Legally Blonde - Review

Oct 14, 2016
3 min read

Dude, why the hell are you watching Legally Blonde? The answer, one of my good friends gave me a "movie recommendations" list consisting of films in the "Teen / Young Adult Romantic Comedy of the late 90's and early 2000's" genre. Yes, I consider that a genre. Plus, my girlfriend at the time wanted to watch it with me. What I got was a movie that was lighthearted, fun and surprisingly smart. Is it a laugh out loud raunch fest? No, but it's not trying to be. It's definitely a "feel-good" movie. As soon as I heard the first lines of "Perfect Day - Hoku", I knew this film was going to leave me with a smile on my face, and it did exactly that. First off, I'd like to mention that this movie is immediately relatable. While it does focus on a beautiful blonde girl, it's a break up movie. I know many people (including myself) who have gone through a break-up because of the complications of going to school and getting one's life figured out first. Right off the bat, it hits you with a relatable premise, it's just coated in a law school setting.

Elle is our hero and if you are going to have a blonde valley girl type as the lead, you have to make sure she's likable. Like Clueless and Bring It On before it, Legally Blonde casts the perfect protagonist. You can clearly tell that the actors are not acting "with" or "alongside" Reese Witherspoon, they are acting "for" her. The film does a perfect job of making her stick out from the crowd and you can clearly tell that she is the main reason why this film works. She pulls off the valley girl stereotype very well, but she adds in more heart, determination and brains to make her unique. She may pull out all the classic lines like, "Oh my god! Let's go shopping!" and "Is it because my boobs are too big?", but she isn't dumb. One of the first scenes where we are introduced to her is where a store clerk tries to scam her into buying a dress that was on sale for full price. The clerk states that she, "loves a dumb, ditsy blonde with daddy's credit card. She plays up the dumb blonde card only to pull the carpet underneath the clerk's legs with "This isn't the dress you're describing because it doesn't have this and this was on sale..." etc. I love that. I also love how even her parents put her into this corner with lines like, "You don't want to go to law school honey. You won the Hawaiian Tropics contest. Why would you want to throw that all away." Basically, blondes have it set right? Another thing that makes Elle more unique, is that while she may be in her own world with all the shopping and trips to the salon, she actually stands up for the nerds. One of her nerdy classmates asks out a girl and she immediately rejects him claiming, "girls like me don't date guys like you." Elle then pretends that he gave her the best sex of her life and acts sad that it is over. Therefore, helping the nerdy classmate up his social value to which the girl he was asking out has a sudden change of heart. On top of all the smart, witty dialogue this film has to offer, I really love the message this movie provides. Don't judge a book by it's cover. Don't just assume a girl has got everything good or that she is dumb because she is pretty. Don't assume that a guy has nothing to offer because he may be a little socially awkward or may be a bookworm of sorts. In this world, it's very easy to judge people by appearance or lifestyle and this film reminds us that we should judge a person by their actions and not their social status or appearance. Someone told me that this film is a feminist classic. Well, I wouldn't say it's a classic, it definitely has its followers. As far as the feminist angle, I can understand where that comes from, but I would say that the film is really about defying expectations. Just because you are a certain way, doesn't mean you should be looked down upon. Sure, it's nice a see a woman save the day by being herself and having femininity shown as a strength, the real message of the film is that you can do anything if you put your mind to it. So guys, if your girlfriends want you to watch this film with you, don't worry, it's not bad. This one is going in the collection.