Think Pink

reviewed Tue, 10 Jul 2001

Legally Blonde is not a movie overly concerned with plot.  It is more concerned with accessories.  It is the type of movie where, as my friend John put it, you can tell who the murderer is because she has the worst hair.  It is the type of movie where a Chihuahua is dressed up in ridiculous little outfits (like it doesn't look ridiculous enough au naturel).  It is the type of movie, in short, that it would be cruel to criticize, because it's just a sweetly amiable, daffy bit of cotton candy.

Reese Witherspoon is what makes this movie enjoyable -- actually, you get the sense that, without her, it wouldn't even be watchable (well, except for the gorgeous UPS man, but he's only in a couple of scenes).  She's a terrific comic actress; she reminds me of Claudette Colbert.  Her charming earnestness carries you past the parts of the movie that are predictable, poorly thought out, or just plain dumb.  She's got a wonderfully malleable face with expressions that are cartoonish without being over the top.

Witherspoon plays Elle Woods, a stereotypical blonde at a SoCal university who gets dumped by her oily bohunk boyfriend (Matthew Davis) because he wants to be a senator and for some reason he thinks a gregarious, gorgeous blonde wife would be a liability.  (Clearly he has no knowledge of the world of politics.)  Determined to win him back, she follows him to Harvard Law School, courtesy of an admissions application video directed by a Coppola.  Really, it's not such a suspension of disbelief to figure that she could get into Harvard Law.  After all, the not-the-real-president got into Harvard Business School.  And I know who I think is more capable of running this country.

Anyway, Elle grits it out in law school despite finding out her man is now engaged to a dour, horsey-looking blueblood (Selma Blair) and makes good enough grades to earn a coveted internship at a prestigious law firm, where she works on a murder case alongside Emmett, played by Luke Wilson doing his adorably rumpled schtick.  As she singlehandedly breaks the murder mystery and wins an extremely convenient confession in court from the murderer with the bad hair, she finds out who really believes in her and, more importantly, that she believes in herself.  This moral is nicely summed up for us in almost exactly those words as she gazes beatifically down at her classmates at the end of the movie.

Legally Blonde is all nauseatingly adorable (albeit intentionally so), mostly pink flufferies, but there's something endearing about it nonetheless.  And that something is Reese Witherspoon.  Here's hoping she finds something more worthy of her talents next time.  (In the meantime, you could watch Election again.)

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