Legacy (2008 Video) User Reviews

Skip it.

[FionaGoode · 2/10 · 27 August 2008]

This movie is terrible. The story could have been decent (think Weekend at Bernies meets Mean Girls) but it never takes off. Instead you are given over an hour of Haley Duff doing her best to act, in a cheap synthetic wig and a wardrobe bested by Sears. The rest of the actors are not that great either, in fact forgettable...the wig is the star. The dialog is cheap and rides the current 'netspeak' craze, "Totes!", for example. You spend 99.8% of the movie in a pink house and like with the storyline, you are stuck there. From impromptu jello wrestling to hand jobs, you are given nothing more than a collage of 'national lampoon ultra lite', cliché, offerings.

Obviously made on a shoestring budget (again, the wig) it's like a Direct to DVD student film, slathered in pink.

Awful mix of American Pie teen comedy & Scream murder mystery.

[poolandrews · 2/10 · 24 January 2010]

Legacy starts as Omega Kappa sorority house President Lana Stephens (Haylie Duff) is told by a rich & influential former house member & President (Jane Sibbett) that she wants her geeky daughter Katie (Kate Albrecht) to become one & to be treated well, Lana is disturbed by the idea of the less than perfect Katie joining her sorority & instead wants her friend Emily (Laura Ashlee Innes) to take the place so arranges Katie to be given a hard time at a party. During the party Lana finds Katie dead & when the body is found the police accuse her & two other Omega Kappa girls of the murder, to clear themselves the girls have to turn detective to unmask the real killer & save Omega Kappa's reputation & them from going to prison...

Also known under the better sounding title of Pretty Little Devils this was directed by Irving Rothberg I wasn't sure what to expect from this going into it but even then I thought this was pretty poor stuff that feels like a thrown together mix of several genres none of which are done justice here. For the first half of Legacy it feels like some teen comedy like American Pie (1999) with college kids getting up to various risqué things like one guy filming him & his girl having sex & showing to his friends or a girl jacking a guy off & then rubbing the cum on her fingers over a fat geeky girls lips all set in the usual clichéd sorority & frat house with the usual clichéd character's like the air-headed bimbo, the geeks they pick on & the jock style lads who think about nothing but sex & beer. Sound familiar? Afetr about fifty odd dull unfunny minutes of this annoying nonsense Legacy switches genres & becomes a murder mystery but don't expect a Scream (1996) as this is pretty lame stuff with a really irritating three way interrogation with two cops as the film cuts between one of three girls to awful bouncy music as the relive the events we have mostly already seen & know. Then there's the expected twist ending which isn't much of a twist as some random character is revealed to be the killer & then it ends. At 90 odd minutes it feels long & the dreadful mixture of unfunny teen comedy & predictable murder mystery that is sub Scooby-Doo cartoon standard means I would recommend anyone thinking of watching this not to.

There's some tame sexual scenes that feature no nudity, the girls aren't particularly good looking & there's zero gore. There's a bizarre scene featuring a highly strung police captain played by comedian Tom Green & the whole subplot about the two cops is totally forgotten about & they disappear before the film finishes. The whole film has a very cutesy pink look & I found it got on my nerves. There's also scenes of some girls kissing each other & two girls in skimpy swimwear about to wrestle each other in jelly but they never do. Pity.

Apparently shot in Los Angeles & New York this went straight to video & whose only real claim to fame is that it stars Haylie Duff, enough said really.

Legacy is an odd mix of teen comedy & murder mystery that just didn't do anything for me as it fails to deliver on either count as it doesn't quite know what it wants to be & to make matters even worse it's irritating. Definitely not recommended.

'Jello Wrestling' at a Sorority House Party!

[seekalynn · 2/10 · 17 September 2008]

Obviously this movie is a bit of a fantasy, which is fine. This movie could have been funnier. There were moments that made us laugh, but then those moments just fizzled out.

I realize that the wig has been getting a lot of mention on here, and the thing is… it is just SO bad. Hailey looks better with her real hair. There are so many close ups on the wig that you can't help but notice that it isn't her real hair. It distracts from the movie and makes the viewer ask questions. Was her character supposed to be wearing wig for unknown plot purposes? Will she at any moment tear off the wig Scooby Doo style to reveal she is someone else? Was Hailey a brunette at the time and the script called for a blond? Would it be so bad if the character had dark hair? Why did they choose wig with such BIG hair? Anyway, the lighting was really good and the set designer really did follow the "pink" theme. It does look like everyone had fun making this movie.

In conclusion: It isn't good and it isn't "soooo bad you have to see it."

In response to...

[ccochran-9 · 5 September 2008]

"This movie is terrible. The story could have been decent (think Weekend at Bernies meets Mean Girls) but it never takes off. Instead you are given over an hour of Haley Duff doing her best to act, in a cheap synthetic wig and a wardrobe bested by Sears. The rest of the actors are not that great either, in fact forgettable...the wig is the star. The dialog is cheap and rides the current 'netspeak' craze, "Totes!", for example. You spend 99.8% of the movie in a pink house and like with the storyline, you are stuck there. From impromptu jello wrestling to hand jobs, you are given nothing more than a collage of 'national lampoon ultra lite', cliché, offerings.

Obviously made on a shoestring budget (again, the wig) it's like a Direct to DVD student film, slathered in pink." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That "cheap synthetic wig" you referred to was actually a custom colored/cut human hair wig that set the hair and hair/makeup dept. budget back by over $500.00, times 2 considering the back-up wig needed for stunt doubles. I hardly think Haylie Duff shops at "Sears", since she provided her own wardrobe for her character in her professional and extremely thoughtful, effort to help keep the production budget down. I know this, as I was Head of the Hair and Makeup Dept. on this film. You obviously know about IMDb.. do your research before you rant about it being a "student film", had you done so, you would have seen that most of the crew has many years of experience, but did this low budget indie just for the love of their individual craft and the fun of it and all worked very hard and long hours in doing so. Look, no one held a gun to your head and forced you to watch this. You knew when you saw the cover and read the back of the DVD case that it wasn't an Oscar winning film. Christ.. people, accept it for what it is.. indie made entertainment. "Entertainment" being the operative word here.. you didn't like it.. so what, don't watch it again.

Awful

[yummyjulie · 1/10 · 8 May 2010]

I watched this movie thinking at the very least it would be a somewhat humorous teen movie. I didn't expect an Oscar winner, just some entertainment.

To begin with, I really didn't buy Haylie in the role - for whatever reason. She just wasn't 'quite there'. Not funny in any way, and it felt really forced. In general, most of the case demonstrated poor acting, and the movie never really 'takes off'. Madeline Zima was the only somewhat interesting actor in the movie, and did an 'ok' job. If the 'acting' was meant to be exaggerated or to be funny, it neither feels 'exaggerated' nor funny. I kept watching thinking it had to turn around at some point.

Just not enjoyable.

Dazzaling!

[ifuseekkody · 10/10 · 1 June 2010]

The true movie theme was totally unexpected as compared to the trailer on TV, so I personally have to classify this movie after watching the DVD as a dramatic movie and not romantic. I personally expect a horror movie to be for the most part light and frothy, and somewhat fantasy. However this film was superb in every way, especially the continuity and great writing.my husband also liked it-saying it wasn't at all what he expected.I can't say enough how pleased I am with how this film evolved. I knew what to expect considering it stars Haylie Duff (an amazing actress). Although some aspects of the movie are predictable. At least one critic noted this and cast it as being a very poor imitation. I found it much better plotted and the acting is every bit as good.

I loved it!

[missnorthking-1 · 7/10 · 3 September 2008]

I really liked this film. I thought it brought exactly what I expected, mean sorority girls and brainless humor, all wrapped up in a pink package called Legacy. I think some people on here took this film way to seriously, in no way was it supposed to be a moving, life changing piece of cinema, and I thought the writing was a fairly accurate depiction of sorority life yet also highly exaggerated. The whole film is an exaggeration...including the blond wig. To me it seems its on purpose, in fact I think Hailey's character even makes a comment about her hair falling out. If you are headed to blockbuster and want to laugh and be entertained, this is the movie for you. To me its what happens when Heathers meets Super Bad.

The Story

[Kod_martin · 10/10 · 1 June 2010]

Haylie Duff (Napoleon Dynamite, Material Girls) stars as sorority big sister Lana Stevens, whose main goal is to weed out the finest and freshest pledges to Omega Kappa (aka OK) so that she has fun, cute Barbie dolls to match their image. Her favorite of all of the potential new sisters is Emily (Innes), who is cute as a button, but her grades aren't good enough to make it. There is one loophole -- Emily can get in if a legacy (a descendant of a previous OK member) doesn't try to join. Alas, there is a legacy pledging this year, a pudgy and geeky eyesore named Katie (Albrecht, "Entourage"), daughter to the biggest contributor to the OK sorority. Lana has no choice but to let her in, tarnishing their perfect sorority image, but she has a sure-fire plan -- she can make Katie's experience so miserable that she will not want to join.

Pretty good movie "Spoiler"

[randomstuff0101 · 7/10 · 3 September 2008]

I thought this movie was pretty good i like the story and most of the acting was well done.

my favorite character was Nina played by "Margo Harshman" Nina is a seemingly normal person who appears off and on throughout the movie she is taken advantage of by the other characters having to do all the chores around the house and even the others school work for them. eventually it drives here insane.

this is the first time Margo has played a villain and she gives a awesome performance in this movie and really creepy towards the end of the film. she is a very talented actress and i highly recommend this movie.

Not Smart but it doesn't have to be.

[BelieveInDreams · 7/10 · 3 August 2008]

I'm almost certain this movie will get low votes on here but that is no reason not to watch this. If you are expecting a high budget teen movie you wont get that but what you will get is an hour and a half of brainless entertainment. The acting is decent enough for the plot which is pretty much given away in the trailer but it goes well with the silliness of the film. The main character although you are supposed to love her can challenge this since some of her lines are slightly over the top bitchy. It's also a concept tackled before in slightly different ways but my guess is that if you like films like Jawbreaker and Heathers, although this does not compare in the slightest it is still a good watch and a good film to pass a night with.