Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde (Special Edition)

LEGALLY BLOND 2: RED, WHITE & BLONDE carries this character and the story to the next level, as Elle pursues the whereabouts of the mother of her Chihuaha, Bruiser. Finding that Bruiser's Mom is a test subject for cosmetics, an outraged Elle decides to get her law firm involved. They present no interest to the subject, and when pressed on the subject, ignobly fire her. As in the first film where she loses her boyfriend early on, she breaks down into tears; after all, she's scheduled to be married to her Law School beau Emmett Richmond (Luke Wilson) before long, and she can't be out of a job when that happens! Ah, but as in the first film, she doesn't stay downtrodden for long: she'll take her case to Washington, where she already has a friend in Rep. Victoria Rudd (Sally Field). She joins her staff (leading to a seemingly-interminable number of scenes in which Elle gets mistaken for an intern), and proceeds to turn her office upside-down. Of course, it's required that she have an enemy right away, and she finds one quickly in Grace Rossiter (Regina King) who is incredibly put-off by Elle's sunny demeanor and "snap-box" ideas. Elle finds that battling against animal testing is not as simple as it should be, as she tries to make "Bruiser's Law" a reality in the face of Congressional deal-making and back-stabbing. Her one believer is her fiance Emmett, who just *knows* that Elle Can Do Anything. Inspired by his supportiveness, Elle slowly begins to make friends in her office and on Capitol Hill, improbably bonding with frigid Congresswoman Libby Hauser (veteran character actress Dana Ivey) over their shared Delta Nu background. Her biggest ally turns out to be her own apartment building doorman, Sid Post (the always-welcome Bob Newhart). However, even with her new-found political friendships, including a hilarious scene in which she bonds with conservative Texas Congressman Stanford Marks (Bruce McGill) over the newly-found gayness of their dogs (you read that right), Elle realizes that not all her political friends are what they seem to be.

Let's face it: The LEGALLY BLONDE series is never going to win any Academy Awards for anything. But, somehow they provide an effective escape and are fun movies to watch. I like the occasional subtle references in LEGALLY BLONDE 2, the best one being the one in which Elle is first shown walking up the U.S. Capitol steps from overhead, a bright pink dot in a sea of black & white; this is very reminiscient of the Ascot scene in MY FAIR LADY (1964), in which Audrey Hepburn comes out in her brightly-colored outfit in the midst of all the gray-colored Ascot suits. Reese Witherspoon may be a fair lady herself, however, LEGALLY BLONDE 2; RED, WHITE & BLONDE becomes too ludicrous for its own good. You know Elle is going to eventually triumph sooner or later, and while some scenes are highly watchable, as a whole this film doesn't retain the same level of charm as the first. It didn't help that a different director, Charles Herman-Wurmfeld, took the helm of this project; Robert Luketic seemed to have a better grasp of comedic editing in the first film. But for mindless entertainment, one could definitely do worse.

MODERATELY RECOMMENDED FOR REESE WITHERSPOON FANS; AGES 12 & UP