Plot: Before Elle Woods was a fish-out-of-water at Harvard, we meet her in 1995 in the tumultuous waters of high school where she encounters tricky friendships, forbidden romance, and questionable fashion choices. In this unexpected chapter of her adolescence, we learn about the experiences that shaped Elle into the iconic young woman we’ve come to know and love.
Review: In the twenty-five years since Reese Witherspoon donned all pink and took Stanford Law School by storm as Elle Woods, Legally Blonde has been followed by a sequel, a direct-to-video spin-off, and a hit Broadway musical. Inspired by the success of The Addams Family spin-off Wednesday, Witherspoon and her Hello Sunshine production company have developed a prequel series set in the high school days before Elle Woods became a successful lobbyist in Washington, D.C. Shifting the setting to the mid-90s and moving Elle from the familiarity of Los Angeles to the grunge-soaked world of Seattle, Elle introduces newcomer Lexi Minetree as the younger version of Witherspoon’s character and explores her first forays into fighting for justice for the underdog. A decent prequel that is more than a ditzy rom-com, Elle is the best addition to the Legally Blonde franchise since the original movie, but it definitely misses Reese Witherspoon on screen.
Elle opens with the birthday celebration for the title character as the title character prepares for her junior year of high school. A cheerleader and one of the most popular girls at school, Elle (Lexi Minetree), finds out that a botched nose job performed by her plastic surgeon father, Wyatt (Tom Everett Scott), is forcing the family to relocate to Seattle, where he has secured a job at a local practice. Rocked by the news, Elle is unsure of how she will survive restarting at a new school. After Elle is gifted a puppy, she names it Brusier. Her mother, Eva (June Diane Raphael), and father promise their daughter that she will bounce back quickly in the new setting. Once she arrives, Elle finds everyone embracing feminism, modern political justice causes, and a lot of black and flannel. With few friends, Elle decides to advocate for the underpaid support staff, which snowballs into a larger conspiracy that the teenager investigates alongside reluctant new friends Dustin (Zac Looker) and musician Liz (Gabrielle Policano), as well as her crush, popular athlete Miles (Jacob Moskovitz).
What starts out as a fish-out-of-water story similar to Legally Blonde, Elle turns into something different. Like Wednesday, Elle’s investigation into something going on at her high school pulls heavily from a Scooby Doo-style mystery involving the principal and office secretary Donna (Amy Pietz) that goes up the food chain to local mayoral candidate Dean Wilson, played by James Van Der Beek in his final role before his untimely death. The mystery aspect of the season propels the narrative forward rather than keeping things focused on school melodrama, but Elle is full of that, too. Elle runs up against her Seattle school’s most popular girl, Kimberly (Chandler Kinney), who takes an instant dislike to Elle’s California sensibilities. Kimberly’s best friend Shannon (Danielle Chand) shares a lot in common with Elle, and the two hit it off, but there is strife when a love triangle emerges. Throughout the season, the friendships and adversarial conflicts between the students in Seattle work well within the story, as do Elle’s friendships back in Los Angeles with best friend Madison (Jessica Belkin), who represents the life that Elle has left behind.
At first, I was reluctant to give in to the charms of Elle, as I wondered who could possibly fill Reese Witherspoon’s now-iconic performance, which has stood as a pop culture touchstone for twenty-five years and inspired countless teenage girls to pursue degrees in law and politics. Lexi Minetree submitted an audition replicating the law school video Elle submitted to Stanford in Legally Blonde, and exudes a similar gusto and energy that is contagious to anyone watching. Minetree never plays Elle as an imitation of Witherspoon and makes the role her own, but there is something missing that cannot be replicated. Reese Witherspoon has been as popular an actress for decades because of something innate in her personality, and as Minetree does in her take on Elle Woods, it just isn’t the same without Witherspoon. Still, Minetree is supported by a cast of characters who feel like they exist in a world completely different from Elle’s Los Angeles, which makes the clash between Beverly Hills chic and Seattle’s rain-soaked apathy fun to watch on screen.
With original Legally Blonde producer Marc Platt and Reese Witherspoon on board as executive producers, series creator Laura Kittnell (Insecure, Black Monday) draws inspiration from Amanda Brown’s novel, which inspired the 2001 movie. Kittnell serves as co-showrunner alongside Caroline Dries (Smallville, Melrose Place), who scripted the first season alongside Eli Wilson Pelton, Asmita Paranjape, Julia Brownell, Jem Regan, and Chad Charlie. Directors on the first season include Jason Moore, Sammi Cohen, Pete Chatmon, and Stacie Passon, all of whom helmed two episodes each. Elle uses many mid-90s zeitgeist moments, including references to Christina Aguilera, Judge Judy, Nirvana, Heather Locklear, and more, as pop culture touchstones of the decade inform the series’ style. As a child of that era, I found it fun to pick out the copious clothing, devices, and entertainment references that informed the series’ production design. But, while the nineties are a key element to the story, Elle is not beholden to them to tell a fun and interesting story.
While Elle is far better than anything that bears the Legally Blonde title, the lack of Reese Witherspoon on screen holds it back a bit. I still had a good deal of fun with the series that I had written off as a bad idea right from seeing the first trailer, but the bad taste left by the sequel and spin-off quickly dissipates once you start watching the series. I really enjoyed Lexi Minetree’s earnest and heartfelt take on playing Elle Woods, and the pop culture references had me feeling nostalgic throughout the first season. The series could have worked well had the showrunners elected to make this a sequel and have Minetree play Elle Woods’ daughter, but a sequel series could still potentially happen someday. Fans of Legally Blonde will enjoy this series, which should be aspirational and inspirational for another generation of teen girls.
Elle premieres on July 1 on Prime Video.
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