Legally Blonde

Plot synopsis:
Fashion merchandising student Elle Woods is taken to an expensive restaurant by her boyfriend, the governor's son, Warner Huntington III. She expects Warner to propose, but he breaks up with her instead, reasoning that she is not serious enough for his political aspirations. Her sorority sisters encourage her to pursue him. After much effort, Elle scores a 179 on the Law School Admission Test. This score, combined with her 4.0 GPA, gain her admission to Harvard, where Warner has enrolled.
Upon arriving at Harvard, Elle's SoCal personality is in complete contrast to her East Coast classmates' personalities, who refuse to take her seriously. She soon encounters Warner, but discovers he is engaged to another classmate, Vivian Kensington. Elle struggles to keep up with the reading and is unprepared for a lecture, which causes strict Professor Stromwell to berate her and force her out of the class. Elle meets Emmett, who gives her advice for handling each of her professors. Vivian invites Elle to a "costume party" and Elle arrives in a Playboy bunny suit, but the party is not actually a costume party. Elle tells Warner that she intends to apply for Professor Callahan's prestigious internship, but Warner tells her that she is wasting her time. Elle realizes that Warner will never take her back and finds motivation to prove herself.
After several months of dramatic improvement, Elle, along with Warner and Vivian, is given a surprise internship at Callahan's law office. Callahan is defending a prominent fitness instructor named Brooke Windham, who is one of Elle's role models. Accused of murdering her husband, Brooke is unwilling to produce an alibi (she later reveals to Elle that she was having liposuction). Enrique Salvatore, a pool cleaner and the prosecution's main witness, says that he was having an affair with Brooke and that they were planning to run off with her husband's money. Elle deduces that Enrique is gay, and Emmett (revealed to be Callahan's junior partner) believes her and during cross-examination tricks Enrique into confessing his homosexuality. In spite of her victory, Elle quits the firm after Callahan attempts to seduce her. When Emmett explains how Callahan's behavior caused Elle to quit her internship, Brooke fires Callahan and replaces him with Elle as her defense. Elle cross-examines Brooke's step-daughter Chutney, forcing her to reveal that she had killed Brooke's husband, though she had actually planned to kill Brooke because she hated that her father married someone her age.
Chutney is taken into custody and Warner unsuccessfully attempts to convince Elle to take him back. Two years later, Elle gives the graduation speech at Harvard. Vivian is now her best friend, while Emmett has started his own firm. He and Elle have been dating since the trial and he plans to propose to her later that night.

Tags: entertaining, cute, comedy, murder, stupid

Review:
That's the mindset you have to have when watching Legally Blonde, the movie that Reese Witherspoon managed to get a Golden Globe nomination out of.
It's really an adorable movie that is appropriate for any age....a very light PG-13.Elle Woods (2006 Oscar Winner Reese Witherspoon) has it all....the perfect boyfriend, Warner, who is handsome, charming, and driven, the perfect life, awesome friends, and a really cute dog.
She finds her calling in law, and with the guidance of a friend (the likable and funny Luke Wilson), proves to be a talented prospect in the field.The film is a very watchable film from start to finish, as the movie's opening theme song (Hoku's hit song "Perfect Day") is catchy and likable.
Also in there is 'Waiting...' star Alanna Ubach, Matthew Davis, Jennifer Coolidge (NBC's 'Joey'), Ali Larter, Victor Garber as Elle's law professor, and 'Scooby-Doo' star Linda Cardellini.This is the ultimate 'girl power' movie that every person without a Y chromosome will love.
Sometimes the plot gets a bit too heavy--the whole teacher-hitting-on-Elle thing is a bit stereotypical for a film like this--but in the long run it seems to break away from the typical girl-power comedy.
The film has a very nice co-star cast: Victor Garber ("Titanic," "Sleepless in Seattle"), Luke Wilson ("Blue Streak," "Charlie's Angels"), and Selma Blair ("The Sweetest Thing," A Guy Thing"--pretty much anyTHING).In the end, not only does "Legally Blonde" come off very funny, but also very witty, good-natured and sweet: One of the most pleasant surprises of 2001, indeed.4/5 stars -John Ulmer.
And if it still doesn't mean anything, take a couple of hours and check out `Legally Blonde,' a comedy with some real teeth in it, directed by Robert Luketic and starring Reese Witherspoon.
The premise of the story has to do with upscale sorority girl Elle Woods (Witherspoon), who instead of getting the long awaited, much anticipated marriage proposal from her boyfriend, Warner (Matthew Davis), finds herself jilted as he prepares to leave for Harvard Law School.
An entertaining, accessible film that should be embraced by a wide audience because of the clever way in which it gets across it's message, `Legally Blonde' can be enjoyed by just taking it at face value and soaking up the jokes, but offers even greater rewards to those who really delve into it and see it as an examination of human nature.
Legally Blonde finds Reese Witherspoon in one of her breakthrough roles as sorority queen Elle Woods who is dumped by her preppy boyfriend Matthew Davis.
With that wonderful combination of charm and guilelessness, Reese Witherspoon has created an endearing character, one she's already done a sequel film with.She's nicely aided by Luke Wilson as an attorney and crony of one of her law professors.
In fact in the end just about everyone in the film comes to appreciate her worth, some to their regret.I don't know about you, but I'd like to see a Legally Blonde 3..
Legally Blond is not a perfect film - the script has more holes than Swiss cheese and the sub-plot is as old as the hills - but who cares when you are looking at Reese Witherspoon who lights up every scene as though she were Times Square personified!
As a middle-aged bloke, a ditzy, frothy blonde who dresses in designer pink and who has as a pet a Chihuahua, who also dressed in pink would have me running for the hills, screaming and violently pulling out my own fingernails.Unless it's Reese Witherspoon, for whom I do have a soft spot for especially when she's exactly like Miss Elle Woods here.
This comic timing is perfectly suited to the bubbly and vibrant Witherspoon and she remains a tonic throughout.The court case that she falls into defending might be essential to the story of how she gets her legal qualifications and to prove all her doubters totally wrong, but for me, this plays second fiddle to the comedy I mention.
The romance angle, an essential premise, as at the start, her boyfriend Warner, who she was absolutely sure was going to propose to her, dumps her, essentially because she's a 'dumb' blonde.He's off to Harvard and so, naturally, Elle scrapes through the preliminaries with the skimpiest of appropriate qualifications (majoring in obscure fashion, for example) so that he could no longer hold that reason against her.
Reese Witherspoon is proving to be one of the best young actors of our time and she makes this movie something fun to see.
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.
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.
In fact, `Legally Blonde' occasionally feels more like a concept in search of a movie than a full-fledged work in its own right.
It is very rare that films are carried almost solely by one character's charisma, but Reese Witherspoon throws herself into the role of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, one of the most genial and unoffensive comedies I've seen in a while.
Witherspoon was born to play this role, and after seeing her as a venomous bitch in Alexander Payne's wonderful Election, it seems we needed her to appear in a film like this just to remind audiences of the good-natured woman she can be.Legally Blonde, which would later spawn a sequel, a spin-off, and a Broadway musical, may become overbearing for some, because so much of the film is weighed on Witherspoon's shoulders and if one tires from her fast, the experience could very well be a tedious one.
I kept hoping it would get better and, time after time, the movie just said, in effect: "If you believed that, take a look at this improbability." By the time, Elle's California chums showed up at the trial, I was almost in tears of sadness at the wasted film and the wasted talents of everyone from Anthony Perkins' son to a perfectly charming dog who - you could tell - was ashamed to be seen in this film.
And I enjoyed the acting, Reese Witherspoon is really beautiful and charming, not to mention funny, in the title role, while the supporting cast especially Victor Garber and Selma Blair is very nice.Overall, this was a surprising film in a good way too.
The power that Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) has at the end of this film is intelligent,astonishing, and moving!
This is the basic premise for everything in the plot (which is is extremely thin).The film would have you believe that if you are of the insignificantly small percentage of people to be voted "best looker of the class" that you somehow also are awarded the ability to make the clever people stupid, stupid people clever, right all wrongs and adjust nature to your way of thinking - all because of looks (and daddies money, if you want to put some depth into it).Don't try to dissect this movie to find a deeper meaning; there isn't one.
Blonde sorority queen Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) is dumped by her politically-ambitious boyfriend because she's "a Marilyn, not a Jackie." So she enrolls in Harvard Law School in hopes of proving to him she is smart and winning him back.
And the faux-girl-power trappings fail to hide the fact that the main character spends the whole movie trying to win back the heart of a horrible boy who insults and humiliates her regularly, or that she succeeds in law only because of her knowledge of fashion and hair care.
Not only has Reese Witherspoon become as Hollywood Mega Celebrity after her starring role in this movie, but she has created an ICON in Elle Woods- a blonde who believes in herself and knows she can go on.
Selma Blair tries too hard to be the stuck up Vivian Kensington, Ali Larter is lesser than average and Jennifer Coolidge's performance is very wavy, but her character's transformation into a stronger woman via the influence of Elle Woods, acts as a good deed for the movie.
This movie doesn't go quite as far, and it does sort of hammer its message into the head of the viewer a couple of times too many, but it's got a lot of charm on its side, both from Miss Witherspoon - who has to carry the whole movie and does it without breaking a sweat - and from Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith's script, which goes surprisingly smoothly from college comedy to legal comedy-drama and has us on our heroine's side all the way up to the courtroom climax; Selma Blair, Luke Wilson, Holland Taylor, Victor Garber and Ali Larter also do well.The movie doesn't really put any feet wrong with its fashion-savvy main character and her adventures, helped along by a lively soundtrack (both in terms of songs and of Rolfe Kent's score), although the "Bend and snap" scene doesn't quite work; funny and sentimental in all the right places, it's not going to be a classic of comedy (although you never know), but only a blondophobe could hate this one.
Legally Blonde (2001) directed by Robert Luketic stars Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods - a Californian golden girl who has it all  she is blonde, pretty, popular, adored by her wealthy parents and her friends in college where she is the president of her sorority.
But that was only the beginning...You know, I've seen "Legally Blonde" several times and I know that it is not the best movie ever made, far from it but I like it.
Too tired to switch channels after a sports programme, "Legally Blonde" fell into view and I warmed to it before my well-founded bias against this type of film got the better of me and I could zap to something else.Of course the story is pure fluff, comprising not so dumb blonde Reese Wotherspoon's unlikely attempts to win back her snooty society boyfriend who's stomped on her matrimonial plans by dumping her for an altogether more up-market wealthy college girl.
I'm joking of course, and while making some fairly gentle digs against male prejudices and basically anyone else who ever cracked a ditzy blonde joke, the film doesn't take itself too seriously and propelled by an effervescent lead performance by Wotherspoon, ably supported by just-getting-noticed Selma Blair and Luke Wilson, it packs enough amusing lines and situations to keep you watching.I hesitate to call them highlights and thus elevate the film above its station, but you will undoubtedly smile at Elle's "stretch and snap" tutorial to get a man's attention, her bunny-costume appearance at the bogus party called by her rival and her Perry Mason meets Petrocelli courtroom demolition of her client's accuser's evidence (in a fetching fuchsia pink twin-set, indeed!).I could have done without the too-modern-for-my-taste music soundtrack and one or two of the risqué lines, both obviously inserted to cater to its primary target teen audience, but directed with zip, I was pleasantly engaged over the course of its 90 minute running time as I think anyone would be..
The story of the clever Barbie girl Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon, in the role that turned her into the highest paid actress in Hollywood), who decides to go to Harvard Law just to impress her ex boyfriend and win him back, is silly fun, full of memorable jokes and quotes, and is great to watch when you don't wanna think much and just laugh a little bit/forget about your problems.
Actor Reese Witherspoon plays college student Elle Woods, a charming, bubbly, and kind heart-ed Los Angeles sorority girl who positively impacts the lives of everyone she encounters.
In an era of the dumb blonde joke this film turns the humour on its head.Enjoyably funny throughout, and a great feel good ending, in the way all good romantic comedies tend to pan out.
The script is silly, but thanks to the great performances of the two main female characters, at its core Legally Blonde is an unexpectedly funny, charming light comedy..
Once Elle Woods meets the bloke (can't remember his name) on the bench you know they are going to end up together.You know she however unlikely is going to be the best lawyer in her class and is going to be the one that "saves the day" while not betraying her ideals and routes.It passed the time, it entertained in the most basic sense but not a movie I would recommend to anyone over the age of 10.I expect more of the same from the sequel so I guess I will not be watching it....
Now take the seriousness of the crime (murder) and change it to a chipped nail on a Valley Girl, and you've got "Legally Blonde."  It was painful to watch Reese Witherspoon wither on the vine, with a predictable plot, shallow supporting characters, and blindingly unattractive clothes.
the premise is like totally way out there.the trial conclusion is totally gnarly.the film is totally fun.there's nothing wrong with watching a film like this and taking it for what's worth: harmless predictable great production design no one said every movie has to change society or challenge political agendas or move people to change themselves, although the main character does and benefits from it you people who criticize movies like this need to get a life and stop taking yourselves seriously comedy and the sometimes moral found at the end of the movie all add to the ability to laugh at ourselves.get over it you snobs they rest of us know how to laugh and we're the ones who really "get it" and gain the most from it..
Legally Blonde' is not great and that are not the film's intentions, but is some good old fun with a leading actress that is in almost every second of the movie.
Reese Witherspoon is probably the perfect actress for the role of Elle Woods, she makes this movie work.Elle Woods is dumped by her boyfriend Warner (Matthew Davis) because she is not smart enough.
Elle who is definitely not like the others on Harvard slowly learns that Warner is probably not what she wants.What happens is pretty predictable but also very funny and charming because of Witherspoon.
'Legally Blonde' isn't quite that self-aware, but it takes itself a heck of a lot less seriously than 'Pretty Woman' or (shudder) anything Richard Curtis ever turned out.As a "fish out of water" story, the film falls flat in that it embellishes, exaggerates and ultimately vindicates the sorority valley girl, Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods, while failing to do so for the Ivy League context in which she is immersed.
"Legally Blonde" to me clearly isn't a classic yet it's worth a watch due to the fun and most of all the charm of America's sweetheart Reese Witherspoon.
The conceit probably wasn't even original with MY COUSIN VINNY, and it certainly isn't in LEGALLY BLONDE, a sexist farce pretending to be "enlightened," but more or less saved by a passel of above average performances from a very appealing cast.Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon in a less brilliant but just as surface starring follow-up to her break-through appearance in ELECTION) is an air-head Valley Girl waiting for the expected proposal from her preppie boyfriend (the appropriately smarmy Matthew Davis) when he announces that he's going to Harvard Law enroute to the U.S. Senate, and while she's been a great college lay - excuse me, girlfriend - she isn't good enough for a prospective senator's wife.
I love this movie it is definitely a feel good girl power comedy.
Legally Blonde is a comedy, but it is also a movie that encourages people to make a difference in life even when obstacles get in the way.
its great to watch when you're feeling down as it cheers you up and makes you think that you can acheive whatever you want as long as you dont give up.It also shows that just because you're blonde doesnt mean you're thick.it is a well made film, ithink elle's mind works the same way as a lot of young girls such as myself can relate to.
It is a light-hearted comedy about a classic "dumb blond" who goes to Harvard Law School, and turns out, of course, to be brilliant under the plastic exterior.The real irony of this, though, is that Elle comes across as the empty socialite at the beginning, but she is still the same character at the very end.
Some actresses are never that fortunate.In the character of Elle Woods, Reese Witherspoon gives us a new kind of blonde.
The story line is one that's been done before, but the way it's handled by an excellent cast and film editor makes it a very entertaining movie.Reese Witherspoon plays a blond sorority girl in Los Angeles who decides to go to Harvard Law School in order to win her rich boyfriend back.
Legally Blonde is a fine film that has so much sweetness that it could sicken you but will give you a great time as well with a charming performance by Reese Witherspoon and a great supporting performance from the rest of the cast.
Reese Witherspoon is perfect as this character, she does a good job on making Elle likable and not annoying like many other actresses probably would have.
Even though Reese Witherspoon is one of my favorite actresses, I did not like Legally Blonde because it was too screechy.