50 free Miss Congeniality trivia questions with answers. Miss Congeniality turned Sandra Bullock into an FBI agent in a swimsuit and became one of the most rewatched comedies of 2000. This quiz covers the whole story: Gracie Hart's disastrous Russian-mob sting, Victor Melling's makeover in the hangar, Miss New Jersey's water-glass talent act, the Citizen's bomb threat, the tiara that explodes over the San Antonio stage, and the moment Cheryl from Rhode Island names her Miss Congeniality. The 2005 sequel, Armed and Fabulous, gets its share too, from Regina King's Sam Fuller and the Las Vegas kidnapping to the Tina Turner drag act and Nick Offerman as a Steele brother. Easy questions ask which state Gracie represents; the hard ones want the Austin hotel that doubled for the St. Regis and the Swedish singer whose soundtrack song got a Golden Globe nod. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the films and cast, and each question carries the sentence that supports it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In what year was Miss Congeniality released in US cinemas?
2000
Warner Bros. opened it on 22 December, three days before Christmas.
Q 02Who directed Miss Congeniality?
Donald Petrie
Petrie, son of director Daniel Petrie, also made Mystic Pizza, Grumpy Old Men and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
Q 03Gracie Hart is a tough but uncouth special agent for which organization?
The FBI
Her partner Eric Matthews and Assistant Director Harry McDonald round out the bureau team.
Q 04Under what alias does Agent Hart enter the pageant?
Gracie Lou Freebush
The alias becomes a running gag when the FBI's clean-cut Eric Matthews has to introduce her by it.
Q 05Which state does Gracie represent in the pageant?
New Jersey
The real Miss New Jersey slot was conveniently open after the FBI dug up dirt on the previous winner.
Q 06What is the fictional pageant called?
Miss United States
The name sidesteps the real Miss America and Miss USA brands, both of which declined to be involved.
Q 07In which city is the pageant held?
San Antonio
The Alamo and River Walk scenes were shot on location there, though most of the film was made in Austin.
Q 08What is the alias of the domestic terrorist whose threat sends the FBI to the pageant?
The Citizen
The FBI later works out that the pageant threat is the work of a copycat, not the real bomber.
Q 09Michael Caine plays which character?
Victor Melling
The pageant coach teaches Gracie how to dress, walk and behave in a conventionally ladylike manner.
Q 10Benjamin Bratt plays which FBI agent?
Eric Matthews
Gracie's partner takes credit for her suggestions during the investigation and becomes her love interest.
Q 11Candice Bergen plays which character?
Kathy Morningside
The pageant director is the film's real villain, with her son Frank as accomplice.
Q 12William Shatner plays which pageant veteran?
Stan Fields
The MC's cluelessness gets him kidnapped alongside the winner in the sequel.
Q 13Ernie Hudson plays which FBI figure?
Assistant Director Harry McDonald
Hudson is best known as Winston Zeddemore in Ghostbusters.
Gracie's awkward, unconfident friend, played by Heather Burns, is Miss which state?
Q 21Why does the villain want the winner killed on stage?
Revenge for being fired
The plot is a copycat of the Citizen's bombings, designed to look like his work.
Q 22In the 1982 prologue, what does 10-year-old Gracie do to the boy she likes after he rejects her?
Punches him
The scene sets up the tomboy who has never learned to be 'ladylike'.
Q 23Gracie's opening sting operation goes wrong against mobsters of which nationality?
Russian
She breaks protocol to save a choking mob boss and a fellow agent gets shot.
Rhode Island
The smallest state produces the eventual winner.
Q 15Melissa De Sousa's Karen Krantz represents which state?
New York
Miss New York memorably uses her moment on stage to come out.
Q 16What does Gracie perform in the talent competition?
The glass harp
Playing tuned water glasses impresses the judges; she then throws in a self-defence demonstration.
Q 17Where is the bomb hidden at the climax?
In the crown
Gracie throws the tiara up into the scenery, where it explodes and sets the stage on fire.
Q 18Who is crowned the pageant winner?
Cheryl Frasier
She then names Gracie 'Miss Congeniality' for saving everyone's lives.
Q 19In the final round, Gracie is stunned to be named what?
Runner-up
The FBI never expected her to make the top ten, let alone the top two.
Q 20Frank Tobin, the pageant's assistant, is secretly whose son?
Kathy Morningside's
The relationship was hidden from the FBI because of Frank's criminal record.
Q 24Although set in New York and Texas, most of the film was shot in which city?
Austin
The Texas capital doubled for both, with only exteriors captured on location.
Q 25The pageant scenes were filmed at which venue?
Bass Concert Hall at UT Austin
The 2,900-seat hall on the UT campus stood in for the San Antonio pageant stage.
Q 26Interiors of New York's St. Regis hotel were actually shot in which historic Texas hotel?
The Driskill
Only the exterior of the real St. Regis appears, shot on location in Manhattan.
Q 27What was Miss Congeniality's production budget?
$45 million
The sequel five years later cost exactly the same amount.
Q 28Roughly how much did Miss Congeniality gross worldwide?
$212 million
Critics were lukewarm, but audiences gave it an A-minus CinemaScore.
Q 29Sandra Bullock earned a Golden Globe nomination for the film in which category?
Best Actress in a Comedy
It was her second nomination in the category, after While You Were Sleeping.
Q 30Which soundtrack song earned the film a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song?
'One in a Million'
The track went top ten across Europe and Asia in 2001.