Reese Witherspoon Again

I recently read Reese Witherspoon introduce a series of conversations between the mother/daughter team of Diane Ladd and Laura Dern ("Dern" to Reese). I first saw Reese playing a teenager (very good) in The Man In the Moon.  Another good early film (before Legally Blonde) is Freeway, a twisted take on Little Red Riding Hood. 

She is a few years younger than me, which I did not first think about ala Christiana Applegate.  But, yes, that would work with the timing of those films.  Those two also played (in rather different performances with Applegate much more memorable though Reese was decent) Rachel's sisters in Friends. They reunited for the Apple show The Morning Show, not to be confused with the amusing film with Rachel McAdams about a morning show, entitled Morning Glory. I saw that in the movies and might have been the only one in the theater (it was a mid-afternoon mid-week show and maybe I missed someone, but it was rather empty).  

I saw this review on this blog regarding Hot Pursuit (not the 1980s John Cusack movie) recently: 

A movie to make when you have free time from making Wild etc. It is junk food but Reese Witherspoon for me really owned her character here. She made it worthwhile by herself.

Reese did have a good run around that time also playing a supporting role in the film The Good Lie, playing an interesting role as an employment counselor that helps three Sudanese refugees. I saw that on IMDB before I was signed out and could not sign back in (my old email address is defunct).  Oh well, I got my 100 reviews in.  Anyway, I asked someone what the "good lie" was and they didn't want to spoiler me.  I found out but still saw the film.  I liked it overall.  

Reese is one of those actresses who put on many hats, including being a producer, having a clothing line, and doing charity work.  Impressive since acting for over two decades is hard enough (toss in the three kids).  Well, to circle back to the reason I wrote this -- which was basically going to be a stub, but not anymore -- I did watch the film again.  

The DVD copy was only a bit glitchy, so it only skipped ahead a bit (the lesbian scene jumped ahead so I didn't see them get away). And I hold to the review.  One notable thing about it is that it's pretty short (87 minutes), which is fine since films that aren't special often are just too long. You have okay films that can be over two hours long (dramas usually).  Some Hallmark movies are the same way.  Just not enough material.

I also recognized a few supporting characters, including two of the crooked cops. Since I'm tossing in various connections, here's one who had a guest star role on a t.v. police detective show. Also, as I said, the film was nothing novel.  You have the usual tropes, including the good guy seeming character that turns out to be bad, and so forth.  This includes some killings that you know are not really "light" entertainment and the usual solving of a problem by killing someone off.  It looks like this would be avoided, but it was not (though this did lead to a joke so was not totally gratuitous).  

But, sometimes, junk food is okay.  Reese and her costar were fun in this film.  As alluded to in a short extra, she isn't that bad on the eyes either in one of the outfits she is wearing. And, other than a comical kissing scene, the one risqué moment actually involves a guy being nude (nothing explicit seen).  Which is nice too.  The whole thing probably is helped by having a woman director involved.  I agree with the Village Voice review I found (the film got mixed reviews) congratulating her on her skills. 

(The director's films are somewhat mixed though she did do the very enjoyable -- saw it multiple times -- The Proposal.)

A few years ago, there was a teaser with Reese in a pool that told us that a new sequel to Legally Blonde (the first one was bad, the second one was a DVD affair that she only produced; the musical was good). It never did come out.  Checking Wikipedia, it looks like they went back to the drawing board, and it might come out eventually.  There is also talk of a new series of some sort.  Wonder what Elle is doing these days. Judge?

(Listening to the clip, I don't recall the end reference actually being in the film.  But, again, that's rather topical with the latest Supreme Court news. It's easy to do these asides, even without my usual tendencies.)