Review of Legally Blonde (2001) by Haley B — 23 Feb 2017

Although Legally Blonde is deemed a cliché chick flick, it is also a heart-warming and feel good movie. Produced in 2001, Reese Witherspoon plays main character, Elle Woods. She plays a blonde, rich, sorority girl, whose parents pay for everything, and essentially lives a "perfect life." Her entire world is turned upside down, when her dreamy boyfriend, Warner, played by, Matthew Davis, breaks up with her to find a more "professional" girlfriend as he heads to Harvard Law School. The movie documents Elle's way as she decides to enter law school to win back Warner. When she discovers he, has a new girlfriend, Vivian, played by Selma Blair, she kicks it into action and begins to take law school seriously. Throughout her journey you see how she is influenced by her professor, played by Victor Garber, and his teaching assistant, played by Luke Wilson. When Elle gets offered an apprenticeship for an actual murder case, you see the transition from preppy, college girl, to determined lawyer.

Reese Witherspoon was able to portray Elle Woods perfectly, with a ditzy and optimistic character. The entire movie was revolved around her and her co-stars were able to act in a way that made that evident. Matthew Davis portrayed a simple yet effective approach in being a clueless, arrogant college guy. Selma Blair, was able to give off the intimidation factor that was needed to offset the optimism set by Witherspoon. Overall, all actors were able to give effective individual performances, but acted inferior at the same time allowing for the main focus to be on Witherspoon.

The script for the movie was written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, but was based off the book written by Amanda Brown. The script was clever, and had funny, genuine, and serious moments. The script included topics from fashion to jokes to legal terms. This was a script that was modern and very easy to follow throughout.

Robert Luketic was the director for this film. Before Legally Blonde, Luketic produced movies with little fame. However, for Legally Blonde, Luketic was able to construct and add his own unique taste to this film that made it feature film worthy, a task he had previously not been able to do. His success in this movie compared to his other films, some with similar content, serves as a justification as to the quality of this particular movie.

The only thing that I did not support in the movie was not even related to the movie production or actors, but to the relevance of the plot. It is highly unrealistic that a girl with a fashion major would be accepted into Harvard Law school, or the fact that a first year law-student would be able to obtain such big responsibilities in her education. It seems unrealistic and was obviously set up to prove a point, but the fact is, that would never actually happen. So if a realistic and inspirational movie is what you're looking for, then this is not the film for you. When this factor is put aside, I was able to enjoy the rest of the movie.

However, even though this movie's intended audience is aimed towards teenage girls, it is able to show the overcoming of the stereotype of "dumb blondes." Elle is able to show that blonde is more than a hair color, and is able to show how smart and capable she, as a blonde actually is. This is largely due to Witherspoon and her acting ability to transform from one personality of valley-girl, to the complete opposite as a professional student. If you are looking for a positive, and empowering film, this is the one for you.