A Lifetime of Happiness: Movies, TV, and Video Games

Legally Blonde (2001)

July 07, 2021 Steve Bennet-Martin, Stephen Martin-Bennet, Brady Foster Powers Season 1 Episode 75
A Lifetime of Happiness: Movies, TV, and Video Games
Legally Blonde (2001)
Show Notes Transcript

The Steves bend and snap with guest Brady Foster Powers as they discuss the 2001 sleeper hit, Legally Blonde, starring Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods. 

Binge and Purge Recommendations:

  • Why Women Kill- Binge on Paramount +
  • The Crown- Binge on Netflix
  • Flack- Binge on Amazon Prime

Legally Blonde discussion:

  • Movie background and creative team discussion
  • Sequels and the musical
  • Favorite quotes
  • Character discusssions

Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.

Support the show
Steve:

Hello, we're returning happies and new listeners. This is Steve Bennett, Martin, and

Stephen:

this is Steven Martin Bennett. And welcome to a lifetime of how.

Steve:

The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, television shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy while hopefully bring a smile to your face alone way,

Stephen:

and it's time to do the big band and snap as we head off to Harvard law school with legally blonde and, oh my God. Oh my God. You guys it's a special week and we have a surprise.

Steve:

That's right. Joining us this week is Steven's best friend and all around fabulous person. Brady foster powers. Welcome to the

Stephen:

show. Hey, pumpkin.

Brady:

Hi,

Stephen:

how are you? Sweetness?

Brady:

I'm wonderful. It is so awesome to be together with the two of you. Thank you so much. And of course, with one of my favorite movies.

Stephen:

Yes, exactly. Let's talk about why legally blonde B what, why do you love legally blonde?

Brady:

June of 2001, it was summer. It was a great movie that just was on the kick. College fun brightness. It was just a true altogether fun movie that really just made everybody laugh, but just had so many wonderful, you know, fun and touching moments in it. I agree

Stephen:

completely that already

Steve:

besties by then, or how did you two

Stephen:

meet? Oh, how did we meet? So I was my first Cincinnati boyfriend was actually renting a room. From Brady and his house and Brady and I hit it off immediately. And, and whenever the guy and I broke up, we like to say that I got Brady in the divorce. Yes.

Brady:

A hundred percent. He got me in the divorce, a hundred percent wholehearted. We were like, it was kismet breast friends. Just hit it off so much. We had such a wonderful time together. We laughed. We just probably spent more time together as friends. Then when Steve did with the ex-boyfriend, you know, it was just one of those things that we just made this instant connection. And we just went from there. I mean, from weight and personality to I like to say. Steve was the, the witty sharp individual. And I was the warm touchy, feely individual and our worlds collided. And I think we gave to the best of both worlds to the best of the personality traits to each

Steve:

others. Yes. They certainly compliment each other

Stephen:

very well. And one of my favorite things is whenever we used to ride around in the car together, and especially whenever. Wicked the musical came out and Brady and I would perform. And especially like when we would do live the song low thing and Brady would get to be Glenda and I was alphabet and we would just have the best time.

Brady:

It was always Brady, Glenda, the good witch and.

Stephen:

Yes.

Brady:

Well, and we would go with the windows down the full time, but blurring full-blast and thinking our hearts out absolutely. In the summers of Cincinnati.

Stephen:

Yes, no, B the next section is where we talk about things that are making us happy right now. Is there anything specific in your life that is making you happy?

Brady:

You know I have been about a year and a half now where I've moved back and into Indiana back into my hometown. And so it's smaller. It's hometown. If you would ask me, you know, age of 18, if I would move back here, we would have that you were a hundred or a hundred million dollars. Thought that I would be here, but I just made that move. I'm now the COVID is over because it happened in November of 2019 and all of a sudden COVID happened. And so now I'm excited that we're able, majority of individuals in my family are vaccinated and said, we can see each other and search to spend some more time together. Things are opening up. That's probably why. The biggest things. That's probably making me happy right now.

Stephen:

I remember even at like at your 50th birthday party, I didn't think that you would even move back to Martinsville.

Brady:

Yeah, right. I'm not there yet. I haven't many years to go. Thanks. As whatever

Stephen:

Brady's 30th birthday. I convinced everyone. It was his 40th. Aw. That is

Steve:

such a good friend.

Brady:

jokes. So when Evan we talk or we see each other, or when birthday times are coming up, it's always the joke of, oh, Hey, it's Steve's 37th birthday. It seems like I'm just 27. So it's always just running joke.

Stephen:

No, and what's making you happy. So honestly, It's reliving childhood fun. As an adult with things where we've been building some of the Lego models and I love, we just did this amazing bonsai tree. Yeah. Yes.

Steve:

That was a lot of fun building with you. And we made it pink with a lot of little frogs over it. Cause that's part of the design, but it

Stephen:

looks like leaves. Yeah. It looks like a cherry blossom bonsai tree and it looks fantastic. And I like until recently didn't realize that they. Lego that was specifically for adults. Not that there's anything wrong with any of the others, but it's kind of fun that, you know, we did the NES build where you build an old Nintendo entertainment system, but now we did the bonds I treat and I'm just having a blast doing that. Yes. And there might be

Steve:

even a surprise coming in the mail tomorrow. Oh my

Stephen:

God. Oh, my God, you guys, what's making you

Steve:

happy, honey. I would say it's mostly, we still, my sobriety with my sobriety. I'm now working on gay podcasts. So that's my next podcasting adventure. And I've been getting episodes pre recorded for that to help document what my first 30 days and on has been looking like. And so I'm excited to see where that's going. The trailer is up now at most podcasting platforms and people are starting to subscribe. So I'm excited. That's very,

Stephen:

very nice. And I'm very proud of that. And now we move over to our binge and purge section where we tell you things that you should binge or purge from your life. Yes. And

Steve:

it's, it's very rare that we tell you to go ahead and purchase something because we've been really lucky with divesting our time into

Stephen:

only things that we're enjoying, like early on. We were like during the pandemic, when there was nothing on television, you watched a lot. We watched, like we watched a lot and we were trying to find things and we kept finding. That wasn't great. But now, you know, diversifying our time, you're really trying to find things that are good. And recently I have been catching up on the crown and I've binged all four seasons in the last month. And. It's really, really good. I know you don't care for historical drama.

Steve:

Yes. The past is the past and I'm interested in the, now in the future.

Stephen:

It, those that don't learn from the past are guaranteed to re live it. Well, that's

Steve:

all right. But yes. But from what I understand, the Royal family's really fucked up.

Stephen:

Oh my gosh. Like beat B. Have you watched the crown.

Brady:

Yeah, I have wallets every season, every episode, you know what I mean? I love it. Not only for the history and just see how it's portraying, but you know, photography and the drama, the drama of

Stephen:

it all. And so Gillian Anderson as the iron lady, Margaret Thatcher. Oh my gosh. She was so good. And both of the ladies that Claire Foy deserves so much credit for young queen Elizabeth, I was very impressed. I've I've been really enjoying learning about princess Margaret. And, oh my gosh, prince Charles is a monster

Brady:

things that you don't see behind the iron gate.

Stephen:

Yes. Like this whole thing, like, I guess I just never paid enough attention, but when the Camilla thing came along in the public eye, I thought that that was just his, like, you know, Gotcha. Well, no, like now he's getting together with Kamila. Not that they'd been together for 20 some years, all during his marriage to die Ghana and oh, and in poor girl, poor girl.

Brady:

Yeah, because all we see is, you know, the romanticized, I mean, you know, we see princess di and everything, but we just see all of the romanticized parts of it. So this you know, there are parts that we begin to see that things behind, you know, the doors behind the windows, the brick walls. And so that's part of the other reason, like he's had the drums. That we finally get a little inside, look at what, you know, what's taken place

Stephen:

over the years. And I loved that. They, I have a lot of respect for queen Elizabeth after the show and they absolutely showed her something. You've behaved horribly to Charles and you need to grow up and start acting like the position that you're supposed to be growing into. And I was like, you go girl.

Brady:

Yeah. Nobody's setting in

Stephen:

place, right? Yeah. Now B what's what, what are some things that you've been bingeing?

Brady:

Ooh. I would say recently, one of my new favorites, which I have been through obviously is on paramount plus. It's why women kill. Oh,

Stephen:

I've heard of that before. I haven't seen it

Brady:

love it desperate Housewives it's written by Mark Cherry. It's kind of an unknown. It came out. It's in its second season. And it is just phenomenal. The first season has Jennifer Goodwin and Lucy, Lou as two of the prominent characters. There are three full characters in the first season that are follows and their second season has two individuals and work in the current season. Second season. I want to say episode five, episode six right now. Just phenomenal. So if you miss desperate Housewives and talk off the drama near ration, right? So why women kill? I strongly encourage it the first season. Phenomenal. Based around a house that has three different families that live in it over different season or different years, decades. So you've got the sixties with Jennifer Goodwin and her husband and family. And then you've got Lucy, Lou who said in the amazing eighties, 3 84 and then you've got the final couple. And the final couple is that in 2019

Stephen:

and the evil queen from once upon a time is in season two is yeah. You're going

Brady:

to, yeah. Yes, she is in season two. Yes. That is probably one of one of them. And my other one is flat. It is got in a Paquin. I was one of the leading it's a pretty dominant female cast. It's imported from England from the UK has in a pathway in, and Sophie Okonedo. Just phenomenal. I don't know if you watched it or have seen it.

Stephen:

Well, and I've seen it, I've seen it. Cause I have it saved on Amazon prime and when we were watching Schitt's Creek on hop the app because it was originally a pop production. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah.

Brady:

Little, little dirtier risque, something to watch, you know, when there aren't children around or, you know, you aren't concerned about language or, or other things like that. It is very controversial. It is a PR firm that Sophie overseas. And she has got three to four individuals, ladies who work underneath her that helped with celebrities and issues. So think of. Kerry Washington's you know, it's

Stephen:

handled

Brady:

equally scandal and, and now, you know, now you've got this but on a completely different, a hundred percent different turn on the Germany and the scandals that they're cleaning up. So

Stephen:

we will have to check that off of those out

Steve:

for those two recommendations for us roads, for something new. How about

Brady:

you other than the crown? What else?

Steve:

Right. That's mostly been it. I mean, I've been bingeing the big book, but that's a different topic for a different podcast.

Stephen:

Yeah. Let's dive into my favorite blonde and I want to, and that's a lot cause you love your blondes.

Steve:

Do I hear

Stephen:

my blonde? So I went and saw this with my college roommate at the movie theater that was close to our apartment. And whenever I got out, I had a voicemail from my brother saying, give me a call. So I did. And he goes, Hey, I just saw that they made it a movie of your life story. And I was like, yeah, I just saw it. Fuck you.

Steve:

Yes. And so if you, for some reason, don't know legally blonde, it's a 2001 comedy film written and or directed by Robert Luca tick who did monster in law, which was an awesome movie. That's where I actually, as a young kid, I met Jane Fonda. Oh, And then it was written by Karen McCullough who is known for 10 things. I hate about. Which I loved, I didn't know. It was about the taming of the Shrew or based off of that until like way later.

Stephen:

Yep. It is a modern telling of that.

Steve:

Yes. And then, and it was also co-written by Kiersten Smith who wrote the house bunny with Anna Faris, which was really cute.

Stephen:

All three really good movies. So this had some. I mean, those all came later, but this is some good pedigree. Exactly.

Steve:

Yes. And what about the stars? I think there's one or two of them that we might know about.

Stephen:

Right. You might have heard of a couple of them. Let's see. There's Reese Witherspoon. Like she's good in so many things, but I love her so much in big little lies. Yes.

Steve:

And here she's playing elk woods, the lead character. There's also the romantic lead, Luke Wilson

Stephen:

from old school. Not to be confused with his brother. Oh. And we'll send it the jacked up nose. He plays Emmet. There's some, a Blair from cruel intentions. Okay. I

Steve:

got her start as the voice in the screen to telephone call. Correct.

Stephen:

And she plays a Vivian, Jennifer Coolidge. Best-known for the American pie movies as Paula. Yes co

Steve:

Sticklers mom. Yup. Stiffler Stiffler whatever. Yeah, but

Brady:

also best in show for Jennifer Coolidge and the poodle Bethan show with Jane Lynch. Come on now.

Steve:

I can't forget Ali. Larter who I fell in love with. And final destination is Brooke,

Stephen:

Brooke Windham, and Victor Garber, who I came to appreciate. In alias. And then I saw him in a great play called art on Broadway as professor Callahan. There are actually so many more people we can name. Those are big ones, you know, what's this movie, a success, babe. It was a huge success and it actually wasn't expected to be a small budget. I know 18 million budget. I had a box office initially of 142 it's DVD sale. I have went through the roof, but this was a sleeper hit that they did as counter programming to bigger summer movies. And they just, they were like, you know, maybe 40, 50 million. And this thankfully is what turned Reese, whether it's been, because she had gotten a lot of credit for cruel intentions. Yeah. This was the movie that turned around into a star. Oh, okay, cool.

Steve:

Yes, I was gonna say, and I also knew her from.

Stephen:

Oh election.

Steve:

Yes. And now this movie, because it did so well, of course, they end up making a sequel. What do you think of SQL

Stephen:

in my love? So the CQL had some issues now. There are some really great parts to the SQL and it has a really wonderful cast. But this is one of those that they did not put as much care into the SQL as was the original. It was some parts that were two carbon copies. And Reese was under contract fuel obligation to be on it. And she still gave 110% because you can say what you want about the sequel. Her performance is not one of the things you can knock. Yes, exactly. I would agree. She did not phone it in and they're making a third, right. They're making a third that she is heavily. Involved in to make sure that it lives up to the reputation of the first one.

Steve:

Perfect. Well, I'm looking forward to that. Meanwhile, Brady, maybe you can also help us with that. And in the intro, Steven did a song and I don't remember there being a song in this movie. So where did that song come from?

Brady:

Right. Well talking about things that were spawned it February 6th, 2007, illegally blonde to the musical came out. He started out on the west coast and then April 29th, 2007, it moved in open. On Broadway, it started out San Francisco's golden gate theater. And then it transferred to Broadway. It opened at the palace theater late April phenomenal cast of Laura Bell Bundy.

Stephen:

And she is, yeah, she is so good. Like she originated the role of Amber Von tussle and Broadway's hairspray. Yes.

Brady:

Yes. So many different credits if you don't.

Steve:

Yep. And this one also had a friend of

Stephen:

yours did? Yes. My personal friend, Christian Boral played.

Brady:

I know, and I know that you love Christian for all. And the other, I would say probably person that probably spring from that would be Emily Ashford. She was in the original cast as one of the gals in the back who later went on to play opposite. Jake Gyllenhaal in Sunday with a park ascending in the park with George and probably you've seen her on TV. She's currently on Oh, that's her mom. Yeah, she's the blonde roommate. Who's donating the kidney. So that's Emily Ashford. Oh my

Stephen:

God. Gosh. The whole time that I was being seen the previous fat, I was like, I feel like I know her and that's because I've listened to her voice. And I watched when MTV made a big deal out of this and they MTV showed them. On television, they filmed one night of legally blonde. So the whole country got to see it.

Brady:

Yeah. Yeah. Which again was another big splash. And Steve, as you were saying was, you know, some of the songs that, oh my God. Oh my God, you guys,

Stephen:

or do you remember one of our favorite ones? Was the is he gay or your a P it's hard to Gavin T is he gay or your grumpy will, Hey, don't look at me. And there's even a, yeah, there's even a whole song about the Bendon snap. Well,

Steve:

I would hope so. Yes. But before we get into the, yeah. Snap the movie for those of you need to refresh her as about Elle woods and she is a fashionable sorority queen who is stumped by her boyfriend, but then decides to follow him to law school. While she's there, she figures out that there's more to her than just her

Stephen:

Alex. And that's actually a pretty good summary by IMD B, because this is definitely a movie where. They really teach you that you can't judge a book by its cover. It goes to Allie Larter's character, a Brooke Windham. It goes to Elle's character. It goes to David, one of the other guys in her law class. And

Brady:

even in that, when she first meet them at, she thinks he's a

Stephen:

student. Yeah. Yeah. And she also thinks that he's, you know, stuffy. Things and it's, you're really, once you get to know someone first impression, Aren't always the best indicator.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. I would say, I mean, and that's definitely one of the things that makes you feel good about this movie, but in the description, it makes it almost sound like she, she isn't smart from the get go, but I like one of the very first scenes that sticks out for me in the movie is when she's in the store and the salesperson tries to swindle her from a little bit last fashion, last year's fashion, and right away, she shows that, you know, while she might be a blonde she's has her own kind of smarts right from the get go. Is

Stephen:

that low viscosity rayon with a half loop stitching on the ham? Yes, of course. It's one of the card it's impossible to use a half loop ditching and low viscosity rayon. It would snag the fabric and you didn't just get it in. I saw it in the June Vogue a year ago. So if you're trying to sell it to me for full price, you pick the wrong girl.

Steve:

Exactly. Yes. I went myself a little bit in excitement.

Stephen:

There are so many good characters and relationships and one of the ones that always stuck out to me. Was L and Vivian's right.

Steve:

Yes. Fighting over a man who wasn't worth fighting over, which is like a trope that we all know

Stephen:

too well. Right. So like the movie starts with Ellen Warner at UCLA together. And you think Elle thinks, and we all think because she thinks that that they're about to get engaged. But one or breaks up with her, which makes her think to get him back. I have to be smart and go to Harvard law school. She does no intention of being a lawyer. She just wants to get there to say show them that I'm serious. Yes. And but by the time she gets there, he's already engaged to Vivian. Yes. Now, B what was your first impression of him?

Brady:

Well, you know, w is played by the amazing Saman of layer, but the immediate impression that she gives off in this role is nose up standoffish. My poo does not stink. Please take a Wolf. Yes.

Steve:

Yeah. So she, she even like managed to be like the bitch in class who like threw her under the bus and got kicked down the day one. Before you even knew that she was like that she was the ex-girlfriend of her fiance. Like she just was a naturally a controller. Right?

Stephen:

Well, now Vivian knew exactly who Elwha was because once they said her name, Vivian put two and two together. Because

Brady:

remember Warner shared during the summer when they got back together. I remember at the club of Vivian

Stephen:

and it's one of those things where over the course of the movie, Elle is still herself and she like. Is fighting some of her baser instincts, like originally it was, I'm going to steal my man back and we'll get to that later, but it's. Selma Blair brings depth to a character that could have been two dimensional. Yeah. She

Steve:

could have been just a bitch the entire time, but that flip at the end, after she saw, after she accused Ella trying to sleep her way to the top when it was more, a little bit rapier. Yeah. You know, she realized that she fucked up and I, you know, I really think that after that she started showing a little more of that vulnerability and compassion that she didn't have previously.

Stephen:

Well, let's then talk about professor Callahan played by Victor Gerber from alias.

Steve:

He normally plays good. He does play a smarmy gross professor pretty well

Stephen:

with that too. Yeah. Yeah. So his class is one of the ones that you want to get an a. Because he picks a certain number of first years to be summer interns, but this time, because of a big murder case, he's grabbing people in the middle of the year. And

Steve:

and then he tries to grab people

Stephen:

in the middle and L was one of the Al. Warner and Vivian and one of their other classmates, the lesbian angry,

Steve:

angry, the very angry lesbian stereotype of the

Stephen:

arts. Yes. And, or Enid, whatever. Yeah. You know, and you know, the he's from the get-go you see that he's very misogynistic because L gets a little bit of a pass for two reasons. One is her looks and two, he, she immediately has the connection with Brooke for the whole Delta new thing. So he doesn't treat her the way that he probably treats other women. But you see that Callahan has always like Vivian, go get me a coffee, Vivian, make a copy of that.

Steve:

Yeah. Meanwhile, he never does that for anyone with a

Stephen:

peanut now Warner doesn't have to get his coffee and like. You see, like even before he makes a move on L. You see that he's not a good guy. He talks down to women. He treats them like they're less than, so we shouldn't have been shocked, but I still remember the moment he did it. I was like, Ooh,

Steve:

luckily. Not everyone on the faculty is just steaming pile of man garbage as there is professor strong. Well, who able to cut to give her a little bit of advice when she goes to the salon before packing things

Stephen:

up? Yeah. Yeah. Holland Taylor, who, which is the class that she actually got kicked out of the first day when ha where they have that great scene with David too, where it was the the law, the law is freedom or is. Free from reason or emotion or whatever, who said that? And he's like Aristotle and are you sure? And it comes down to well in my class, I recommend being sure before speaking. And so she's kind of like, she's a bad-ass too, but like you said, Elle goes to the salon. Quit. And what is it that strong well says, well, you love it so much when you're Sarah. Okay. If you're going to let one stupid prick ruin your life. Well, you're not the girl that I thought you were

Steve:

just the little cook kicking the post-its

Stephen:

you need it. Yeah. And it was, and that was like, then we get to see her go to the courtroom. One of the, just positive the entire time. Yes. Ellen Emmett's relationship. Yes.

Steve:

It was a very cute relationship between the two of them seeing a

Stephen:

blossom. Oh. And it started out on those benches where she had had a rough time. And just because he's kind to her. Yes.

Steve:

And that's one thing I love about her though, is like she's authentically herself and just so genuine any person she needs, like even when she shows up like the house bunny, she's like, I'm just going to go for it. Like she's just unabashedly herself, which I love.

Stephen:

I love that image just respects her for who she is and he just wants to help her.

Steve:

And he's probably one of the only people in the entire movie that didn't judge her because she was blonde and pretty.

Brady:

Yeah. Yep. Yep. And after for karma being kicked out of her first class, Everett harbored the go-to man that actually spoke to her, you know, Some tips on some of our other

Steve:

professors. And then after the first movie he gave her a tip too.

Stephen:

Yes. Now let's talk about one of the true villains of the movie. Wonder Huntington the third.

Steve:

Yes. And you know that he's the villain because he has a third, what's his name?

Brady:

The

Steve:

dead giveaway. Yes, exactly. But yes. And it just goes to show, we've talked about even other movies before where it's, you know, oh, like death becomes her of like, why are these two beautiful, smart, intelligent women fighting over this asshole meat sack. Yeah.

Stephen:

And like, he doesn't treat like, even at the beginning of. Like when he and L are together, he's not treating her well, no treats like, yeah.

Steve:

Yeah. He's the thing that he was playing with because he's like, I was never going to be serious. You were never going to come home. So he was just playing with her. Like she was.

Brady:

Yeah. It's like professor Callahan. I mean, I think that Warner's treatment of women probably is even worse for a longer period of time. It's he's leading on and keeping you know them on the end of the string. And then when he wants them, he just jerks them around. I mean, that's

Steve:

oh yeah. When he started making it sound like, well, don't you feel bad for me that I have to break up with you? I'm like, Ugh. Well, right.

Brady:

And let's talk about it at the end, after he breaks up with them at the very beginning, and then he finds Vivian. And then at the end he comes kind of back in a way to L as well saying, Hey, you know, like, can I have a

Steve:

second? Yeah. He just needs something. Anyone at that point to define him. And he's realized that he has no one left.

Stephen:

And you know, the reason that he's coming back to her is the notoriety that she's going to get from him. He realizes he can help him more than Vivian can help him. It has nothing to do with feelings for her. It was what can these women do for me?

Brady:

Yes. The societal bump, the image that, you know, and he's somebody that can be, can marry a lawyer, you know? Yeah. All of those things, but yeah.

Steve:

Oh, one thing, one thing that I really like about the relationship though, with them is that the heartache and the breakup does end up leading to her meeting and being bonding over her friend. Paul ed.

Stephen:

Yeah.

Brady:

Yes. Rackley L and Paula is like deep breathing.

Steve:

Yes. I mean, I, I'm almost remembering

Stephen:

what do you think? Which 1:00 AM I.

Brady:

I'm not really sure. I think we'd probably have to flip for that. Just like we flipped for Connie and car lights.

Stephen:

Now you, you were saying, you thought that there were more scenes with the Ellen Paula. Yeah. Just

Steve:

because they were such like I remembered their relationships, so, so well that I was like, oh, she must like be in every single other scene. And I mean, she's a B character, but she's. Such an impact on the story. I understand one of my favorite parts of the movie now that I have Remi is aligned that Brady you get to rehearse or recite for our audience.

Brady:

Oh yes. Because poet, when I'll meet poet in the beauty salon, because Paula. I'm a hairdresser and does nails and that they need, they begin sharing stories of what's happened without and Warner. I, Paula shares that she also has tragedy that she's left her man. And that does a man is still living and has kept Paula dog, who is an very cute, very chubby. You just want to squeeze them. So a bulldog and L talks with Paulette and gives her this prompt of you need to go and get your dog. It's your dog. And she talks to her through and everything. And so Elle and Paula drive over and poli gets out of the car and she walks out and she knocks on the door. And she gets all tongue tied. And so Elle comes to her rescue and starts using legal jargon. And finally poet takes a deep breath and she says, I'm taking the dog. Dumb-ass one of my favorite. She grabs the dog. You see? Oh, and Paulette run back to the car and. Giddy with glee because now Paula has her dog back. Yeah. It was just one of those relationships that you have. You've got El who, you know, Is learning new stuff about herself and trying this new venture, and then you've got Paulette who's kind of shy and backwards. And so again, they're kind of bringing the best out of each other. So I would say, you know, as I would probably say, you probably would be the L and I'd tell her to do the polet

Stephen:

well, and has you

Steve:

say it like a lump of like grudge in your throat?

Stephen:

One of the things I love about that scene is. You can see it in Paulette dies. No one has done something that kind for her just because ever in her life.

Brady:

Right. And let's not mention, you know, not only do we have the dog. It's a great dog escapes, a great dog paper, you know, where they go and they still have a dog, but that will begins to help pallette with this noticeable attraction that she sees between Paulette and the ups. Man,

Steve:

the dad from Malcolm in the middle.

Brady:

Right. I never noticed that before

Stephen:

Izzy.

Steve:

I think he is.

Stephen:

All right now I have to look it up on IMD B real quick. Oh

Steve:

no, I ruined the podcast.

Stephen:

Oh, the ups guy is Bruce Thomas. No, no,

Steve:

he's not.

Brady:

Malcolm in the middle is not Bruce Thomas. Okay.

Steve:

I got them mixed

Stephen:

up. Okay. But, and the way, and as we've seen, Paula, Paula gets tongue tied. With everything and, and whenever he comes over and he goes, how are you doing fine? And I was like, real great pallette. That's all you can say is fine. Well, sometimes they say, okay, instead of fine. And Elle says, okay, stand up. I have to show you this ad because it has an 84% return on. First date, first date invitation. And it is the bend and snap.

Steve:

Yes. Now it's very hard being an audio format, but I think that you can imagine yourself, like you drop a pen or you drop something and you bend and then you snap it back on.

Stephen:

That was a really good snap. Yes. Now this movie is. So quotable with so many things. And one that I say to Steve all the time, whenever we're talking about like exercise and things like that is I, I just, Brooke could have done this exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins, make you happy, happy people just don't shoot their husbands. They just don't.

Steve:

Yeah. I love that. When you do use that all the

Stephen:

time. Yeah. I give you endorphins and endorphins make you happy and happy. People just don't kill them.

Brady:

Yes.

Steve:

Brady, do you have any other favorite quotes that we haven't mentioned yet? So

Brady:

speaking of puddles, one of the other quotes that I love is when Elwood is returning a Bach to her dormitory or back on campus. And David, who is one of her classmates who we talked about in professor Stonewall's class about the Aristotle quote. Yeah. So he's tall. He's Linky he's he's attractive but odd. And so as L's walking by, she sees two girls they're standing in front of David and they are kind of rejecting him and putting him down. And so when Elle walks by, she. Looks at David and decides she's going to help him. And so she says, excuse me. And then she walks him across the face and slots that, and she says, why didn't you call me? We spent a beautiful night together. And I haven't heard from you since. And for David has called. I've heard. He's like, I'm sorry. And I was like, sorry, for what? For breaking my heart over, giving you the greatest pleasure I've ever known and just taking it away. And again, like roles. I spent too much time crying over you and the girls bumps off back into the building. The girls look at David and like, so when do you want to go out? It's just one of those perfect moments. I love it. Once again, Elwood saving the day.

Stephen:

I love that seen so much because she's being kind, just to become. And it plays back into later of David being a nice guy because she, whenever she had finally decided she was going to be a serious law student and she was trying to reach a book on a top shelf and she couldn't do it. He walks by, pulls it down and hands to her, just to be nice with no ulterior motive. And I think at that moment she saw a kindred spirit and kindness with him. Exactly. Exactly. And she sticks up for the underdog. Yes. All the time. I love about her.

Brady:

Right. Which is kind of, you know, part of the underlying story of the whole movie. Yep.

Steve:

Yep. We've talked about a lot of the ways that she's helped people with her loss throughout the thing, like getting the dog back, but you did a deep dive into how that all works and whether it actually was real law or not real often

Stephen:

here I did. So. Legal scholars have given it mixed reviews for its depiction of law school and accuracy of its application of it.

Steve:

You mean that sometimes fictional movies are int perfectly accurate portrayals of the law system. Yeah. Hm, that's weird. Okay. So go

Stephen:

ahead. First off, she could not have sent in a video as a submission essay. Yeah, I know. And I guess during orientation, Harvard law for a couple of years would play the clip of her admission video. And they would say, as you all know, that's not how you get into Harvard. So I think that's kind of funny.

Brady:

Seriously though, come on a video, Margot swing by on the pool floaty. You know, I can

Stephen:

tell you about yesterday on days of our lives.

Steve:

Yeah. When I saw that, I was like, oh my God, you are Elwin

Stephen:

spade. Well, we joined our story already in progress as always. Yes. So she has no authority to act as a lawyer. Whenever she represented Paulette B saying that she was Ms. attorney that's actually an unauthorized practice of law. And if somebody at Harvard had found out she could have been kicked out and forever barred from entering the bar and becoming a lawyer. She could not have ever questioned a witness on the stand. The defendant could not have fire their lawyer in the middle of a trial and retain the law student. First years can't represent clients in court. They tried to say that she'd be able to under the supervision of a licensed attorney, but that only applies to third year law students, not first-year law students, the most she could ever do would be draft a memo or emotion. And, but the best part of all of it is. I don't care. I don't care if I loved it. I don't care at all. Now go back to Ellen Warner for a minute. I think Elle truly loved Warner as much as she could. Knowing about herself in that time period. Do you think Warner had true feelings for her or. She was that popular and that popularity helped him during college. I think it's

Steve:

that one.

Brady:

Yeah. I agree because I mean, let's be honest. The whole reason that he broke up with her was, you know, if you're going to be a Senator. You know, you needed a, more of a jockey than a Maryland. I mean, that's one of the comments that he says, so I can get popularity of the time advancement, because again, he follows the same cycle, right. He comes back to her at the end, when she's won the case. And, you know, please take me back. Vivian's dumped them. He comes right back to L and I was like, no,

Steve:

And so we managed to talk a whole lot about the law school aspect of it, but it does culminate in this amazing trial trying to help LA larder, not to go to jail for killing her husband because she's swearing, she's innocent. She even has an

Stephen:

alibi. Right. And I think that that's one of the best things about L. Whenever she's doing anything she's doing what's right. Like she finds out because she and Brooke are both Delta news and she took Brooke's class. And the Brooks Buster workout class where you could lose three pounds in next single class, right? Yeah. The best high kick I've ever seen. You've got it. And Brooke tells her that she, I don't know.

Steve:

Oh, okay.

Brady:

Yes, one

Stephen:

of them and, but, and so she finds out that she couldn't. Like with the timing and everything like that. We're going to tell though, but because if Elle had told it, would've gotten out and Brooks' career would have been over because she already broke, already lost her husband, who she was actually in love with. They just assumed because there was a 30 year age. That she was after his money. I liked her answer. What was it? Big Dick? Yup. His penis was rather large. Yes. And, but now speaking of

Steve:

large penis, what would you do for him?

Stephen:

I mean, like, I'm doing this for me through I think that L does, like, I think that. For the pursuit of love and keeping of love that we will do a lot of things. But I think ELL shows us that you can do a lot of things in the name of love of somebody else, but you got to make sure that the most important things you are doing. In the name of love of yourself.

Steve:

You got to love yourself before you love someone

Stephen:

else. Can I get an amen up in here? Amen. Now let the music play, add to our bingeing that all-star started. Oh yes. RuPaul drug all-stars season six.

Steve:

So watch it quick. Yeah.

Brady:

And then after you watch it, turn around and watch why women kill.

Stephen:

Yeah.

Steve:

That's where we saw it. Actually, it was during the commercials during watching. Yeah. Back to the trial at

Stephen:

hand. Yeah. And one of the great things that I, I love is the. Try to make it seem like Brooke was having an affair with the pool boy. And so she couldn't have been in love with her husband, but whenever else out at the water fountain waiting to get a drink and Enrique comes and butts in front of her and she starts stomping her, tapping her shoes and he goes donut stumpy, a little last season, Prada shoes at me. Huh? These are last season

Brady:

completely freaks out because it's a crack in the cake. Right? And Callahan that he's gay and they're like, why? He's like, or she goes, he'll get eight and they still couldn't get it. And so finally she explains gheybin no designers, straight men don't

Steve:

and whenever I accept this gay man does not know his designers,

Stephen:

but I love when she goes one. Or what kind of shoes are these brown? See straight men don't know designers, gay men do, and emit comes to the rescue. Those simple line of questioning. How long have you and Mrs. Wyndham been having an affair six months. And your boyfriend's name is Chuck. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Chuck is just my friend. Thanks Chuck. It's so good. And as he goes

Brady:

out of the courtroom.

Stephen:

Yeah. And it actually down to when Elle takes over as the lawyer and she is cross examining Linda Carter, Eleni, who is brilliant as Velma in the live action, Scooby doo movies. And also as the best friend of. Christina Applegate in dead to me. Oh, okay. That's me

Brady:

another

Stephen:

good. Yes. She's playing chutney and she gets chutney on the stand and she's stumbling through it and not doing well. And then chutney and, you know, she keeps talking about, and she was in the shower. And then what did you do earlier in the day? I got a pur. I went to the gym and then the light bulb goes off. And then, and, and then you got a shower. Yeah. And she's then like, how many perms have you had? And she goes through this whole thing and you know, she's in her element at that point. Yeah. And the sodium Would have like us down, washed out if she just had a permanent, she or her curls would not have been intact. Obviously they are, you know, Brooke couldn't have been standing over there, but it would have given you plenty of time. I thought it was you coming through the door and chutney, wasn't trying to kill her father. She was trying to kill Brooke. And it was an accident and Elle solved the case.

Steve:

Everyone lives happily ever after Esther

Stephen:

and, and sh like one are graduated in the bottom of his class without getting any job offers. Vivian and Elle are best friends, Paula. Is getting married to the ups guy, Alan Warner are dating and he's going to propose tonight and it's all really good. One of the things that I think the movie is truly about is just. Believing in

Steve:

yourself. Yes. Great. Cause she, she believed in herself right from the beginning, even when no one else stayed. Even her parents didn't believe that she could go to law school and she started

Stephen:

everyone wrong. Honey, why would you want to go out there? You were first runner up and the miss Hawaiian tropics pageant. Why would you want to throw that out? And the director and Reese both said that one of the great things you can learn about. Yeah. Is that you can be unapologetically feminine, but also smart and driven that your looks and being a woman have nothing to do with what you can achieve in your life. And I think that that it's Elle is definitely a role model for anyone, especially a little girl. Exactly.

Steve:

I think that that's part of why this movie is age so well. Is that the message doesn't change.

Brady:

Right. And then transcends to Broadway and transcends to, again, a second movie now, potentially a third. So yeah, I mean, it's, it's one of those things that, you know, I always think of when she's making her video and Elle says that she uses it. Legal jargon in everyday life. You know, a guy in the background with a ladder and she says, hi, I'm Jack. I think that it just sets the tone of she really, like you said, she persevered, she had to do the ELLs that you know, she had to get a higher than a 1 75 and she was studied and studied and lots of sacrificing. And she got a 1 79. You know, I mean, there's just so many different things with her that I also think. Self-reflection, you know, she really knew who she was and what she wanted to do once she put her mind to it and proved to everybody from her college advisor when she was like, you're not, you're not going to get to the lover. She's like, I have a four point, oh, you know, like

Stephen:

fashion merchandising, I've

Brady:

done, you know, all these different things. So

Stephen:

yeah. Yeah. It was definitely once she tuned out. Or it's that, what's that saying? The people that matter don't mind and the people that mind don't matter. Yeah. Or the people that don't mind don't. Yeah. And it's one of the, once she tuned out those people, like she was able to refocus on herself.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. So do you have any final thoughts on the movie Brady of what was your favorite part of the entire movie?

Brady:

Oh, totally. One of my favorite parts of the entire movie is when Callahan has announced that he's picking interns for this murder case. It is hi. Hi. Hi highly competitive and wait. The list is posted. There's only four interns that he's picking. And we know that three have already been named and L walks up to the board and she looks down at it and she's looking and she sees the final name and she turns around really fast. One member in the audience or the crowd there that's around. It says that means there's only one position left and it's for an adult spends around and she says, Hey, and then she don't over to Warner and to Vivian who are hugging and celebrating. And she says, oh, Warner, do you remember those four hours in the hot tub after winter formal? Yeah. No, it's so much better. Loved the moment she spends and says the me. And then the second thing that I love is she just goes and digs into Warner. It's kind of like a turning point where she's like, you know what Warner I'm moving on. So I love that moment to take you for a job.

Steve:

Yes. I what's your favorite

Stephen:

part in my life. So like, I, I love the. There's so many parts that I really enjoy, like the bend and snap section or like her winning in court. But one of the parts that always sticks with me is at the party where she's dressed up and she goes, I was never going to be good enough for you. Am I? And it's just that realization moment. And I love whenever characters get their aha moments and that was so powerful for her. And so that always stuck. What about you, babe?

Steve:

I would say that I we talked about a lot of my favorite parts, but the only one left that we haven't really mentioned is when she really impresses the professor in her class with the argument over the sperm, because she considered that, you know, if he wasn't following every single load, he ever ejaculate it, that it could be considered reckless abandonment. And I'm like, yes, queen I have sperms all over the place that are just dead. Yeah.

Stephen:

Yeah, well, well, Brady foster powers. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. Yes.

Steve:

Thank you. It was a pleasure having you on. That's such a tree

Brady:

I'm so honored that you guys need to be on. Thank you so much. And I can't wait maybe for another one down the road.

Steve:

Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. And for listeners, if you're interested in hearing more about us, you can also make sure you follow our subscribe so that you can get new episodes every Wednesday when they come. If you

Stephen:

want to join the conversation, you can find us on all the socials, whether it is Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter at happy life

Steve:

pod. Yes. And you can also email us directly@happylifepodatgmail.com.

Stephen:

And until next time everyone stay

Steve:

happy.