The key ingredient to enjoy it: treat it as an alternative timeline.
Well, this show is corny, tries too hard with the references to the OG, also tries to romanticize the 90s way too hard, and is lowkey cringey. However, at the same time, it's also enjoyable in the background, is kind, has great music and costume design, and an absolutely adorable lead! So I watched it with no regrets, and I will be watching S2.
However, one thing that bugged me during my watchthrough was thinking the entire time that Elle would never act this way in Harvard if she went through all of that. By that point, she would have known how to connect with different types of people and wouldn't be so (charmingly!) naive. And, more importantly, she would never ever fall for Warner in the first place. Gosh, she is ditching the preppy Hot Josh at 16 already for being "too predictable."
So I've decided to treat it as an alternative timeline! In Legally Blonde, she lived all her life in California and never had serious challenges (the botched nose job by Wyatt just didn't happen). So, all of her character development was put in suspended animation. Whereas in Elle TV series, the botched nose job indeed happened, and she had to go through a character development arc earlier.