All comedies about Capitol Hill copy Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. In that 1939 classic, James Stewart arrives in Washington, D.C., an idealist, quickly learns that politics is about compromise but stands by his beliefs and, with a rousing speech to Congress, inspires others to follow. Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde sticks to the Smith blueprint, but the delectable Witherspoon (see p. 100) makes it ever so much prettier in pink.
LB2 is a pleasant, painless comedy that whizzes by in a zippy 95 minutes. Witherspoon reprises her role as faux ditz Elle Woods, who in 2001's Legally Blonde showed that one could be obsessed with the superficial but still graduate from Harvard Law School, solve a murder, win the heart of a cute law prof (Wilson, who also returns) and yet find time to dress Bruiser, one's beloved pet Chihuahua, in precious pink outfits that match one's own.
In the sequel, she heads to Washington to work for a congresswoman (Field). "I taught Bruiser to shop online," Elle says. "I think I can handle Congress." Handle it she does, concentrating on persuading the legislators to ban cosmetics manufacturers from testing their wares on animals. By choosing such a nontoxic issue, LB2 avoids offending anyone except animal haters, and who'll admit to belonging to that minority group? My quibble with this film and its predecessor is that Elle's concerns are as pastel as her favorite hue. Next time—and LB2's ending leaves the door open for a third chapter—try challenging Elle and her audience.
That said, Witherspoon is a wonder. She makes a character who could easily grate—there's only so much yakking about hair coloring one can stand—into an appealing, almost believable being. As her boss, a deft Field proves herself, despite her girly French manicure, tough as nails. (PG-13)
BOTTOM LINE: Gets our vote
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Claire Danes, Nick Stahl
Critic's Choice
He's back, and improbable as it may seem a dozen years after he last lumbered across screens, the Terminator has barely lost a step. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is the most welcome surprise so far this summer among big movies, a sequel that manages to further its story and characters while paying homage to its past—and all in a blessedly unbloated 109 minutes. Just sit back, pass the popcorn and muse on the cultural significance of Schwarzenegger's Terminator extending his arm, palm out, toward an offending mortal and instructing, "Talk to the hand."
When T3 opens, a superduper Terminatrix, the curvaceous cyborg T-X (Kristanna Loken), arrives on Earth. Her mission: to kill John Connor (now played by Stahl) so that he won't be able, in the future, to lead humans in a resistance movement against evil machines. Soon, a replica of an earlier-model cyborg, Terminator (Schwarzenegger; see p. 71)—who tried to kill Connor's mother in the first Terminator (1984) to prevent Connor's birth and then returned as Connor's savior in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)—shows up to again keep our hero, as well as the woman (Danes) who will become Connor's wife, alive.
Although new-to-the-series director Jonathan Mostow (U-571) does a solid job with the high-energy action scenes, what keeps T3 perking is a whopping helping of self-mocking humor. "You're the closest thing to a father I ever had," Connor tells the Terminator, adding, "How pathetic is that?" Schwarzenegger, whose dialogue is wisely kept to curt commands ("I need your car"), seems to be having more fun here than he has since, well, T2. Stahl and Danes scramble through their scenes with commendably straight faces, as if believing the earth's future really was at stake, and Loken is appropriately shiny and metallic. Is it too soon to tee up for T4? (R)
BOTTOM LINE: There's life in this machine yet
Animated, with voices by Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer, Joseph Fiennes
In this animated children's film, a character tells the movie's titular hero, "You're cute, but not that cute." The remark serves as a pithy assessment of Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas as well. Although kids will contentedly sit through it, rooting for Sinbad and laughing at the antics of Spike, his pet dog, this cartoon lacks the verbal snap and visual crackle that have made such recent animated wonders as Finding Nemo and Shrek pop.
Sinbad (Pitt) is a pirate who falls for his best friend's gutsy girl (Zeta-Jones) while undertaking a perilous sea voyage to recover a magical book stolen by a wicked goddess (Pfeiffer). The animation, blending the hand-drawn and digitally created, rarely knocks your turban off. The voice work by big names yields mixed results: Pfeiffer purrs deliciously as she plots destruction, Zeta-Jones pumps sufficient spunk into her lines, but Pitt rarely rises above adequate. (PG)
BOTTOM LINE: What becomes a Legend—not
GUY PEARCE
Guy Pearce plays the oldest of a trio of armed-robbery brothers in The Hard Word. The 35-year-old Australian has been married to doctoral student Kate for six years.
ON ACTING VS. ROBBERY: "As I get older, I kind of question why I even do this anymore, because I like to think that I've come to terms with the person that I am rather than feeling like I have to keep running away from the person that I am in playing other people. I've often made a joke about doing bad movies and saying I'd rather just rob a bank. At least it's not as morally troublesome as making a really bad film."
ON HIS WILD YOUTH: "A friend and I stole a car on New Year's Eve when we were about 15. We drove it around the block but couldn't figure out why it wasn't going very fast. Then we realized as we stopped the car we had left the hand brake on. But we were terribly responsible and did return it and locked the doors. They probably wouldn't have known that we took it."
ON HIS MARRIAGE: "It can be difficult to see Kate because I'm away a lot. We're a very private couple, and we really don't expose ourselves too much. We live in a beautiful old house about five minutes from Melbourne and also have a weekend place in the country when we just want to get away from the city. We have a cat, Gabriel—he's black and fluffy—and a dog, Zelda. She's a Basenji. Kate and I are happy just to stick with animals at this stage."
ON BEING A SEX SYMBOL: "It's not that I like it or dislike it. I don't take a lot of notice of it. In many ways you can focus on that external perception or you can choose not to. I just choose not to, really. Otherwise I think you run the risk of losing yourself. But I'm certainly not offended by it. It can be flattering, of course."
- Contributors:
- Sabrina McFarland.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
