Give Peace a Chance

In the 2000 comedy Miss Congeniality, Sandra Bullock’s Grace, an undercover FBI agent posing as a pageant contestant, is asked to define the “most important thing our society needs.” Her initial response—harsher punishment for parole violations—is poorly received. “And world peace,” she adds, a crowdpleaser that fulfills the audience and jury’s expectations of generic sentiment.
Opening at the tail end of a year defined by doubt and unrest, the gro