Starring Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Ali Larter,
Victor Garber, Jennifer Coolidge, Holland Taylor. Directed by Robert Luketic.
Elle Woods (Witherspoon) is the president of her sorority at California University Los
Angeles, Miss Hawaiian tropic runner-up and an honour student. She is also popular and
always nice. She is also diligently seeking her MRS degree. Her boyfriend is cute and
Harvard Law School bound Warner (Davis), whose family has produced five generations of
senators. Elle is going on a date with Warner and expects a ring. Instead he dumps
her because she's not "serious enough" - he "wants Jackie, not Marilyn". Devastated,
she locks herself in her room and gorges on bonbons and TV for a week. But then she
has a brain wave - she will go to Harvard Law School and win back her boyfriend.
She studies hard, aces her LSAT and gets into Harvard.
But things don't go well at first. Her first professor, Stromwell (Taylor) tosses her
out of class for not being prepared. And Elle discovers Warner has just got engaged
to an old highschool sweetheart of his Vivian Kensington (Blair), an uptight bookworm
who takes it upon herself to rub it in Elle's face. But it's when Warner tells her he
doesn't think she's smart enough that Elle starts to hit the books and go after one
of four prestigious articling positions in the firm of Professor Callahan (Garber).
Which she of course gets, as does Vivian and Warner. She also discovers a third-year
intern who has been supportive of her abilities from the start named Emmett (Wilson)
is also part of the firm. The case they are to work on involves a California fitness
guru Brooke Taylor (Larter) accused of murdering her much older husband. Elle and
Brooke hit it off, and she alone believes in her innocence over her more jaded superiors
and classmates.
The film has two dominating messages. Firstly, don't label people or think the worst
of them by judging their hair colour, sexual preference, line of work or major in school.
Unless it is to note gay men have superior fashion knowledge. Secondly, don't do
things just to snag or please a man. Or as Professor Stromwell colourfully suggests,
don't let some jerk stop you from becoming the person you could and should be.
The film is light and charming - it is meant to be fun and not terribly serious. Elle
regularly confides in the only person in Boston who treats her nicely - her manicurist
Paulette (Coolidge). Don't expect the courtroom proceedings or the lawyer interaction
to be anything close to realistic - the film is simplistic and naive about clients,
lawyers and people in general. But then I believe it is done that way on purpose, to
present a positive vision of humanity.
Witherspoon's company produced the movie, and she dominates the film. Fortunately,
like her excellent work in several fine films like Pleasantville and Election,
she is wonderful. She's exactly what the character is supposed to be - charming, perky,
lovable, but Witherspoon consistenly pulls back before Elle ever becomes cloying or too
sugar-sweet. An actress who has mostly avoided teen and slasher flicks and instead
concentrated on thoughtful projects, she consistently exudes intelligence and a sense
of right and wrong in Elle. One of the flaws of the film is the unnecessarily weak
characterization of many of the supporting cast. Too often characters are cardboard
props, presented as black or white, over-simplified in their motivations. Professor
Callahan is the bad guy - supposed to be the top defence lawyer in the state (what
about Bobby Donnell?) but believes the client guilty before he has even spoken to her,
and is often unprepared and dismissive of his underlings when we know they are so obviously
correct. Warner is an airhead, and yet he's worried that Elle is not smart enough
for him. Vivian is a frigid bitch we immediately dislike, although she does warm
up a bit and actually makes a character transition. Emmett is the right hand confidant
of Callahan, yet he is entirely good - supportive of and always believing in Elle
without fail, never thinking of taking advantage of her. I know the film is meant
to be a farce, but the best farces have characters who are a lot smarter and more
complex than they appear. Despite the limitations, Garber is good in support, as is Blair.
Witherspoon is great, and the movie should have been better. But overall, Legally
Blonde is enjoyable, light summer fare.
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