Sandra Bullock rose to prominence in the mid-nineties thanks to her performance in the action thriller Speed. She then established herself as a leading lady with the romantic comedy While You Were Sleeping and the crime drama A Time to Kill. Bullock, however, reached her highest peak with Miss Congeniality in 2000, a movie that cemented her place as America's sweetheart and a certified comedy queen.
Bullock's career entered a second stage in 2009 thanks to hits like The Proposal and The Blind Side, for which she won the 2010 Oscar. Nowadays, Bullock is a box-office draw and critical darling who's still closely identified with the role of Gracie Hart. And while Miss Congeniality remains one of her most iconic performances, is it her best?
Gracie Hart Is Best: A New Kind Of Hero
When it came to the action genre in the nineties, women remained sidelined. Pam Grier and Sigourney Weaver did a lot for the genre in the seventies and eighties, respectively, but the situation was still less than ideal.
Miss Congeniality is more comedy than action, but Gracie is every bit the action hero that, say, John McClane is. She single-handedly saves the pageant - sorry, scholarship program - and even manages to charm an entire nation. The movie may be a comedy, but the star at the center is a true hero.
Annie Porter Is Better: A Star Is Born
Although Bullock's first mainstream role was 1993's Demolition Man, 1994's Speed made her a star. The movie, which co-starred Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper, follows a bus rigged by a bomber to explode if it drops below 50 miles per hour.
The premise may be ludicrous, but Speed is a soaring success. It's tense, thrilling, and exhilarating, a movie that grabs the audience's attention and refuses to let go. Bullock is the perfect mix of everywoman and unwilling action hero, becoming the film's palpable and necessary emotional core.
Gracie Hart Is Best: She's The Ultimate Feminist
Gracie, and the film in which she stars, are unapologetically feminist. Although she starts by looking on down on the Miss United States pageant and its participants, she comes to appreciate the girls, realizing they're unique women with real depth.
Gracie's empowerment doesn't depend on her appearance. She's an excellent agent, wearing sweatpants and sneakers or a dress and high heels. The movie celebrates female friendships, refusing to have its protagonists tear each other down. The girls have fun together and support each other, even while competing for the same prize.
Malorie Hayes Is Better: Streaming Queen
The post-apocalyptic thriller Bird Box made a huge splash when it came out in 2018. The film follows Malorie, played by Bullock, a woman who must protect herself and two children in a world infested with creatures that cause people to kill themselves as soon as they look at them.
Bird Box received praise for its premise and eery atmosphere. Bullock's performance also attracted praise, and the film even introduced her to a whole new generation of young viewers. The movie was also a hit for Netflix, becoming the streamer's second most-watched original release ever.
Gracie Hart Is Best: A Commercial Success
When Miss Congeniality premiered in 2000, Speed was Bullock's most successful film at the box office. However, she didn't receive top billing in that movie Keanu Reeves did. Miss Congeniality had Bullock front and center as the film's star, which made its overwhelming success all the more significant.
Against a production budget of $45 million, the film grossed $212 million, which would be about $326 million in 2021. Bullock also acted as a producer in Miss Congeniality, proving herself as a talented businesswoman capable of delivering a profitable crowd pleaser.
Margaret Tate Is Better: An Even Bigger Commercial Succes
Miss Congeniality remained Bullock's greatest success as a headliner until 2009. Many saw The Proposal as a return of sorts for Bullock. Her last movie, Premonition, disappointed at the box office, and she took some time off afterward. She returned after a two-year absence with this romantic comedy, co-starring Ryan Reynolds.
The Proposal received lukewarm reviews but was an absolute commercial triumph. It grossed $317 million against a production budget of $40 million and remained the crown jewel of Bullock's career for a couple of years, at least.
Gracie Hart Is Best: A New Twist On An Old Formula
Miss Congeniality might not break any new ground in the comedy genre, but that doesn't mean it isn't original in its own way. The film relies on tropes like the secretly beautiful tomboy and the love-hate relationship between two co-workers.
However, it also avoided stereotypes about beauty queens and pageants by injecting its female characters with depth and real ambition. It also featured a lesbian character owning her sexuality, albeit briefly. Miss Congeniality does have some problems, but the film is far from a generic story.
Leigh Ann Tuohy Is Better: Oscar!
2009 was a landmark year for Bullock. The actress found success with The Proposal but also with a second, more unexpected film. In The Blind Side, Bullock plays Leigh Ann Tuohy, the adoptive mother of shy but talented American football player Michael Oher. Based on a real-life story, the film grossed $309 million worldwide.
The film received mixed reviews. Many, including the real Oher, criticized the movie's portrayal of Oher and the apparent white savior narrative. Bullock's performance, however, received universal acclaim and earned her the 2010 Academy Award for Best Actress.
Gracie Hart Is Best: Instantly Iconic
Gracie Hart holds a privileged place in pop culture. She's a character who audiences still remember twenty-one years after her debut. Many sequences in Miss Congeniality have aged wonderfully, like Gracie jumping into the crowd in the middle of her talent act or her hitting Benjamin Bratt's Eric as her second talent act.
Gracie's first entrance post-makeover, to the tune of Andrew Strong's cover of "Mustang Sally," is arguably the film's most memorable moment and the perfect proof that Bullock doesn't need to speak a word to dominate the big screen.
Ryan Stone Is Better: Her Finest Acting Moment
Bullock received another Oscar nomination for Alfonso Cuaron's sci-fi thriller Gravity. In the film, she plays Dr. Ryan Stone, an astronaut stranded in space after the destruction of her space shuttle. George Clooney co-stars, but Gravity is mostly a one-woman show.
Bullock steps into the role with admirable aplomb. As Ryan, she's vulnerable, fearful, sympathetic, and ultimately inspiring, a true hero in every sense of the word. The movie is widely considered as one of the best of the decade and was a tremendous box-office success, grossing $723 million worldwide and becoming Bullock's highest-grossing film by far. Gravity is a technical and visual marvel anchored by Bullock's most assured and compelling performance to date.