Legally Blonde is an essentially one-joke movie (a dizzy blonde making good in an environment where traditionally only smart people succeed), but it’s written and directed with enough verve to make it work, not to mention the endearing performance of star Reese Witherspoon [Cruel Intentions, Sweet Home Alabama, Vanity Fair] as Elle Woods.

Elle is a very blonde girl who lives up to every stereotype in existence, and at the start of the movie is expecting to be proposed to by boyfriend Warner (Matthew Davis [Pearl Harbour, Blue Crush, Heights). When she is dumped because, having got into Harvard Law School, he needs someone “serious”, she decides to get into Harvard herself to win him back (despite the fact that academia is… to put it kindly… not her strong suit…) While there she meets Warner’s frosty fiancé (he moves quickly) Vivian (Selma Blair [The Sweetest Thing, Hellboy, In Good Company]), who all but issues a “hands-off” warning to her, but Elle decides to fight for the man she loves (or at least thinks she loves). In the meantime Elle Meets Emmett (Luke Wilson [Rushmore, Charlie’s Angels, Around the World in 80 Days]), an associate at Professor Callahan (Victor Garber [Titanic, and probably best known for his role as Jack Bristow in the hit TV series “Alias”])’s law practice and someone who generally hangs around Harvard Law School. She also meets Paulette Bonafonté (Jennifer Coolidge [The Broken Hearts Club, American Wedding, Lemony Snickett, and the voice of Aunt Fanny in ROBOTS]), who has no confidence and lost even her dog when her husband walked out on her. The various plot strands play together in a pretty much expected way, but what makes it work is Director Robert Luketic [Monster In Law]’s sharp eye for observational humour and Reese Witherspoon’s near-perfect performance as Elle. (Somehow she even manages to emotionally stutter the line, ”But I’m seriously in love with you” without seeming too corny.) She could have been born for this role, and she is very pink, very fluffy, and sometimes very funny (which is what really counts here!). Luke Wilson is okay but seems rather muted, while Matthew Davis seems perpetually confused – perhaps even a shade more so than his character is supposed to be! Garber and Coolidge are both dependable professionals and there performances here are just as polished as you’d expect. (Coolidge has one of the funniest scenes of the film too.) The only stand-out performance otherwise is that of Oz Perkins in the role of “Dorky” David Kidney, who is… well… odd, even given the fact that he majored in Russian literature. There’s a great scene where Elle helps him to get a date, in a most unexpected way… (cue mysterious music). Rachel Welch makes a brief appearance too. A decent musical score backs up the action nicely.

Considering the limits of the concept, this film does very well and perhaps takes the idea about as far as it could possibly go. (Shame they decided to make the predictably lame sequel, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde…) Near the end it seems to be losing its way a little, but makes up for it with some very funny moments in the courtroom scene near the end. Not a classic by any means, but a very enjoyable little comedy and thoroughly recommended, particularly if you like Witherspoon (and how could you not?!?!) Stay away from the dreadful sequel though.

DVD Special Features

Audio Commentary featuring Director Robert Luketic, Reese Witherspoon, and Producer Marc Platt – ok I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t listen to this and I never really bother with the audio commentaries. Some people enjoy them but I’m not one of them!

Deleted Scenes: With Director’s Introduction - some pretty funny scenes here, and the commentary is, while nothing amazing, quite an interesting insight into a filmmaker’s mind.

Featurette: The Hair That Ate Hollywood - apparently the hair specialist brought in to work on the film wanted to change the film’s title to that. Reese had 40 different hairstyles throughout the movie, and getting just the right shade of blonde was very important and keeping it consistent through the months of filming was very difficult. Apparently… my wife’s done hairdressing so she found it a lot more interesting than I did! Even so, it was ok to watch once, as it was short.

Music Video: “Perfect Day” by Hoku - never heard of her, and while the song is nice enough to begin with it gets very repetitive and quite annoying after a while.

Legally Blonde Soundtrack Advertising Spot - I can only assume they’d run out of things to put on the DVD by this point…

Trivia Track - like trivia? Like this film? Then you might like this…

Original Theatrical Trailer - exactly what it says on the tin. I actually find it quite interesting to see how films were advertised after having seen them, and usually find that they give little real impression of what the film is actually like – though this one didn’t do a bad job.

Rating: 12 (UK) PG-13 (USA)

Runtime:92 mins approx

Subtitles available in: English, Danish, Croatian, Swedish, Portuguese, Slovenian, Finnish, Polish, Hebrew, Norwegian, Czech.

(English “Hard Of Hearing” also available.)


Thanks for reading!

CaptainD


See also: Top Ten Films of 2001

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older