‘Legally Blonde’ Prequel Series ‘Elle’ Is Often Well-Executed, if Mostly a Rehash: TV Review
The Amazon Prime Video show “Elle” is billed as a prequel series to the 2001 novel turned hit movie “Legally Blonde,” but its eight episodes play more like a remake. Sure, “Elle” turns back the clock to 1995, when its title character — the bubbly, pink-obsessed lawyer-to-be made iconic by a young Reese Witherspoon — was a rising junior at Beverly Hills High. Yet the arc of “Elle” hews so closely to the trajectory our heroine takes in the original film that it’s hard to believe one person underwent the same maturation process twice over, unless she entered Harvard Law with a bad case of amnesia. Better, then, to view “Elle” as a kind of alternate universe tale where Elle Woods (Lexi Minetree) simply had her epiphanies a few years earlier. That way, it’s easier to appreciate what this bildungsroman does well, which is a fair amount.
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There is a ceiling on these accomplishments, though. Created by Laura Kittrell (“Insecure”) and executive produced by Witherspoon through her banner Hello Sunshine, “Elle” is content to live within the shadow of its inspiration. Every chapter takes its name from an enduring line in screenwriters Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith’s script, like “Whoever Said Orange Is the New Pink Is Seriously Deranged” or “What, Like It’s Hard?” This device has the unfortunate effect of highlighting how the joke writing on “Elle,” while capable and entertaining — “I don’t run, but I do walk with conviction!” — is coloring within lines someone else already drew. The show positions itself to introduce a generation of young women already watching Amazon due to YA hits like “The Summer I Turned Pretty” to the “Legally Blonde” ethos, aided by a lead performance from Minetree that perfectly channels Witherspoon’s girly-girl pep. But “Elle” doesn’t meaningfully alter or elaborate upon the themes first explored by author Amanda Brown, because it isn’t trying to.
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That said, “Elle” fulfills its own (blonde) ambitions, smartly selecting a new pond in which this aged-down Elle can be a fish out of water. Rather than following a boyfriend to law school of her own volition, the show’s protagonist is forced to move to Seattle when her father Wyatt (Tom Everett Scott), a plastic surgeon, botches a nose job, making his name mud west of La Brea. Forced to abandon her three-point plan for a perfect junior year, Elle, Wyatt and her mother Eva (June Diane Raphael) relocate to rainy Seattle, where Elle’s impeccable taste in designer bags is more disdained than appreciated. The change in location also keeps “Elle” from hewing too close to “Clueless,” the Big Kahuna of media built around a willful teen girl in mid-’90s L.A. Elle’s best friend Madison (Jessica Belkin) has a car phone that’s just as impressive as Cher’s computer-powered closet. (The Pacific Northwest instead invokes “10 Things I Hate About You,” another Lutz-Smith collaboration.)
Unlike the movie, which was contemporary to its time, “Elle” is a period piece, laying on its cultural references thick and with a deliberately, almost parodically broad brush. In this Seattle, everyone looks like an extra from “Singles,” stomping down the halls of Rainier West High School in plaid flannels and Doc Martens while debating the relative merits of Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain. The dynamic isn’t exactly the same as a sorority sister among aspiring attorneys, but it’s very close: serious, socially conscious Seattleites look down on Elle’s hyper-feminine aesthetic; Elle is appalled by her classmates’ contempt for consumerism and visible effort; both sides have something to learn from one another. Seattle just has the added bonus of a ready-made soundtrack, a collection of grunge-era hits led by Garbage’s “I’m Only Happy When It Rains,” the semi-ironic theme song.
Elle’s new peers are a tough crowd for her talents of accessorizing and quoting Cosmo from memory. Ingratiating herself with the popular crowd in California was a matter of perseverance; in Washington, queen bee Kimberly (Chandler Kinney) clocks Elle as a — gasp! — poser for the sin of wearing a Nirvana T-shirt to fit in. (Though she still decks it out in hearts.) Record store employee Liz (Gabrielle Pelicano) is reflexively suspicious of Elle’s upbeat enthusiasm. Student activist Dustin (Zac Looker), doubtless just a few years from participating in the WTO protests, is the most open-minded to Elle’s charms, but only once she joins forces with him to advocate for underpaid school staffers. Dustin is down for the cause; Elle just wants to help the principal’s secretary Donna (Amy Pietz), the only other person at school willing to talk horoscopes with her.
Donna’s plight becomes the onramp to a proto-legal subplot about potentially stolen funds that eventually gets Elle in full cross-examination mode. Despite an unnecessary escalation of stakes about halfway through the season, the teen investigator mode is where “Elle” most accurately channels the spirit “Legally Blonde,” plus some high school-specific flourishes like a “Breakfast Club”-themed detention episode. The storyline prompts sympathy and growth on both sides of the divide: Elle’s counterparts realize they’re wrong to dismiss fuchsia and pom-poms as inherently unworthy, while Elle herself starts to wonder if “I really am the vapid L.A. girl they all think I am.” A quarter century after the original “Legally Blonde,” the distinction between style and substance is still worth exploring.
“Elle” fares less well with the family dynamics that come with a lead character who still lives in her parents’ house. Wyatt is a bit of a non-entity who fades into the background; Raphael is a wonderful comic performer who still comes off a little too grounded and earthy to be Elle’s supposed clone before her daughter starts to assert some independence. (An Anna Faris or younger Kristen Chenoweth type feels closer to the mark.) The elder Woods woman gets shoehorned into the main story through an underdeveloped thread about volunteering for the mayoral campaign of school superintendent Dean Wilson (James Van Der Beek in his final role), though it’s possible “Elle” was working around the schedule and abilities of an actor who went public with his cancer diagnosis in 2024.
On the other hand, it’s not a coincidence that the weakest parts of “Elle” are the ones that are also the most unique to it in comparison with “Legally Blonde.” (In addition to the Woods household, there’s a romantic interest who never feels like more than a box to be checked, especially when he isn’t serving the function of luring Elle away from her comfort zone.) This is a show that’s quite comfortable working from its inspiration, and much less so when it’s attempting to forge its own path. That last part isn’t quite in the Elle Woods spirit, but “Elle” gets close enough.
All eight episodes of “Elle” are now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Jump to Comments‘Legally Blonde’ Prequel Series ‘Elle’ Is Often Well-Executed, if Mostly a Rehash: TV Review
- Production: MGM Television, Amazon MGM Studios, Hello Sunshine, Marc Platt Productions, Reunion Pacific Entertainment
- Crew: Created by Laura Kittrell
- Cast: Lexi Minetree, Tom Everett Scott, June Diane Raphael, Zac Looker, Gabrielle Pelicano
Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
Venezuela Fury and Noah Price subsidising their life by livestreaming
Venezuela Fury and her husband Noah Price look to be making their own way in the world by raking it in from their lucrative social media accounts.
The influencer daughter of Tyson and Paris Fury, 16, has become an internet sensation after tying the knot with her husband Noah, 19, earlier this year.
Since getting married and moving in together the couple have been earning thousands of pounds a month, livestreaming their life as newlyweds in their static caravan in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
And fans can't get enough of their regular life updates on TikTok and Kick, which have proved to be very profitable for the pair.
They look to be supporting themselves after Noah denied that he was given £5million by Venezuela's family as a wedding gift.
Despite his wife's huge family wealth, an estimated combined £160 million, Noah recently told his Kick followers that he 'pays for everything' for the couple.
Making light of the claims about Venezuela's millionaire financial status, Noah said: 'I actually pay for everything unfortunately. You'd expect the millionaire to pay for it wouldn't you.'
Venezuela Fury and Noah Price are earning thousands livestreaming their caravan life - after her new groom insisted he pays all the bills and denied he had £5m handout from her dad
The influencer daughter of Tyson and Paris Fury , 16, has become an internet sensation after tying the knot with her husband Noah, 19, earlier this year
Venezuela then asked their fans: 'Do you think I am a millionaire?'
Noah joked: 'She isn't a secret millionaire guys', before she broke into song and sang: 'But I live like a millionaire!'
But it seems according to estimated calculations from their social media work, Noah and Venezuela can more than afford to support themselves.
Noah has been livestreaming on platforms such as Kick and TikTok, where viewers can send paid gifts or donations.
He was previously encouraging viewers to send gifts on his honeymoon during livestreams, suggesting this is one revenue stream.
Both Noah and Venezuela have built substantial followings on Instagram and TikTok. They can potentially earn money through sponsored posts, brand collaborations, affiliate links and creator payouts.
Kick allows its creators to take home 95 per cent of the £4.99 subscription cost that fans pay.
Streamers keep 100 per cent of direct tips and donations, minus minor standard payment processing fees.
It is unclear how many subscribers Noah currently has because this information is hidden, but he does have 7,200 followers which is publicly viewable.
An industry insider has suggested Noah is making around £400 per video on TikTok, while Venezuela is likely to make £2,000 due to her following count of 1.3 million.
An industry insider has suggested Noah is making around £400 per video on TikTok, while Venezuela is likely to make £2,000 due to her following count of 1.3 million
In one video on their honeymoon, Noah asked his followers if they'd give them some more gifts now that they were married.
In a TikTok live viewed by 20,000 he said: 'Keep liking our videos people, keep sending gifts.'
After saying thank you to several of his followers he joked they should stick around on the livestream and 'watch Venezuela punch me in the mouth'.
The other half of the honeymooning couple said: 'I am, honestly!'
Noah previously confirmed that the pair don't share their finances after they were asked whether they have a shared bank account.
'She earns her money, I earn mine,' said Noah, as Venezuela joked: 'Yeah, what you gonna do about it.'
Noah went on to debunk the rumour that Tyson gave him £5million when he tied the knot with his daughter as he insisted: 'No Tyson did not give me £5million'.
Meanwhile Venezuela is being eyed up by executives for a fly on the wall TV series.
Noah went on to debunk the rumour that Tyson gave him £5million when he tied the knot with his daughter as he insisted: 'No Tyson did not give me £5million'
Boasting 1.3 million TikTok followers, Venezuela is already entertaining fans with her honest musings and candid moments, from cooking to kitting out her and Noah's static caravan home.
And following the success of the Netflix series At Home With The Furys, it is no wonder bosses are wanting to draw on the Fury popularity.
A TV insider said: 'The couple are not A-list celebrities but everyone has become obsessed with their love story.
'People are genuinely intrigued by them. Whether it’s the fact they have married so young, Venezuela’s famous family or their gypsy lifestyle, they have the ‘X factor'.
'Several TV executives think a proper fly-on-the-wall series following their lives as newlyweds in the gypsy community would be fascinating,' they told The Sun.
It is thought Netflix would be likely to produce the series due to their already established relationship with the Furys.
Venezuela's representatives told The Daily Mail: 'We have many offers on the table regarding Venezuela which we are discussing.'
