 Sandra Bullock goes all out as a
tomboy Fibby, called in on a case of mad-bomber VS beauty Pageant.
Benjamin Bratt, late of TV's Law
& Order, and more recently the hunky love interest of Madonna in the
pathetic Next [Worst] Thing is the
dim-bulb case boss, who begins to see her in a new light.
Standing above all of the stars,
however, is the omnipresent Michael Caine, whose beleaguered approach to
Bullock's pygmalion is perfect. This may be his best comedy performance since
Dirty Rotten scoundrels.
Also, free of her stupid TV show
is Candice Bergen, acting the mother hen to a bevy of brainless beauties,
attitudinalized Anastasias, and elitist Elizas.
Beyond that, and the delicious
smarminess of William Shatner, there is not much to tell. You will either love
it or hate it, and the audience we saw at a packed house P.M. Christmas Day
loved it.
Unless I am told different, I
will always believe that the ending was re-written to create a more likeable
Caine, to please the audience, possibly after audience testing. I say this
because the perfect twist ending did not happen, and it would not be overlooked
by film people today. It feels like there was probably more to the story -
scenes shot and left out. And a better ending structurally speaking would have
made Caine out to be ultimately unfavorable, and possibly made the film less
enjoyable.
Ah well, such is the burden of
knowing all.
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