Legally Blonde (2001)

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Matthew Davis, et al.
Director: Robert Luketic
Rating: PG-13

Studio: MGM

Review Posted: 7.27.01

Rating: 2.5/4

By Dan Peters.

One of the most frustrating kinds of movies to watch is the teen romance/comedy. They're always predictable, or in one way or another, very annoying. When I went into Legally Blonde, I expected nothing but all that I just mentioned. Maybe it was Reese Witherspoon or something else unknown to me, but I actually moderately enjoyed this film.

The plot is nothing new, but here it is anyways: Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) has just finished four years in college and majored in fashion. She's expecting a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, Warner Huntington III (Matthew Davis). Instead, Warner tells her that he wants to break up with her, so he can go to Harvard Law School and be a senator by the age of 30. For him to become a senator, he needs the "right kind" of wife, and unfortunately for Elle, she's not it. Elle then becomes heart-broken, but decides to follow him to Harvard to win him back. When she gets accepted into Harvard, she finds out that Warner is now engaged to a girl named Vivian (Selma Blair), whom Elle already had a bad experience with in class. Then all sorts of crazy mayhem starts from there on out.

Reese Witherspoon is probably what made me like Legally Blonde. She puts a lot of "spice" into her role, and the audience grows to love her. The other actor/actresses don't put as much into their roles. Luke Perry looked bored, and seemed very stale. Matthew Davis is okay as Warner, although he could've done much better. I really liked Selma Blair's performance; she did what she was supposed to do (which was to make her character be hated), and she succeeds with ease.

Unfortunately, like mostly all teen romance/comedies, the plot takes a lot of predictable turns. Hell, I could've just reviewed this film without seeing it, but that wouldn't really be right (if I would've done that, I would've given the film a lower score since I wouldn't have known Reese Witherspoon was as good as she was). Legally Blonde does have a lot of funny moments though, so that kind of makes up for the predictability. Notice I said kind of.

Anyways, I enjoyed Legally Blonde overall. It managed to make me laugh, and Reese Witherspoon's performance managed to elevate the film from being mediocre. Legally Blonde also manages to be a good date movie: both guys and gals will find something enjoyable about it.

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