Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde.

Review #1861: Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde.

Cast: 

Reese Witherspoon (Elle Woods), Sally Field (Victoria Rudd), Regina King (Grace Rossiter), Jennifer Coolidge (Paulette Bonafonté), Luke Wilson (Emmett Richmond), Bob Newhart (Sid Post), Bruce McGill (Stan Marks), Dana Ivey (Libby Hauser), Jessica Cauffiel (Margot Chapman), with Moonie the Dog (Bruiser), and Alanna Ubach (Serena McGuire) Directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld.

Review: 

I'm sure you remember Legally Blonde (2001), the movie that dealt with forging a path for oneself with confidence that was pitched at one point as "Clueless meets The Paper Chase", based on the material of the same name by Amanda Brown. It was a feel-good movie that Robert Luketic directed as the feel-good legal hit of its time. Or something like that, because I remember it surely could have reached further in the departments of humor and legal mumbo-jumbo besides what it did. Yea, subverting the expectations of a perpetually smiling lawyer that bounces off snide comments as it was just another sunny day in lawyer land. It was more interesting in the small attempts at awareness rather than its goofy hand at comedy. The less you predict, the better it went. Herman-Wurmfeld is probably best known for this film alone, despite the fact that this was his third feature film (Kissing Jessica Stein (2001) had attracted attention on the indie circuit). Kate Kondell served as the screenwriter.

It is evident that someone watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and thought, hey I can do a movie kind of like that, complete with cribbing footage from it too. But this movie has an idealism about it that manages to come off as the equivalent of too much cotton candy at the fair that only leads to simple vomit. It is a movie that seems to have been nicked and tucked in re-writes to where one would hope it is taken out to pasture with the mix of sitcom lines and characters to go with. absolute zero meaningful drama. Taking something like the issue of animal testing and making one bored to tears is quite the achievement in dubiousness. It begs for a cynical hand at the wheel to deal with politics or some sort of inspiration beyond cribbing dynamics from the first film in being yet another fish out of water story. Beyond (million dog) marches and congressmen changing their mind on things because their dog is gay, one simply finds themselves wishing these scenarios were, well, funny. Witherspoon fares the best out of everyone in the same way that a shirt with a dirty spot looks cleaner when washed but doesn't really get rid of the spot. The cheery disposition presented here only works to the fishbowl level of sitcom times here, where one would rather see more scenes between her and Wilson because of the interesting dynamic between sunny charm and a dry Wilson. Sally Field (accompanied by a goofy wig) seems lost with material that has her say at one point "don't worry Bob, I'll get her ... and her little dog too." At least the secret adversary mentor in the first film was suitable for what was needed. Here, she seems there more for name recognition and a nice check rather than something useable. King plays the snooty foil that was already done before in the first film, and it is evident that nothing really changes for the better beyond what you already know what is going to happen in bla-bla land that King can't elevate too much. Newhart as a doorman with key knowledge to help Witherspoon in the ways of politicking sounds like the lead to a joke, but this is one is at the expense of the audience who find themselves rolling their eyes at whatever paycheck was used to waste his time here. McGill is nice and dandy in the easy cliche role, one that might have been a better fit for the second lead role rather than Field in terms of smarminess...instead he gets to play a guy swayed in protecting dogs from getting animal tested because damn it he loves his gay big dog. As a whole, the original movie has been dissected and had some of its aspects repeated here within a fish-out-of-water story where the lead gradually wins the respect of her peers with her can-do attitude to adapting to the environment that uses her know-how (i.e. fashion sense) to get what she aims to do before giving a speech at the end while everything goes exactly right for her. It is the equivalent of chewing gum for 95 minutes, where one will find a bit of sweet release on two points: the one moment where chewing it is cool, and the moment when you finally decide enough is enough and spit it out. Folks big on the original might find something okay with this one, but others would do better to look elsewhere.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

Legally Blonde.

Review #1698: Legally Blonde.

Cast: 

Reese Witherspoon (Elle Woods), Luke Wilson (Emmett Richmond), Selma Blair (Vivian Kensington), Matthew Davis (Warner Huntington III), Victor Garber (Professor Callahan), Jennifer Coolidge (Paulette Bonafonté), Holland Taylor (Professor Elspeth Stromwell), Ali Larter (Brooke Taylor-Windham), Jessica Cauffiel (Margot), Alanna Ubach (Serena McGuire), Francesca P. Roberts (Judge Marina R. Bickford), Oz Perkins (David Kidney), Linda Cardellini (Chutney Windham), Bruce Thomas (UPS Guy), Meredith Scott Lynn (Enid Wexler), and Raquel Welch (Mrs. Windham-Vandermark) Directed by Robert Luketic.

Review: 

Well, sometimes you need a movie about the law to go with a tale of forging a path forward for oneself with confidence, I suppose. Legally Blonde is adapted from the novel of the same name, which was self-published by Amanda Brown in 2001 (although it should be noted that the 1994 copyright filing lists both Brown and Brigdet Kerrigan, who coincidentally had attended Harvard) based on the writer's experiences in Stanford Law School, which namely involved making fun of her classmates with letters sent back home to Arizona while reading Elle magazine; one key experience involved her going to a group for women attending the school that Brown found amusement over their serious tone (such as trying to change "semester" to "ovester"). She dropped out after two years, but she eventually cobbled a manuscript together; while it didn't attract much attention as a book, it did find interest with film studios, and one pitch that was used for it was "Clueless meets The Paper Chase". At any rate, the film was written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, who saw numerous script changes that turned a first draft with raunchy material into one with adversity to overcome and a murder trial (including an ending that came from test audiences caring about the success of its character rather than a kiss on the courthouse). In other words, a script that would probably have come off the heels of stuff like American Pie (1999) ended up being more of a feel-good movie that surely plays its own note in the blonde circuit (which has quite a few stereotypes that I'm sure would make for an interesting discussion somewhere else). This was also the feature film debut of Robert Luketic, a native of Australia who had been making short films since he was a teenager before his short Titsiana Booberini (1997) attracted Hollywood.

Honestly, it's just an okay movie. It's an obvious movie, one that plays exactly to the bone of "being yourself with confidence" that makes for a few chuckles for a 96 minute movie that sure takes its time to really get going, even when it has something to say about workplace dynamics in conduct (or perhaps not judging stuff like sorority life or law school by the cover...?) and something something feminist classic something something. Or something like that, because really it is the trial parts that are more up to speed in actually doing something beyond "aw shucks". You know how folks will randomly approach stars and have them do "classic stuff" at a convention? The appeal for this movie is kind of like that, albeit without as many nerd lingo (as any convention attendee would say). That, or it is basically a sports movie for sorority folks. Strangely enough, with a pitch evoking the name of Clueless (1995), it really doesn't seem to have that much "zing" to it, if you know what I mean. Sure, there are quite a few quirky moments, such as the "bend and snap" sequence, which sounds believable when you note that the writers came up with it while at a bar. It comes and goes, really, when you think about it. There is nothing here that is exactly harmful or ridiculous, and I imagine that it certainly proved an inspiration to at least one person when it came to law or perhaps something else - so yeah, average isn't the worst possible experience one could have with this feature. If it wasn't for Witherspoon, this probably would have been a lesser experience. Her sunny charm and wit certainly play off against the others well enough with flourishing interest that you would see from a "fish out of water" type without being played out, and its easy to see how two decades have only cemented the enduring entertainment that Witherspoon brings here. The others keep up fine for the most part. Wilson is casual enough to keep his portion of the film going well enough without asking for too much more (the aforementioned ending involved the two leads kissing at the end, but I think you can see why they just went with a different one). Blair brings up the snobby parts to where it needs to go (complete with the predictable stuff), which is followed by the snooty snake charm from Davis to go with the slithering calmness generated by Garber. Coolidge gets a chuckle in shyness while others get a line or two to show up (such as Larter doing some well-blown hysterics over gluteal efforts), which means that one will do just fine in keeping their attention airtight. As I stated already, it is the law parts that generate interest more, probably because its predictability is a little less obvious than the school segments, but that is probably just me. In the two decades that have followed the release of this film, a sequel was released alongside a musical and a spinoff, and it is perhaps representative of the legacy of the film that another sequel is in development. Is it predictable? Indubitably, but it has plenty of charm in the right places to make a worthy time for those in the mood for what it yearns to say about having fun as oneself without letting folks or other things get in their way. 

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

You Kill Me.

Review #1269: You Kill Me.

Cast: 
Ben Kingsley (Frank Falenczyk), Téa Leoni (Laurel Pearson), Luke Wilson (Tom), Dennis Farina (Edward O'Leary), Philip Baker Hall (Roman Krzeminski), Bill Pullman (Dave), Marcus Thomas (Stef Krzeminski), and Jayne Eastwood (Kathleen Fitzgerald) Directed by John Dahl.

Review: 
One wonders what makes someone look up a film like this. This is an indie film, made on a budget of $4 million. It happens to be the writing work of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, , who are likely more known for their work on The Chronicles of Narnia film series along with certain Marvel films such as Avengers: Endgame (2019) while having a cast-list that seems ripe for a few laughs. So what's the holdup in actually delivering laughs? The resulting film is one that is dry in most of the places that matter most, a movie too mild to actually work as either a crime or comedy film for its 93 minute run-time, especially one about a hit-man who undergoes Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and works at a mortuary. One really can't say its the fault of the actors, who sit there and say these milquetoast lines that don't impact as much as they should, as if eccentricity was nowhere to be found. It even finds time to be bland when it tries its hand at romantic moments (with a 23 year age difference, no less) between Kingsley and Leoni that falls down the stairs and never gets up. I feel like I really should care about an alcoholic hitman trying to adjust to AA meetings, and Kingsley seems game to make for deadpan fun, but it seems more like deadpan sleepwalking, which could also ring reluctantly true for Leoni as well. Less can be given for the rest of its cast, an utterly disappointing thing to say that starts with Wilson and ends with a lack of any true mob presence, where Farina and Hall can't even chew scenery properly. At least Pullman is fun to stick around with for a few minutes around and around. The film certainly has its own kind look it wants to go with, even if it sometimes seem a bit fake (such as its snow or its lone gun battle) to really make me think I'm watching a movie. It never sells its motivation (if it has one) to drive things along, slowing down in the middle and sticking in neutral for its climax, which ends about as convincingly as it began - with a great big meh. An imaginary point could also be subtracted for spending far more time in San Francisco than Buffalo than needed (sorry, let me fix that, a film set there but filmed mostly in Canada with occasional shots elsewhere). Is this a joke? Am I being pranked by a film that sticks itself in mud after taking too much of its own medicine, or does one need to pick more obvious comedy? In this case, it is preferable to pick something else. A walk in the park at night might give you more danger, but you surely will have more to talk about than if you sat through this average one.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.