LEGALLY BLONDE 2: RED, WHITE AND BLONDE (2003) 1/2 star out of 4. Starring Reese Witherspoon, Sally Field, Bruce McGill, Regina King, Dana Ivey, Bob Newhart, Jennifer Coolidge, Mary Lynn Rajkub, Jessica Cuaffiel, Alanna Ubach and Luke Wilson. Story by Eve Ahlert & Dennis Drake and Kate Kondell. Screenplay by Kate Kondell. Directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld. Rated PG-13. Running time: Approx. 94 minutes.
Add Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde to the list of terrible sequels to good movies.
This purile excuse for a comedy is excruciating; I actually cringed several times. If I was a paying customer, I would have demanded a refund.
How Reese Witherspoon, who also serves as executive producer, greenlighted this script is beyond comprehension. You get the feeling she was kept in the dark until the first day of shooting.
You actually feel embarrassed for Witherspoon because she struggles so valiantly to raise the material. But it's a losing fight.
She is defeated at every turn by her writers and most of her ham-fisted co-stars. Really, you can't define what Kate Kondell has written as a script.
The screenplay, based on a story by Eve Alhert & Dennis Drake as well as Kondell, is more a bunch of bromides, pronouncements and touchy-feely Dr. Phil-Oprah cliches randomly tossed together on sheets of paper.
The only performer to come out of this mess with any dignity is Bob Newhart, who plays a Washington, D.C., hotel doorman in his usual dry, laconic manner. If not for Newhart, Legally Blonde 2 would have been a direct-to-video or cable TV effort.
Even Luke Wilson, who probably feels blessed that his screen time was limited, appears embarrassed as he is merely direction to fawn over Witherspoon's Elle Woods triumphs and bolster her when she begins to falter.
The movie also marks a low point for Sally Field, who plays a double-dealing congresswoman.
In Legally Blonde 2, originality is an endangered species, if it exists at all. This is one movie that should be voted out of theaters or recalled as soon as possible.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on movies. Bloom's reviews also appear on the Web at the Rottentomatoes Web site, www.rottentomatoes.com and at the Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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