Soundtrack Review: Miss Congeniality 2

By Mark Sung Apr 14, 2005, 15:23 GMT

The soundtrack opens with a lively start with Esthero’s  ‘Wikked Lil' Grrrls’, which packs a lot of attitude. Natasha Bedingfield follows with ‘I'm a Bomb’ taken from her debut album. Continuing on with a similar style as the previous track is Pink’s ‘Trouble,’ which was used during scene when the characters take their flight to Las Vegas.

Also contributing to the soundtrack is Spiderbait who provide their recent 2004 single ‘Black Betty.’ Rather strangely the soundtrack follows the frantic Spiderbait track with Paul Anka’s almost mellow ‘(You're) Having My Baby.’

Also included is Carl Carlton’s  ‘She's a Bad Mama Jama,’ which was used in the scene when agent Gracie Hart makes a television appearance as the ‘Face of the FBI.’

The remaining songs on the soundtrack all seem to be taken from the 1980’s and 70’s, with songs such as ‘Fire’ by The Ohio Players, ‘Don't Leave Me This Way’ by Thelma Houston, and 'I'll Take You There' by The Staple Singers.

Probably the most memorable song from the movie is Ike and Tina Turner’s ‘Proud Mary’, which thankfully is included on the soundtrack. I say thankfully not because I particularly like the song, but only because it at least gives you something to link the soundtrack to the movie. The song is featured notably in the scene where Gracie’s partner agent Fuller has to go undercover as a Tina Turner look-alike.

Liza Minnelli’s live performance of ‘Cabaret’ and Patti LaBelle’s ‘New Attitude’ bring the soundtrack to a close.

Apart from Tina Turner’s ‘Proud Mary’ and perhaps Liza Minnelli’s ‘Cabaret,’ the music used during the movie is never very prominent. Whenever a song was used in the movie it usually lasted for less than 10 seconds. As a result when listening to the songs on the soundtrack, there isn’t really any association with the movie. The actual songs featured on the soundtrack aren’t particularly bad or difficult to listen to. In fact most of the older songs sounded familiar. The choice of songs just seemed a little odd for a soundtrack. The first 4 songs are quite modern and then suddenly the rest of the 8 songs sound like they’re taken from the early 80’s and beyond. Without any obvious bond with the movie, the soundtrack just seems like an oddly chosen compilation album.