Picking up soon after the events of the first film, this inspired sequel opens with agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) back in action against a team of lady bank robbers, only to have her cover blown by her newfound fame. In an effort to capitalize on the publicity--and as a result of being dumped by her boyfriend from the first film--Gracie lets herself be made into the feel-good ambassador of the FBI, helped by the staggeringly hip Joel (Dietrich Bader) and his stylists. The change is not good for the brash Ms. Hart, however, who is soon appearing on morning television and dispensing fashion tips instead of girl-power platitudes. Of course this phase doesn't last long; some goons out in Las Vegas kidnap Miss Congeniality (Heather Burns) and host Stan Fields (William Shatner), prompting Hart, with her intensely angry bodyguard, Sam Fuller (Regina King), to strap on her guns and get back in the game. Her method of operation includes beating up Dolly Parton, defying a sexist FBI bigwig (Treat Williams), and faking cramps. At one point she disguises herself as an old Jewish woman in a wheelchair, and later she's a Las Vegas showgirl doing "Proud Mary" at a drag club.

Bullock's good-natured performance recalls the old-school comedic talents of Bob Hope or Barbara Stanwyck; she effortlessly makes Gracie Hart a unique and complex woman who is capable, sarcastic, intuitive, impressionable, and a secretly lonely tomboy. Also a plus is the refreshing lack of a male romantic interest as Hart and Fuller don't need some handsome guy to ride to their rescue and they aren't going to let sexual discrimination stop them from getting the job done.