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, Elles 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 Wilsons 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
firms 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.
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The result is a dogs 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 senators 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 couldnt 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 films 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, youll be
lobbying for Ms Woods and her canine companion to be quarantined.
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