Blonde Ambition

This is the often told story of the country girl in the big city. There are obvious steals like Larry Miller playing Ed Asner saying to Jessica Simpson playing Mary Tyler Moore "I hate perky" They even steal from poor Marilyn Monroe with a scene of Jessica's skirt being blown by the NYC subway.There is the villain played by Penelope Miller with her side kick played by Andy Dick. The best friend played by Rachel Leigh Cook. The leading man played by Luke Wilson looking a little old for the part. Jessica Simpson looks a little old too. I remember when she & her former husband used to entertain the troops as part of the USO. The female soldiers went wild for Jessica & could care less for Nick. She definitely has that certain something that drives the boys wild & the girls too. A cute, very cute movie.

Katie (Jessica Simpson) lives in Oklahoma with her "Pap Paw" (Willie Nelson), who runs a general store. She is engaged to a real looker, Billy (Drew Fuller) who is leaving the plains for New York City, with the intent to become a top model. Katie is forlorn about his departure and soon makes plans to travel to Manhattan herself, for a surprise visit. However, Billy the Cad has a woman in his bedroom when Katie comes knocking. Tearfully, Katie gives him back the ring and heads to the apartment of another Oklahoma transplant, Haley (Rachael Leigh Cook). Haley is an aspiring actress and offers welcome and comfort to Katie. But, when she has an audition, she asks Katie to fill in for her at her day job as a bicycle courier. In short order, Katie not only meets a nice mail clerk, Ben (Luke Wilson) but also a nefarious company vice president, Debra (Penelope Ann Miller) and her loathsome assistant, Freddy (Andy Dick). Perceiving Katie as a "dim bulb", they soon have her placed as the secretary for the company president (Larry Miller), where they hope to manipulate her into embarrassing the prez in front of the board of directors, resulting in his ouster and Debra's elevation. Can such a scheme work and is Katie really just another dumb bunny? This is a very predictable offering to fans of light romance but it has its moments and most of the cast is really terrific. Simpson herself is rather nondescript but pleasant but not so for the other thespians. Wilson is engaging as ever, Penelope Ann Miller makes a fine screen witch, and Dick has some really funny scenes. Larry Miller, Nelson and Cook also add much to the film's enjoyment. As for Fuller, all one can say is "wow!" He is very handsome and should have a bright future ahead of him, as an actor or a model. While there is nothing spectacular about the costumes, sets, or photography, they are definitely up to par, but the formulaic script and direction alternates between humor and tediousness. In short, if you are not an admirer of the romcom genre, you would probably be well advised to skip this one altogether. But, for those who adore tales of love and laughs, this will fill a need when entertainment choices are lacking.

Make no mistake, this is a "B" movie but a nicely made "B" movie with fine actors. It is set in NYC but except for a few establishing shots was filmed in Minden and Shreveport, Louisiana.

Jessica Simpson is Katie from a small town in Oklahoma. She has a fiancee that is a bit stuck on himself and he moves to NYC to pursue his fashion modeling. When she pays him a surprise visit she finds out that he isn't very faithful and they break up. Ready to accept that fate and return to Oklahoma, her friend Haley pursuades her to stay a bit. Then by a stroke of luck Katie gets a job as the assistant to the president of a company.

All of this is quite improbable, including the way she meets Luke Wilson as Ben of the mail room, but they quickly take a liking to one another.

Underrated actress Penelope Ann Miller is probably the best here, as Debra, the devious VP of the company, trying to use Katie as a way to make the President look bad so she can move up. She plays the part to perfection.

It was also nice to see Willy Nelson, while he would not give Gene Hackman or Marlon Brando much competition, he was a nice addition as Katie's Pap Paw. And also one of my favorites over the years, Rachael Leigh Cook as Katie's friend Haley.

I found this streaming on Amazon Prime, the goings on are highly unlikely but I was entertained.

I saw this movie on the internet, and it was nothing but a waste of time and money. Jessica Simpson is a terrible actress and her recent music records have failed. Since divorcing, she has pretty much nothing, very little talent. And she must love showing off her dark roots.

The movie is about a small town girl, Katie, moving to New York City to surprise her boyfriend. Only to find out he's cheating on her. She stays with her friend and gets a secretarial job because the vice president of the company wants the president to fail, so she can take over. Katie makes mistakes, but everything always turns out OK and she must help her boss save his job. Luke Wilson, plays Ben, the romantic interests who basically does nothing.

There was nothing funny nor even amusing about this movie. It was boring with a terrible script. I know why it's going straight to DVD.

FINAL VERDICT: It stars Jessica Simpson. Need I say more. A complete and total bomb.

I'm thinking that the reason for all the negativity for Blonde Ambition is that it is way too familiar, bordering on plagiarizing what Reese Witherspoon did with her two Legally Blonde films. Jessica Simpson is nowhere close to the actress Reese Witherspoon is, but the character in this film she portrays is well within her range and fits right into the public persona we've come to expect from her.

Jessica is really quite the dumb Dora blonde in this film, but she's a decent soul and God has a special providence for these people. She comes in leaving home and hearth and grandfather Willie Nelson minding the store which he owns and she works to join her fiancé in New York who is a male model, Drew Fuller. She catches him in flagrato with a stripper and the engagement is off. But she stays and bunks in with a cousin and substitutes for her as a bike messenger.

Her incredible naiveté, she's a kid from small town Oklahoma, brings her to the attention of a pair of scheming executives Penelope Ann Miller and Andy Dick who want to topple company president Larry Miller. These two frame something up to get Miller's assistant fired and then fake a resume for Simpson so that Miller hires her. With her as an unknowing fifth column in Miller's office, Penelope and Andy start doing their thing. But somehow Jessica gets the better of them constantly.

This was a Simpson family project with Jessica's father Joe serving as producer. And I can see the discussion around the Simpson kitchen table after they must have seen Reese Witherspoon's films. That kind of Elle Woods character was perfect for Jessica, let's get something going like it.

Director Scott Marshall cast his aunt Penny Marshall in a really good small part as the head of a development company who Simpson and her boyfriend, mail room clerk Luke Wilson are pitching to. Wilson is the only good guy she met during her employment at this company, but even he hasn't been totally honest.

In the old days of the Hollywood studio system people like Janet Gaynor or Loretta Young or going back to silent days Mary Pickford would have been cast in Simpson's kind of part. Not shabby company at all.

So Jessica's not Reese Witherspoon. She does good enough as Jessica Simpson.