Legally Blonde

Legally Blonde is a 2001 American comedy film adapted from the novel of the same title by Amanda Brown. It was directed by Robert Luketic, scripted by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, and stars Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victor Garber, and Jennifer Coolidge. The film tells the story of Elle Woods, a sorority girl who attempts to win back her ex-boyfriend by getting a law degree.
== Plot ==
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 and a high IQ gains her admission into Harvard Law School, 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 marry 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 and a former member of her sorority. Accused of murdering her husband, Brooke is unwilling to produce an alibi (she later reveals to Elle that she was having liposuction). Discussing the trial, the defending team tries to persuade Elle to reveal Brooke's alibi, which she refuses to do. Warner attempts to convince her, saying if she shares the alibi that Callahan might hire her as a summer associate and to not worry about Brooke and to think about herself. Vivian overhearing this is disgusted with Warner's lack of empathy and ethical stance as a means to get ahead.
As Elle returns to her dorm room, she encounters one of her kind but awkward classmates who attempts to ask out a girl who says no and humiliates him. Elle interrupts and feigns having an amazing sexual encounter together in a successful effort to make him seem more desirable. Vivian approaches Elle's dorm to compliment her integrity during the trial. Clearly disturbed by Warner's behavior earlier, she continues to bond with Elle while they make fun of Warner's privileged upbringing and reveals that Warner was put on the wait list when he first applied to Harvard and his father "had to make a call," much to Elle's surprise.
At the trial, 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 because he knew her heels' brand, and points out to Emmett that straight men don't normally know brands. Brooke said he left a 'Cher' tape in the pool house one time. Armed with this knowledge, Emmett, after cross examination, redirects and then tricks Enrique into outing himself by admitting he has a boyfriend named Chuck; while attempting to deny the revelation referring to Chuck as just a friend, Chuck himself stands up and effeminately shouts "You Bitch!" before storming out of the courtroom. With the courtroom in an uproar, the judge calls for order and dismisses Enrique while the trial resumes. Impressed, Callahan later asks Elle to meet him in his office that evening to tribute her firm stance in addition to her constant efforts as a law student. He then attempts to make a pass at her while offering to "discuss the future of her career." Vivian had just approached the scene unnoticed in time to witness Callahan's attempt, and falsely accuses Elle of getting by on her good looks as she storms out of Callahan's office.
Later, Emmett tells Brooke that Elle has quit the internship, and when he adds that Callahan hit on her, Vivian realizes she made a huge mistake in accusing Elle. Brooke happily fires Callahan as she enters the courtroom the next day and reveals Elle as his replacement for her defense. Despite her law student status, Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court ruling 3.03 allows Elle to legally represent a defendant if supervised by a licensed attorney. Callahan refuses to sponsor her, but Emmett immediately accepts to supervise instead. Nervous at first, Elle cross-examines Brooke's step-daughter Chutney. Chutney claims she did not hear the gun shot because she was upstairs taking a shower at the time of the apparent murder. Elle catches Chutney in a lie when she says she had gotten a perm done less than 24 hours prior to the incident. Elle confidently lures Chutney into exposing her faulty alibi and correctly points out that applying water and shampoo to the hair within the 24 hour period deactivates the ammonium thioglycolate used in perming hair. She adds that anyone, especially Chutney, who had sustained as many as 30+ perm treatments in their lifetime would be "well aware of this rule". Now in a panic, Chutney tearfully states that Brooke is the same age as her, and then unwittingly blurts out that she shot her father by mistake thinking it was Brooke entering the house. With this revelation Chutney is arrested, Brooke is exonerated, and Elle has won her first case. 
Later, Warner unsuccessfully attempts to convince Elle to take him back. Realizing that he is shallow and "a complete bonehead", Elle finally cuts all ties with him. Two years later, Elle graduates from Harvard and gives the graduation speech. Vivian is now her best friend, while Warner has graduated with no honors, no girlfriend and no job offers. Emmett has started his own firm and he and Elle have been dating since the trial, and he plans to propose to her later that night. 
== Cast ==
* Elle Woods - Reese Witherspoon
* Emmett Richmond - Luke Wilson
* Vivian Kensington - Selma Blair
* Warner Huntington III - Matthew Davis
* Professor Callahan - Victor Garber
* Paulette Bonafonté - Jennifer Coolidge
* Professor Elspeth Stromwell - Holland Taylor
* Brooke Taylor-Windham - Ali Larter
* Margot - Jessica Cauffiel
* Serena McGuire - Alanna Uback
* David Kidney - Oz Perkins
* Chutney Windham - Linda Cardellini
* UPS guy - Bruce Thomas
* Enid Wexler - Meredith Scott Lynn
* Mrs. Windham-Vandermark - Raquel Welch
* Judge Bickford - Francesca P. Roberts
* Harvard Admissions Counselor - Wayne Federman
* Amy - Kimberly McCullough
* Enrique Salvatore - Greg Serano
* CULA Advisor - Allyce Beasley
* Bruiser Woods - Moondoggie
Category:Films
Category:2001 films
Category:Live Action films
Category:Live-action characters
Category:Rated PG-13
Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Category:2:35:1 Aspect Ratio Films