Film

Theatre

Music

Clubs

Comedy

Events

Kids

Food

 

A/V Room

Books

DVD

Games

 

Competitions

Gallery

Contact

Join

Legally Blonde 2 (PG)



Review by: Jack Foley | Rating: One

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES: Five featurettes: Blonde Ambition: Production, Pretty in Pink: Design and Art, Stars and Stripes? Never!: Costumes, Hair Apparent: Hair and Make-Up, Elle’s Anthem: Music and Score; Audio commentary with Jennifer Coolidge, Alanna Ubach and Jessica Cauffiel; Outtakes; Deleted scenes; 2 x Easter eggs; Gag reel; ‘We Can’ by LeAnn Rimes: music video followed by soundtrack spot; Welcome to Delta Nu: interactive quiz; Feature length trivia track; Photo gallery; Theatrical trailer; SIMS 2 preview.

By the time the credits rolled at the end of Legally Blonde, I felt like a gluttonous schoolboy, who had overdosed on candyfloss - that is to say, absolutely sick! That feeling had returned within minutes of the start of the sequel.

Legally Blonde 2 is a sickening exercise in crass money-making, and a blatant attempt to cash in on the success of the first film, which feels laboured and pointless from the word go.

Reese Witherspoon returns as the blonde in question, Elle Woods; a horrendously pink-fixated legal wizz, now a rising young lawyer, trying to balance a demanding career with the preparations for her wedding to Luke Wilson’s drippy sweetheart.

When she finds out, however, that the mother of her beloved dog, Bruiser, is being used as a cosmetic test subject by one of her firm’s own clients, she makes a stand for their rights, is promptly fired, but heads to Washington to take matters into her own hands.

The ensuing debacle finds Ms Woods taking on the cream of the political elite in a bid to pass a Bill that will put an end to cosmetics testing on animals, and allow Bruiser to be reunited with her family before she walks up the aisle.

The result is a dog’s dinner - a saccharine-loaded, completely predictable message movie that consistently grates with its tireless speech-making and dippy ‘girlie’ references.

What little charm was contained in the original is completely lost here, amid the idiocy of its premise, that starts out as stupid and just keeps getting thicker.

The way to a hardline senator’s heart, it seems, is via lip-gloss, fashion sense and a good manicure or hairstyle, while even the men can be swayed by a sob story involving a long-lost family pet.

The ending, of course, is never in doubt, while any character progression is marked by the fact that Woods seems to become disillusioned a lot quicker than first time around, frequently wallowing in self-pity before rolling her sleeves up for more political back-biting.

Witherspoon, too, possesses all the charisma of the ‘Capitol Barbie’ she is ‘cruelly’ dubbed, and feels plastic as a result - yet any sympathy one may have for the actress at having to work with such flimsy material is quickly forgotten when her name crops up as executive producer.

Of the remaining cast members, all conform to stereotype - coming across as either blonde and dippy, or career-driven and in need of a life lesson; which they all, without question, receive.

It is just a shame to find the likes of Sally Field, Regina King and Mr Wilson wasting their time with such blatantly limp material.

And just when you think proceedings couldn’t become any worse, following a song and dance routine in which trainee politicians are asked to act as dogs to get a message across, Witherspoon is then called upon to deliver the film’s real message, which contains all sorts of political implications about thinking for oneself and ‘doing the right thing’.

By the time the end credits roll on this one, you’ll be lobbying for Ms Woods and her canine companion to be quarantined.

# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z