Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, & Blonde

Say what you will about 'Legally Blonde 2', but after witnessing first hand the shenanigans going on in Washington right now, it's easy to take the movie's portrayal of Congress seriously. If I didn't know any better I would have thought that 'Legally Blonde 2' was actually a documentary about how Congress works. A bunch of petty underhanded nitwits who'll do anything to save their own skin.

Even though 'Legally Blonde 2' more or less accurately depicts what dunderheads are running our country, it doesn't make it a good movie. For heaven's sake, it's still 'Legally Blonde 2,' starring Reese Witherspoon as one of the most annoying female characters ever created. Watching her run around on screen screaming "like" and "totally" all the while dressing in hot pink and putting clothes on her dog is barely tolerable. And yet, these movies made her unspeakably wealthy!

Elle Woods (Witherspoon) is fresh out of Harvard with her law degree. She's already survived on formulaic romantic comedy, and she's ready to take on another. The setting has changed, so instead of a college campus Elle heads to the Beltway. She's going to push a bill through Congress to make it illegal for cosmetics companies to test their products on defenseless puppies and kittens.

Rep. Victoria Rudd (Sally Fields) is a congresswoman Elle knows. She's her "in," and soon after arriving on Capitol Hill, Elle is all business. She spruces up her desk with some nice hot pink decorations and she goes to work trying to get her bill passed. Rudd's other staffers don't take too kindly to Elle, she's moving in on their territory.

Like the first 'Legally Blonde' it's usually by dumb luck that Elle ends up getting anything accomplished. Sure she plans to meet a certain congresswoman at a hair salon, but fate has it that the congresswoman is an alum of Elle's sorority. See, everything just works out for her. It's easy to see why the other staffers hate her. Her luck doesn't end there. How no one becomes sick of her obnoxious, cutesy attitude is a mystery.

There's nothing differentiating this movie from the first one. It's another loosely veiled moral tale about how we shouldn't always judge people by their unbearable outward appearance. Elle may act like she needs to be medicated for being overly optimistic, and she may seem like your everyday stereotypical dumb blonde, but there's much more to her than that. Whoopdie doo. 'Legally Blond 2' is one of the more useless sequels out on the market.

Another Fox/MGM release that looks flat ugly on Blu-ray. They're just pumping them out and stamping them on high-def discs and calling it good. I can't get as mad about this movie, because after all, it's only 'Legally Blonde 2', but the lack of attention to detail is evident throughout the presentation.

At no point does the picture ever resemble anything close to fine detail. To use the word "detail" in any way to describe this transfer would be a disservice to the word itself. Noticeable DNR has been used, stripping away any sort of detail that might have been there. Colors look washed out, while skin tones look overly bronzed. White light frequently burns way too hot, washing out anything it touches. There are a few times where light streams through a window onto Witherspoon's hair making the top of her hair almost completely disappear into a glob of undefined whiteness.

The entire transfer is full of noise, dust, and grime. Much like the recent Fox/MGM release of 'Material Girls'.

'Legally Blonde 2's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound experience is just about as average as they come. There's nothing special to report here.

The sound design does a good job and placing the intelligible dialogue front and center. However, after the dialogue is taken care of there's not much else here. The parts that feature pop music are breezy portions of the soundtrack, but the music seems a tiny bit stilted in delivery. The LFE seems restrained and doesn't boom when bass-filled songs take up the soundtrack. The rear channels are spotty at best. Even in busy congressional meetings, there's not much activity going on back there at all.

Like I said, there's nothing overly awful about this audio presentation, but it doesn't go out of its way to draw you in either.

• Audio Commentary — Actresses Jennifer Coolidge (Paulette), Jessica Cauffiel (Margot), and Alanna Ubach (Serena McGuire) are gathered together for one of the most inane audio commentaries you'll ever listen to. Coolidge is the big "star" here so she feels it best that she take up most of the time doing her thing. Without any filmmakers in this commentary, it devolves into a chat-fest that isn't worth listening to.


• Deleted Scenes (SD, 9 min.) — An alternate opening to the movie is included here. There's also a handful of forgettable deleted scenes.


• Blond Ambition (SD, 22 min.) — Plenty of promotional interviews fill up this making-of featurette. It covers the basics about the movie. The characters and the actors who came back.


• Pretty in Pink (Sd, 6 min.) — The movie's production design is discussed here.


• Stars and Stripes, Never! (SD, 7 min.) — The clothing worn by the actors is covered.


• Hair Apparent (SD, 7 min.) — Witherspoon's ever-changing hair is given the spotlight here. You know, in case you were dying to see how it all came to be.


• Elle's Anthem (SD, 7 min.) — Sing along with me!


• Gag Reel (SD, 2 min.) — Gag indeed.


• Puppy Love (SD, 2 min.) — Learn a little bit more about Bruiser in this featurette.


• Music Video (SD, 4 min.) — Leann Rimes performs "We Can." As in "We can skip this."


• Trailer (SD, 2 min.) — The theatrical trailer is included.

Did someone actually ask that they make a sequel to 'Legally Blonde'? For what a bad movie this is, at least it understands exactly how Congress appears to be run. Other than that, this is another lackluster video presentation from the Fox/MGM collaboration, along with some very average audio. Rounding out this Blu-ray release is a handful of throwaway extras. Simply avoid 'Legally Blonde 2' if at all possible.