Legally Blonde

Legally Blonde
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Legally_Blonde".

For other uses, see Legally Blonde (disambiguation).

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Legally Blonde
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Robert Luketic
Produced by	Ric Kidney Marc Platt
Written by	Amanda Brown Karen McCullah Lutz Kirsten Smith
Starring	Reese Witherspoon Luke Wilson Selma Blair Matthew Davis Victor Garber Jennifer Coolidge Holland Taylor Ali Larter
Music by	Rolfe Kent
Cinematography	Anthony B. Richmond
Editing by	Anita-Brandt Burgoyne Garth Craven
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	June 26, 2001
Running time	97 min.
Country	US UK
Language	English
Budget	$18,000,000
Gross revenue	$141,774,679
Followed by	Red, White and Blonde
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Legally Blonde is a 2001 comedy film starring Reese Witherspoon, produced by Marc E. Platt for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios and directed by Robert Luketic. It is based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Amanda Brown.

The film is the fictional story of fashion marketing major and sorority girl Elle Woods' quest to be regarded seriously at Harvard Law School, and to win back her boyfriend.

The film was a Golden Globe Award nominee for Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy; Witherspoon's performance also received a nomination.^[1]

Legally Blonde is listed as number 29 on Bravo's "Funniest Movies".

The movie's box office success spawned a 2003 sequel, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde and an upcoming 2008 direct-to-DVD sequel, Legally Blondes. Additionally, Legally Blonde: The Musical premiered on January 23, 2007 in San Francisco and opened in New York City at the Palace Theatre on Broadway on April 29, 2007.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Reception
4 Production
5 Comparisons
6 Goofs
7 Pop culture references
8 Legal terminology used in the film
9 See also
10 References
11 External links

Plot

Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) is portrayed as the typical pampered rich girl, growing up in Bel-Air, across the street from Aaron Spelling. She is president of her sorority, Delta Nu, at the fictional CULA, the California University of Los Angeles (an anagram of UCLA). Nearing graduation, Elle expects her Harvard Law School-bound boyfriend, Warner Huntington III (Matthew Davis), to propose, but he instead breaks up with her, insisting that she is not "serious" and would hinder his political future. Elle later finds out that Warner's brother, Putnam Bowen Huntington III, is marrying Layne Walker Vanderbilt, also a Yale law student. Crushed, Elle decides the only way to way to win Warner back is to attend Harvard Law School. With an exceptional LSAT score (179), a 4.0 GPA (albeit achieved as a fashion design major), and a confident application video featuring herself in a bikini, Elle's application materials manage to convince the admissions board to grant her admission.

At Harvard, Elle is initially met with hostility and skepticism of her abilities, and she finds Warner is already engaged to fellow law student Vivian Kensington (Selma Blair). Vivian reluctantly invites Elle to a formal gathering, but tells her it is a costume party to humiliate her. Though she shows up dressed as a Playboy bunny, Elle is unfazed. She confronts Warner and finds that his perception of her is unaffected by her accomplishments. Spurred by his dismissive remarks, Elle immerses herself in her studies and becomes a top student in her class. She still finds it hard to be taken seriously, although Emmett Richmond (Luke Wilson), the trial assistant of Callahan (Victor Garber), one of Elle's professors, is friendly to her and recognizes her potential.

Along with Warner and Vivian, Elle is hired as an intern at Callahan's firm. They are assigned the case of defending a young woman, Brooke Taylor Windham (Ali Larter), accused of murdering her wealthy husband. Windham is coincidentally a former member of Elle's sorority and a famous fitness instructor, facts that convince Elle of her innocence. Her stepdaughter and the household's "cabana boy" Enrique Salvatore (Greg Serano) attest to finding Windham standing over her husband's dead body.

After Windham refuses Callahan's request for an alibi, Elle visits her in jail where she confides that she was having liposuction at the time of her husband's death. Worried that this would destroy her reputation as a fitness guru, she asks that Elle keep the alibi secret. Elle complies despite pressure from Callahan. Vivian is extremely impressed that Elle kept the alibi, and the two start to become friends.

Elle has more and more success with her trial, using her knowledge of the fashion world and intuition to help her move closer to winning the trial. Callahan has a private discussion with Elle after a session. To her disgust, he reveals he finds her attractive and begins to caress her thigh. Elle angrily storms out and is met by Vivian, who witnessed Callahan touching Elle's leg and lashes out at her. Convinced that she will never be taken seriously, Elle decides to quit and return to California. However, after encouragment from Emmett and another professor, she decideds to return to court. Meanwhile, Windham fired Callahan, and requests Elle take over her case.

During her cross-examination, the victim's daughter, Chutney Windham (Linda Cardellini), claimed to have been taking a shower at the time of the murder, but Elle argues that having had her hair permed that day, a shower would have deactivated the ammonium thioglycolate and would have ruined her curls. Badgered by Elle's aggressive questioning, the daughter finally breaks down in tears and confesses to accidentally shooting her father, believing he was her stepmother, whom she resented for being the same age as she. With this, she is arrested and Brooke is cleared of all charges.

The end of the film shows that Elle graduated from Harvard as the class-elected speaker of her grad class with high honors, and she has been recommended to one of the country's most successful law firms. Now Elle's best friend, Vivian has called off her engagement to Warner, who graduates with no honors or any prestigious job offers. Emmett, now Elle's boyfriend of two years, is revealed to be planning to propose to Elle right after her graduation.

Cast

Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods
Luke Wilson as Emmett Richmond
Selma Blair as Vivian Kensington
Matthew Davis as Warner Huntington III
Victor Garber as Professor Callahan
Jennifer Coolidge as Paulette Bonafonté
Holland Taylor as Professor Stromwell
Ali Larter as Brooke Taylor Windham
Jessica Cauffiel as Margot
Alanna Ubach as Serena McGuire
Oz Perkins as "Dorky" David Kidney
Linda Cardellini as Chutney Windham
Bruce Thomas as Kyle the UPS Guy
Meredith Scott Lynn as Enid Wexler
Wayne Federman as Harvard Admissions Counselor
Raquel Welch as Mrs. Windham Vandermark
Greg Serano as Enrique Salvatore

Reception

The film was met with varied reception from critics, earning "fresh rating" of 68% positive ratings in the Rotten Tomatoes compilation of 130 reviews. Most reviews lauded Reese Witherspoon's lead performance even if they denigrated the overall merit of the film.^[2] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 59 out of 100, based on 31 reviews.^[3]

The movie was an unexpected hit, grossing over US$20 million in its opening weekend and ending its run with over US$96 million in the U.S. and more than US$141 million worldwide. It made Witherspoon an A-list actress and one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood (she would be paid US$15 million to star in the sequel). After this movie, Witherspoon had a string of hit movies including the sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde, Sweet Home Alabama and Walk the Line, the latter landing her an Oscar for Best Actress for playing June Carter.

In 2007, a musical adaption premiered on Broadway to mostly positive reviews, starring Laura Bell Bundy as Elle, Christian Borle as Emmett, Orfeh as Paulette, Nikki Snelson as Brooke, Richard H. Blake as Warner, Kate Shindle as Vivienne, and Michael Rupert as Callahan. Other cast members included Andy Karl, Leslie Kritzer, Annaleigh Ashford, DeQuina Moore, and Natalie Joy Johnson. The show, Bundy, Borle, and Orfeh were all nominated for Tony Awards.

Production

Although the film's setting is Harvard University, it was actually filmed at USC^[4], UCLA^[5], and Rose City High School in Pasadena, California. The real Harvard only appears briefly in certain aerial shots.

The film was originally set to take place at the University of Chicago Law School, but administration at the school did not approve the film, because of a scene in which a professor places his hand on Elle's leg.^[6]

The producers intentionally gave Elle a different hairstyle for every scene.

This was the second film that Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair starred in together, the first being Cruel Intentions.

Comparisons

There are numerous references to The Paper Chase (which is also set at Harvard Law) including a scene in which Elle brings food to her ex-boyfriend and says "I brought you sustenance." In The Paper Chase, the main character complains to his girlfriend that she has failed to provide sustenance.

While Elle is a sister of Delta Nu sorority in the film, the actual Delta Gamma is the sorority mentioned in the novel. It is possible that the sorority in the film is modeled after Delta Zeta, as their national colors are green and pink, as is the house interior in the film.

Goofs

Curls can be wet following a perm; they just cannot be washed. Thus, Elle's example of Tracy Marcinco's curls being ruined after getting wet at a wet t-shirt contest could be null and void (unless the water contained shampoo, conditioner, or soap, but Elle is interrupted before this could be established). However, since Chutney did say that she was upstairs washing her hair, the argument Elle uses is still valid.

In the scene in which Elle is dismissed from class for being unprepared, the professor asks Vivian Kensington whether "diversity jurisdiction" exists in a case earlier identified as Gordon v. Steele. When Kensington answers that such jurisdiction did not exist, the professor says that this is the correct answer. The Federal Court of Appeals actually found that diversity jurisdiction did exist in the case. See Gordon v. Steele, 376 F. Supp. 575 (W.D. Pa. 1974).

Pop culture references

In Elle's application video, she proves her ability to recall information "at the drop of a hat" by relating a "Days of our Lives" storyline in which heroine Hope Brady is brainwashed by "the evil Stefano," which roughly corresponds to the time frame in which the movie was filmed.

In one scene, Elle is watching "General Hospital", which features Kimberly McCullough (Robin Scorpio).

In 2007, Moonie, who played Bruiser in the film, made a guest appearance on Deal or No Deal to surprise a contestant who has a fear of dogs.

A TV series pilot was shot with Jennifer Hall playing Elle Woods in 2003, but it was not picked up.^[7]

Elle's dog, Bruiser, stares longingly at the Taco Bell chihuahua during a scene in which a television is on the background. In the film's sequel, the dog that plays Bruiser's mother is the dog who appears in the ads (Gidget). Also, in the second film, we learn Bruiser is gay.

In the 2003 Denzel Washington action film Out of Time, the scene where Warner breaks up with Elle can be heard in the background during one of the film's fight scenes in a hotel room.