क़ानूनन ब्लोंड

Elle is the ultimate stereotypical ditsy blonde. She is about to graduate college and has spent the last four years being very happy--and caring less about her future. She's the president of her sorority, homecoming queen and has a great fashion sense. Her plans after graduation are to marry her college sweetheart...period. However, when the boyfriend announces that he's going to Harvard law school and gives her the brushoff, at a spur of the moment she decides she's going to Harvard law as well! While no one would think she had a brain, it turns out Elle is at the top of her class and scores a nearly perfect LSAT--and she, too, is admitted to this prestigious institution. There, however, she's like a fish out of water--and everyone laughs at the audacious and seemingly out to lunch blonde. Will Elle fail or rise to the top? No big surprises here, but it sure is a nice ride.

LEGALLY BLONDE is a movie that has no pretense. It knows it's not great art and won't be winning Oscars, yet it also is clever enough to avoid stereotypes or at least defy them. It also knows darn well that the plot is utterly ridiculous but runs with it. However, this isn't so bad, as sometimes you just need to turn off your brain and enjoy a film for what it is--entertainment. I know I am a super-critical person (hence, my 7100+ reviews on IMDb so far), but occasionally it's nice to see a film that isn't an independent film, art film, foreign film or silent--all types of films I usually watch. Sometimes you just need some brain candy! Excellent acting, a nice light directorial touch and good writing make this a standout film--and a lot better than you'd probably imagine.

As a middle-aged bloke, a ditzy, frothy blonde who dresses in designer pink and who has as a pet a Chihuahua, who also dressed in pink would have me running for the hills, screaming and violently pulling out my own fingernails.

Unless it's Reese Witherspoon, for whom I do have a soft spot for especially when she's exactly like Miss Elle Woods here. The story itself is really rather far-fetched but even this aspect is sort of sorted by some generous bending of unwritten rules and smart legal jargon.

Legally Blonde will always work better for me, when Miss Woods is gaily arranging sorority parties and being just ridiculously OTT about fashion choices and tartly responding when others try and make her look ridiculous. This comic timing is perfectly suited to the bubbly and vibrant Witherspoon and she remains a tonic throughout.

The court case that she falls into defending might be essential to the story of how she gets her legal qualifications and to prove all her doubters totally wrong, but for me, this plays second fiddle to the comedy I mention. The romance angle, an essential premise, as at the start, her boyfriend Warner, who she was absolutely sure was going to propose to her, dumps her, essentially because she's a 'dumb' blonde.

He's off to Harvard and so, naturally, Elle scrapes through the preliminaries with the skimpiest of appropriate qualifications (majoring in obscure fashion, for example) so that he could no longer hold that reason against her. He, though, is already dating the surly Selma Blair.

I've probably seen Legally... three times now. The sequel/s don't command any great affection for me but this original is one that is both a great comedy and has a real feel-good factor too, without resorting to the gross-out and toilet humour that's unfortunately seen as an essential ingredient in today's US comedies.

"Legally Blonde" is all about Witherspoon as a totally val blonde from Beverly Hills who goes to Harvard and makes good. Predictable formula fun, "LB" gets off to a good start with the freshness of "Clueless", pushes its own envelope of believability in the middle, and ends with a major feel good moment. Along the way, this fun family flick makes some good points about life's priorities. Enjoyable stuff for 13 and up.

How can a man of seventy fall in love with a movie star? Well, I did and it's easy when it's Reese Witherspoon. Legally Blond is not a perfect film - the script has more holes than Swiss cheese and the sub-plot is as old as the hills - but who cares when you are looking at Reese Witherspoon who lights up every scene as though she were Times Square personified! What a doll! Of all the current stars she is the ONLY one who really hearkens back to the Golden Age of Cinema and she especially reminds me of Carole Lombard who was the ultimate funny lady who was a knock-out too! As far as I am concerned, Reese can do no wrong - she obviously has brains besides beauty and the two are a lethal combination.

Legally Blonde finds Reese Witherspoon in one of her breakthrough roles as sorority queen Elle Woods who is dumped by her preppy boyfriend Matthew Davis. He's moving on to Harvard Law School where he will get his law degree, marry a woman of good background in Selma Blair and claim the family legacy of public office. So there's no time for his homecoming queen Reese although I'm sure he'd arrange something on the side later.

She's totally floored by this, but our intrepid girl vows to fight fire with fire. If he can go be a Hah-Vard Law School Graduate so can she. I mean she's got a 4.0 GPA even if it is in fashion design.

But beneath her Barbie Doll personality, she actually does have a brain. She aces the law boards and sends a unique video essay that is something different for the admission committee to ponder. She gets to Harvard to be with Davis, who's unfortunately there with Blair.

At this point the charm of Reese Witherspoon really takes over and dominates the film. I'm not sure anyone else could have pulled off the part of Elle Woods. With that wonderful combination of charm and guilelessness, Reese Witherspoon has created an endearing character, one she's already done a sequel film with.

She's nicely aided by Luke Wilson as an attorney and crony of one of her law professors. Another performance that I liked was that of Holland Taylor as a feminist law professor who's initially put off by Witherspoon, but gradually comes to appreciate her worth.

In fact in the end just about everyone in the film comes to appreciate her worth, some to their regret.

I don't know about you, but I'd like to see a Legally Blonde 3.