her partners taking one in the vest, and her superiors deciding that she is
no longer fit for fieldwork.
It’s a bad day but Hart is still looking forward to getting
back home so she can have dinner with her beau agent Matthews. Only due to
budget constraints or better judgment Mr. Bratt is nowhere near this movie, we
do have an over the phone breakup scene though where we can only hear Hart’s
side of the conversation to solve that. Once back at the FBI headquarters when
she is meeting her superior, played again by Ernie Hudson, in the workout room
we are just happen to see in the background the character of Sam Fuller played
by Regina King. Sam is in the process of beating the crap out of a fellow agent
in a sparring match, just like we would of seen agent Hart doing in the
beginning of the first one. Turns out she was just transferred from somewhere
because she has attitude problems…I smell a buddy movie. Then after the sparring
match when Sam is leaving she walks right into Hart and continues on, Hart
turns and confronts her and good ole warden Glynn is forced get in the middle
and hold them back, yep it’s a buddy movie.
Although Jimmy was a good agent he was a horrible Superman impersonator.
Being that agent Hart is useless in the field she has two
choices, desk job or become the PR face of the FBI and well I’m not saying this
movie is terrible but just imagine how bad it would have been if it was about
her taking a desk job. So yeah she chooses being the face of the FBI and to aid
her in that pursuit we are introduced to her new stylist played by the under
rated Diedrich Bader. Oh and of course Sam is assigned to her, and to further
the rift between them Sam is forced to follow Hart around to all the talk shows
and such and do the self-defense demonstration that Hart did in the first
movie. Just incase you didn’t know this
was a sequel at one of the appearances on Regis, Miss United States and the
pageant MC are also guests. This is also used to remind us of the “deep
friendship” that Hart and Cheryl (Miss US) had/have, so that when she is
kidnapped it is more compelling. The relationship of Hart and Sam finally
reaches a breaking point when Sam is asked to go fetch some Starbucks and she
quits.
He did do a pretty good impression of Kane from Alien however.
Of course that won’t matter much in a couple of scenes after
Miss United States and Stan Fields (Capt. Kirk) are in fact kidnapped.
Upon learning of this agent Hart is of course insistent on going to Vegas (the
scene of the kidnapping) to help find her friend. Director McDonald (Hudson)
readily agrees as he was going to send her down there anyway to handle the
press on this high profile case, but not alone. I mean obviously a highly
trained FBI agent will need a bodyguard; I’ll give you three guesses who gets
picked by McDonald to tag along. He even goes as far as to say that if Sam
messes this up she is out of the bureau.
JESUS! This heart burn is killing me, I think I need that pill from all the commercials.
building ever and who is running things down there but…Treat “if the money’s
there we do not care” Williams. As per
the standard buddy movie criteria Treat will be playing the opposing force on
their side that makes them work together to overcome both him and the “bad
guys” role. His first step is to pair them with a guide for Vegas in the form
of a rather inept agent named Foreman. Foreman seems nervous not so bright, but
in the frame of this movie you know that he will do something later to save the
day. Also he can’t stop talking about his girlfriend whom he is deeply enamored
with to the point of where you know that he is going to break up with her and
end up with another character before the credits roll. Now the foursome of Joel (Diedrich), Foreman, Hart, and Sam
go around collecting clues and getting into trouble. Of course they do
something embarrassing in this case a leaping tackle of Dolly Parton, Hart and
Sam are ordered by The Substitute to go back to New York, which they don’t
do. Instead Hart and Sam finally come to
an understanding and become friends and they drag Foreman along to retrieve
some vital information from the FBI offices. During the retrieval Foreman
learns something irreconcilable about his girlfriend, and Treat catches him.
Once again the group is sent to the airport to be shipped off, and once again
they don’t get on the plain as another clue comes up. You know in retrospect a
lot of figuring out occurs in the airport they should just stay there and solve
crimes.
More and more filmmakers were starting to see things Uwe Boll’s way especially when it came to awesome bullet effects.
This time they go undercover in a transvestite bar chasing a
Dolly Parton impersonator, something that apparently Joel (Diedrich) has been waiting
for his whole life as he readily provides disguises. However to get to the back
dressing rooms where he is they have to get past the first round of an open mic
singing contest. Sam disguise is Tina Turner so she is forced to sing on stage
while Hart dances behind her in a showgirl outfit. Once they question Mr. Parton they have to make an escape as
Treats forces have caught up to them. What follows is the ending – people get
saved, friendships are confirmed, and agent Foreman gets a new girl.
This movie is fluff; it is as simple as that. It’s
meaningless fun that is good for casual and family viewers. For that it is
actually a lot better than I expected. One of the better aspects of the movie
is Regina King’s performance as agent Sam Fuller. She is just so little and yet
so angry that I found a majority of the scenes with her to be the highlights of
the movie. Diedrich was by far the most entertaining character and even though
he was just going through dialogue that was laced with tired gay clichés he made
it funny. Sandra’s performance…was Sandra’s performance just imagine any of her
other comedic performances and you’re there.
I don’t want to call it “turn you brain off at the door” entertainment
but if you’ve seen a number of this these movies than that would probably be
best.
7.5 out of 10
I know this movie is full of cliches but at least it doesn’t propagate stereotypes.
The Look
The widescreen presentation is pretty good. The color and
transfer are what you would expect from a movie that only came out this year.
There are a lot of bright colors that pop off the screen, the neons of Vegas
and a majority of Sandra’s outfits for example and the night scenes don’t look
muddled.
8.0 out of 10
In his hand dandy disguise Dave Davis is able to get remarkable close to the Olson twins.
The Noise
English and French 5.1 Dolby Digital…yeah it’s a comedy so
it really doesn’t take that much advantage of the mix. The sound levels are
fine and the voices are always audible, the only thing I noticed was the fact
that they did a good job of keeping the background music in the background
which I have to compliment them on.
7.8 out of 10
You really think that this mask brings out my eyes?
The Goodies
There are two “goodies” on this disc. The first one is the
theatrical trailer, which manages to cover most of the cliché moments of the
movie. The second is additional scenes – four of which are deleted scenes and
one which is an alternative, or at least I hope so. Otherwise she questioned the
same limo driver twice, but two different people played him.
5.0 out of 10
The Nations Punched – Move #316 A.K.A. the "bet the line" maneuver.
The Artwork
Relatively minimalist; a promo image of Sandra on a white
background. She kind of looks like some weird German stripper though, so points
for that. Also, my eye seems to be drawn more to Sandra’s name emblazoned in hot
pink than the title of the movie. I think that is an accurate
reflection of the movie inside.
6.0 out of 10