The sheer predictability of the story is fairly irrelevant, as the hilarious characters and situations keep us laughing from the beginning. Bullock has such excellent timing, and such a superb sense of physical comedy, that we would happily watch her (and we have!) in much worse films than this. This is Caine's best work in years as a kind of washed-up, cynical Henry Higgins; Bratt is fine as the story's male foil; and Bergen and Shatner are absolutely perfect as the pageant organiser and host, respectively. The film is jammed with verbal and visual gags that keep us distracted from the lame plot. And the feeble attempts to bring out themes of feminine empowerment and such are gentle and not remotely pushy. Even as Petrie stages the big comedy set pieces sharply, he knows that his biggest strength here is his cast, and he keeps them front and centre. While we just sit back and smile. Good fun.

themes, language, violence

6.Mar.01

R E A D E R   R E V I E W S