I liked the first Legally Blonde despite myself, but LegallyBlonde 2: Red White, and Blonde reminded me why I was skeptical tobegin with and why sometimes movies don't need a sequel.
A friend who loved the first one warned me that the sequel wasnot good. Her actual words on how bad the movie was would not beallowed in print, but she encouraged me to go and warn othersbefore they spend their money on something 'walkout worthy'.
It's hard to say exactly where this movie failed the most -- badcomedic timing, a plot that felt more campy than funny, or the factthat in the first movie, you liked this bubble-headed do-gooder andin the sequel she is much more annoying.
The first movie was the classic privileged girl finds worth inself through bettering the lives of those around her and achievingher dreams (think Clueless).
In the sequel, Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) is planning herwedding to Emmett (Luke Wilson), when she decides that herchihuahua Bruiser's mother must attend the wedding and hires aprivate investigator to find her.
Bruiser's mother is being used for animal testing on cosmetics.Woods decides to try to convince her law firm to fight to freeBruiser's mom and quits because they don't care.
She then decides to fight to pass a bill on Capitol Hill to bananimal testing. She woos and wins over the senators needed with thehelp of Bob Newhart as Sidney Post (bad pun), the knowledgeablehotel doorman of the Watergate Hotel.
The high points are the gay dog jokes, and the offbeat humor ofJennifer Coolidge from Best in Show.
The main difference is that this time instead of finding she hasmore brains than anyone expected, she relies on friends who cuthair, lucky chance-meetings and the name of her sorority. The maincharacter does nothing or learns nothing -- she doesn't change atall.
Throw in ill-timed and impractical dance numbers that areeyebrow-crinkling stupid, instead of the somehow graceful impromptu"bend and snap" of the first Legally Blonde, and you get a dull,long movie. Unattractive interns cheering in the oval office for noapparent reason was the movie's low point. Also, this movie musthave been an ultimate low point in Sally Field's career.
The strength of the first was that you were rooting for her tobe able to meet halfway in-between Harvard stiffs and HollywoodHills, but the sequel seems to be one long advertisement for theGreek system, with sisterhood as the answer to everything.
There is one scene where Woods activates a phone tree andsorority girls from across the country come to march for animalrights.
The most meaningful thing I gleaned from this experience is therealization that it might really be possible that the Greek systemis more organized, efficient and free of corruption than ournational government -- and that is a scary thought.
