Reese Witherspoon goes all out on social media as ‘Legally Blonde’ turns 15

Reese Witherspoon released a new instructional video Wednesday, in honor of the 15th anniversary of “Legally Blonde.” Forget the Whip. Forget the Nae Nae. With apologies to Kate Upton’s entire career, you can even forget the Cat Daddy.

Because Elle Woods is bringing back the Bend and Snap. You know, the move that “has a 98% success rate of getting a man's attention and, when used appropriately, it has an 83% rate of return on a dinner invitation"?

"You pretend you're dropping something," a pink-clad Witherspoon says in an Instagram video before she loses hold of her pink-puffed pen with a flirtatious "Oops."

“And you bennnnnd,” she says, “and then you snap. And that's how it's done."

Then Witherspoon messes it all up (OK, maybe that’s not quite accurate, but she did say something) with a timely comment about the social relevance of the much-loved flick in which a girly-girl is dismissed as not smart enough to make it at Harvard Law, until she proves that she is.

“It actually had a meaningful story,” she told Instagram. “And it was about female empowerment. It wasn’t necessarily about the girl getting the guy.”

(Admittedly, she did win the heart of the movie's Way Better Guy, but that's besides the point, right?)

In the afternoon, Witherspoon re-created a bit of the shade that Elle threw at Cameron Diaz back in the day --  “Last week I saw Cameron Diaz at Fred Segal, and I talked her out of buying this truly heinous angora sweater. Whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed.” -- while wearing an outfit that may have been legal 15 years ago but now appears a crime against fashion. Technically, it still fit, but we can't acquit.

Alas, there’s no assist from Bruiser; the Chihuahua who played Elle’s constant canine companion died in March at age 18. Sad-face emoji. Angel emoji. Heart heart heart.

Witherspoon, 40, retweeted some messages from women who said they were inspired to succeed because of Elle Woods. “I'm so moved by people's stories of how #LegallyBlonde impacted their lives,” she said on Twitter.

“Elle inspired me to go to college and be anything I wanted to be. No one thought I would make it but, I proved them wrong," said one woman who was retweeted by the actress. "I'm a freshman in law school," said another.

Rom-com historians note, the Los Angeles Times didn’t have much love for “Legally Blonde” back in the summer of  2001.

“A high concept can be a wonderful thing. Up to a point,” wrote movie critic Kenneth Turan, who in hindsight sounded a little like Elle’s boyfriend Warner. “It can get your film sold and maybe even make it look attractive, but it can't ensure much of anything else. Case in point, may it please the court, is ‘Legally Blonde.’

“Starring Reese Witherspoon as a Bel-Air airhead wending her way through law school, "Legally Blonde’ is basically ‘Clueless Goes to Harvard,’” he continued. “Nothing wrong with that notion, but, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I've seen ‘Clueless’ and this is no ‘Clueless.’”

Maybe. But Elle earned way more at the box office, raking in more than $96 million, plus $90 million on the sequel, compared to “Clueless” character Cher’s take of just under $57 million.

And “Legally Blonde” is still, like, totally younger.

Oh, snap.

Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ.

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UPDATES:

4:01 p.m.: This article was updated to include additional video of Witherspoon.

This article was originally published at 12:56 p.m.