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Being nice pays off. While a scandal can skyrocket a career, it can also implode one just as quickly. Having a good attitude and positive image provides career longevity. This weekend’s star of The Heat, Sandra Bullock, is a prime example. I love Sandra Bullock. Odds are that you also love Bullock. Even the Academy loves Bullock, throwing her an Oscar just for being so damn nice (let’s be honest – it was a good performance, but...).

Truly America’s Sweetheart, Bullock plays an FBI agent in The Heat, so I decided to look at the last time Sandy wore a badge in one of her most famous roles – FBI Agent Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality (the synonym of "nice" is even in the title!).

A happy-go-lucky movie built around sunshine and rainbows and “world peace," Miss Congeniality stars Bullock as a Dirty Harriet agent who is relegated to Starbucks runs instead of shooting guns. In a plot that reads like a TV sitcom, her character is given the opportunity to be put into the field as an undercover agent at the Miss United States beauty pageant to stop a bombing at the event. Given the job since she is the only female in the entire FBI, the overly-stereotypical gender-based comedy relies on the predicament that Gracie is too manly to fit in amongst the airhead beauty queens, yet has boobs, so no way can she fit in with the FBI. But with the legendary Michael Caine given the role of her gay guardian angel, she sure does prove them all wrong.

Played so much on TV that you’d think the movie is a classic, I would be lying to you if I said that I haven’t seen this before. While I would classify this comedy as brain dead, it sure does have a heart beating on overtime to make up for the lack of, say... logic.

The mysterious bomber is given away all too soon and the FBI’s incompetency would sure make me worry for our national security if even a tenth of the film was accurate. However, that doesn’t really matter. All that matters about this high-concept yet low-range executed comedy is that the situation is crazy enough to make the slapstick seem natural and there, Miss Congeniality wins the crown.

While beauty pageants outside of child ones on TLC rarely generate viewership (did you know Miss USA was on just last week?), 2000 was a year filled with pageant flicks, including the Minnie Driver-starrer Beautiful and the Kirsten Dunst-led Drop Dead Gorgeous. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of them, either. Their total grosses combined barely topped the opening weekend of Miss Congeniality, and that’s not saying much.

Released on the weekend of December 22nd - 24th, Miss Congeniality barely made $10 million, debuting in fifth place. While seemingly pitiful against a $45 million budget, the Christmas holiday pumped up the grosses with the film making nearly $50 million by the time the New Year struck. Good legs and word-of-mouth kept the registers going, with the movie topping out at $106.8 million ($157.7 million today).

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