6 Ways Our Brand Is Crisis Is Eerily Similar to Miss Congeniality

Updated on Oct 31, 2015 at 4:00 PM

Miss Congeniality is still one of my favorite movies of all time, but I didn't expect that Sandra Bullock's new movie would be anything like the 2000 gem. After all, Our Brand Is Crisis is a political drama-comedy. Bullock plays a retired campaign adviser who takes a job working for a doomed candidate for the Bolivian presidency. Besides Bullock herself, it doesn't seem like these movies would have anything in common, right? Wrong. I had so many Miss Congeniality flashbacks watching the new movie that it was uncanny. Here are all the parallels that any true Bullock fan will notice immediately.

There's a Scene Where She Falls Down Again

This is the first thing I noticed. I thought, "Oh wow, that exact same thing happens in Miss Congeniality. She even makes that face! How funny."

Both Gracie and Jane Snack a Lot

Miss Congeniality's Gracie Hart is all about pizza and doughnuts, while Jane from Our Brand Is Crisis is snacking on Bolivian chips throughout much of the movie. To be fair, she's suffering from altitude sickness so she needs to calm her stomach, but still.

Jane's Personal Life Is Also Nonexistant

Gracie doesn't make friends easily, and Jane lives in isolation in a cabin making pottery. Neither has what you might call a "lively" social life.

Jane Goes Out Clubbing One Night

One of the most memorable sequences in Miss Congeniality is when Gracie takes the girls out to a club so they can blow off some steam. In Our Brand Is Crisis, it's Jane who needs to blow off steam. In both cases, the night begins with all fun and games but ends somewhat dramatically.

There's a Confrontation in a Theater

I know this sounds really specific, but remember that scene in Miss Congeniality when Victor Melling (Michael Caine) is trying to get Gracie to practice on stage and she's exhausted and loses her temper with him? There's a scene so bizarrely similar in Our Brand Is Crisis, only Jane is the one trying to get her candidate to practice and he walks out on her. Just like in Miss Congeniality, it's one of the emotional pinnacles of the movie.

Jane Has Sexual Tension With a Guy Who's Off Limits

Witty banter and late-night phone calls with a man who has a competitive spirit? That could describe Gracie's relationship with Eric Matthews (Benjamin Bratt) or Jane's with her nemesis Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton). While they're still very clearly different relationships, it's a bit odd, combined with all the other parallels to Miss Congeniality.