Last yr, chatting with The New York Instances, Reese Witherspoon described herself as having two very distinct jobs. “[I’m] a creator and an individual who understands the economics of making,” she stated, in that barely soul-sapping parlance of a San Francisco tech guru. Witherspoon, a large star of TV and movie whose media firm Hi there Sunshine was reportedly valued at $900m when it was bought in 2021, then expanded on her ethos, which straddles artwork and commerce. “You’ve acquired to go the place the viewers is,” she stated. She claimed Gen Z don’t go to the cinema (unfaithful, it seems), and that the majority older individuals see a single film a yr with their youngsters. “[You can’t] lament the truth that they didn’t present up, or have what I name outdated school-itis … consideration spans are shifting. They only are.”
“Going the place the viewers is”, then, means making extra stuff like Elle, a Prime Video sequence that serves as a prequel to Legally Blonde, the traditional 2001 comedy that not solely turned Witherspoon into an enormously bankable A-lister however got here to outline a form of feminism that also dominates a lot of social media at this time: Elle was sort, inclusive and unashamedly girly, whereas additionally sensible and shrewd and goal-oriented. Her journey over the course of the movie – from an undervalued California sorority lady who enrolls in Harvard Legislation Faculty to win again her ex, solely to seek out herself, and a high-powered profession, within the course of – has made Legally Blonde the ur-text for the #Girlboss/girl-dinner/Barbie-but-make-it-woke aesthetic of the Noughties to now.
Witherspoon has known as Elle an entry level to the messaging of Legally Blonde for a brand new technology of ladies, however – in an admittedly extra cynical studying – it’s additionally an extension of a really worthwhile little bit of IP. There’s been a success stage musical, a risible 2003 film sequel that everybody chooses to overlook, and a earlier TV model that by no means made it previous the pilot stage. Witherspoon has gone on file expressing her want for extra, however a Legally Blonde 3 has been caught in growth hell since 2018, biking by totally different scripts (Mindy Kaling wrote one among them), and aborted launch dates. Elle is a fast repair. And presumably a less expensive one, at that. It pleases shareholders, fills an “if you happen to appreciated this, why not watch…” tile on the Prime Video touchdown web page, and helps line the pockets of everybody concerned – even when its curiously unfunny writing and nonsensical premise will doubtless depart many watching unhappy. (Prime has already renewed it for a second season, although, so that you’ll discover it arduous to keep away from both method.)
As a result of Elle’s journey in Legally Blonde felt like an entire story, Elle has to retrofit the character to expertise a lot of the identical private growth just some years earlier. Set in 1995, it stars newcomer Lexi Minetree as a youthful Elle, who’s shipped off to suburban Seattle after her plastic surgeon father (Tom Everett Scott) performs a nasty nostril job on an unnamed movie star and has to flee Beverly Hills. The present positions Elle in precisely the identical fish-out-of-water state of affairs because the film, as she navigates a wierd new surroundings divorced from the moneyed glitz to which she’s grown accustomed. Presumably Elle will expertise a sociopolitical lobotomy in some unspecified time in the future within the present’s second season to elucidate why she rocked as much as Harvard so unaware of the world regardless of her Seattle exploits, as a result of it certain isn’t defined by the tip of those eight episodes.
Minetree is a fantastic Elle, however feels hemmed in by the Reese Witherspoon impression she’s presumably been informed to do – she walks like her, speaks like her, does the identical nasal, high-pitched cry when she’s confronted with dangerous information. And whereas she has crack comedian timing, she’s not requested to make use of it as a lot as you may suppose. Elle is barely a comedy, and as soon as it will get into the weeds of its premise it turns into an unusually sluggish teen drama – there are love triangles, imply teenagers, and low-stakes scandals involving the workers at Elle’s new faculty.
Lacking is the sheer sharpness of the film, which afforded its stacked supporting forged (amongst them Jennifer Coolidge, Linda Cardellini, Holland Taylor and even Raquel Welch) the fizzy dialogue and memorable comedian set items that Elle barely bothers with. In simply 90 minutes a complete world was shaped, from Elle’s two endearingly vapid but scene-stealing besties Margot and Serena (who aren’t replicated right here), to the abundance of Harvard nerds Elle tussled with (keep in mind future Longlegs director Osgood Perkins because the goofy David Kidney, or the frizzy-haired feminist who marched for lesbians towards drunk driving?). Right here, Elle is saddled with two drab love pursuits – a British classmate and a generic bland jock – and an inexplicably nasty rival who worships on the altar of riot grrls like Bikini Kill however for some purpose treats different ladies horribly.
It’s simply very, very 2026 – a photocopied model of one thing beloved from 25 years in the past, stacked with callbacks and pointless origin tales (ever curious how Elle acquired her pet chihuahua Bruiser? Nicely, right here’s your reply), however given the aura of one thing important as a result of it’s executive-produced by the star of the unique. Maybe I’m just too outdated for this. However I’m satisfied the younger individuals of at this time count on and deserve extra from their leisure than warmed-over revivals lacking all the pep, color and dazzle of their predecessors. That’s not assembly the viewers the place they’re. It’s serving them slop and anticipating them to be grateful.
‘Elle’ streams on Prime Video from 1 July
