Movie Review: Legally Blonde 2 - Red, White, and Blonde

Stars: 1 out of 5

Pros: Reese Witherspoon is still great

Cons: Everything else

The Bottom Line:

To call this movie

Blonde is an insult to blondes

All over the world

Sequel Only a Blonde Could Love

I'll admit it. I'm a fan of the first Legally Blonde movie. Yes, it is stupid at times. But it has heart. And it's funny. And, while I never expected Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde to be as good as the first, I still expected to be entertained. Boy, was I disappointed.

Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) has graduated from law school, landed her first job at a Boston law firm, and is engaged to Emmett (Luke Wilson), the man she fell in love with in the first film. She's busy planning her wedding. The only guest she can't track down is Bruiser's mother. And since her dog is such an important part of her life, she feels that her dog's mother must be there.

When she does find Bruiser's mom, Elle discovers that she is captive of a cosmetics company who uses her for testing. Elle's efforts to free her only end with Elle being fired from her new job. So she decides to put her wedding on hold and head to Washington to get a bill passed that will end all animal testing.

Elle has an ally in Representative Victoria Rudd (Sally Field). But when she doesn't act fast enough to get the bill passed, Elle takes matters into her own hands. Aided by her doorman Sid (Bob Newhart), Elle begins to make headway. But can she overcome the back scratching in Washington to get her bill passed?

First what works. Reese Witherspoon gives another great performance as Elle. She's easily the best thing in the movie, but the other performances are good, too.

Now, what doesn't work. Where do I even begin?

In the first movie, Elle was naive but charming. And she was smart in her own way. Most importantly, she was likable and someone we could root for. All that is missing here. This time around, she's just clueless, blindly going from plot point to plot point. She grows some brains at the end, but it's too little too late.

It might have helped the movie if more of the characters from the first one came back. Other then Elle, everyone else is reduced to an extended cameo. When I go see a sequel, I like to see all the characters I've come to love again, so this disappointed me.

And the new characters don't help. Very few of them are likable. And, since this is Washington, they are just out to use each other.

And that brings me to another complaint. This movie actually left me depressed, not a good thing for a comedy. I know our system in Washington is broken. And this movie accurately shows this. But it offers no solution. In fact, Elle stoops to their level to get her bill passed. The few attempts to show change are so over the top as to be unbelievable.

Then there's the PC agenda of the film. It felt more like a propaganda piece then a piece of entertainment. While I may agree that animal testing is cruel, I don't like to be preached at. This film was almost enough to make me switch camps out of spite.

Reese's performance just can't save this awful movie. Do yourself a favor and stick to the original over Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde.