By Donna Smith
As someone who believes that Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman are among the best movies of all time, I’ll admit that I was looking forward to watching Legally Blonde 2. A night out with one of the girls for a few laughs and popcorn sounded pretty good and it was obvious from the start that this would be a ‘girly’ movie–the entire theatre was filled with 18-year-old girls.
The film is basically an extension of the first; if you didn’t like it, you won’t like this one. Now out of Harvard, Elle (Reese Witherspoon) is trying to use her legal prowess to change the world for the better. The mission–to make it illegal to test make-up on animals. So it’s off to Washington for our star, whose personality stands out on Capitol Hill as much as her pink outfits among all the dark business suits. And of course, at first everyone sees her as the stupid blonde girl, lovingly coined “Capital Barbie.” But our heroine overcomes and outwits a few dirty politicians.
This time around, the plot is missing a love story, although they throw in a wedding at the end to make us all happy. You barely see Elle’s fiancé at all.but, back for the second round are Elle’s old roommates and hair stylist.
While much of the movie is rather cheesy, even quoting the Wizard of Oz with the villain threatening, “I’ll get you [Elle], and your little dog,” it does provide some unique laughs, such as a gay dog couple (a Chihuahua and a Rottweiler). And really, if you weren’t expecting cheesy, what were you thinking? Just read the title.
Overall, it was a fun night out without the need to do much thinking and as a bonus I learned nothing about American politics. However, don’t spend the money at a theatre, this one is a rental.