Review of Legally Blonde (2001) by Marischa B — 09 Aug 2011

In `Legally Blonde,' - which could well be re-titled `Clueless Goes to Harvard' - the delightful Reese Witherspoon stars as a ditzy, fashion-obsessed airhead who winds up (through plot complications too elaborate to go through) taking that Ivy League law school by storm. Needless to say, there is not a single believable moment in the film, but that is generally the case with most fish-out-of-water scenarios anyway. What `Legally Blonde' does have is a warm spirit, a bubbly demeanor and a breezy charm that reflect to a tee the personality of its main character.

Although the film does not exhibit the same level of comic genius we found in `Clueless,' Witherspoon's letter-perfect rendition of the bubblehead stereotype earns the film a great deal of audience goodwill, a factor that helps us to get over some of the movie's flatter moments. For indeed, throughout the course of this tale, we do hit a number of arid stretches where we feel that we should be laughing an awful lot more than we are. In fact, `Legally Blonde' occasionally feels more like a concept in search of a movie than a full-fledged work in its own right. But, just as you are about to give up on it, the filmmakers hit upon a hilarious concept, sight gag or line of dialogue, which help to set the movie back on track.

Clearly, Witherspoon is the big selling point of this film. As an actress, she exudes such an air of intelligence, confidence and compassionate goodwill that she invests even her dumb blonde character with those seemingly paradoxical traits. `Legally Blonde' isn't always at the top of its form, but Witherspoon wins the case for the film hands down anyway.