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Review by Susan Granger
3½ stars out of 4
It's a "Pretty in Pink"/"Clueless" coming-of-age story for the
new millennium as Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon), a perky Southern
California sorority queen, switches from fashion to law in order to win
back her yuppy boyfriend (Matthew Davis). The girl-power story begins as
this sweetheart of Delta Nu is unceremoniously dumped by a bonehead who
says: "If I'm going to be a Senator by the time I'm 30...I need to marry a
Jackie, not a Marilyn." Determined to prove she's as smart a snobby
brunette (Selma Blair) from country-club Connecticut, Elle not only applies
to Harvard Law School but gets in, much to the amazement of family, friends
and faculty. Once there, this flaxen-haired fish-out-of-water not only
survives but tenaciously thrives, befriending a local manicurist (Jennifer
Coolidge), dazzling a professor (Victor Garber) and rescuing a defendant
(Ali Larter) in a celebrated Boston murder trial, plus finding a more
worthy beau (Luke Wilson). In the tradition of teen-comedy film-maker John
Hughes and his disciple Amy Heckerling, there's wit, cheerfulness, a
fidelity of observation and a penchant for problem-solving. First-time
feature director Robert Luketic is blessed with Reese Witherspoon who's
joyously incandescent in this utterly formulaic light comedy written by
Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, based on a soon-to-be-published
novel by Amanda Brown. The supporting cast is terrific, particularly Raquel
Welch and Holland Taylor - and I particularly got a kick out of the gag of
Elle distributing scented resumes in pink, her signature color On the
Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Legally Blonde" is a frivolous, funny,
feel-good 8. Filled with ditzy blonde ambition, it's a movie for
high-school kids that their parents would be happy to have them see.
Copyright © 2001 Susan Granger
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