LEGALLY BLONDE

'''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, which is seen by many to be part of the ''Girl Power'' movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s, is the fictional story of a valley girl's quest to be regarded seriously at Harvard Law School.
The film was a Golden Globe Award nominee for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, and Witherspoon's performance also received a nomination.^[1]
It is number 29 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".
The movie's box office success spawned a 2003 sequel, ''. Additionally, '' premiered on January 23, 2007 in San Francisco and opened in New York City at the Palace Theatre on Broadway on April 29, 2007.
'Taglines:'

★ ''This summer, go blonde!''

★ ''Boldly going where no blonde has gone.''

Contents

Synopsis

Reception

Cast

Music

Trivia

References

External links

Synopsis

''Legally Blonde'' stars Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods, a typical pampered "valley girl" (however resides in Bel-Air) and president of her sorority at the fictional CULA, the California University of Los Angeles (an intentionally spoofed anagrammed version of the University of California, Los Angeles). Nearing graduation, Elle expects her Harvard Law School-bound boyfriend, Warner Huntington III (Matthew Davis), to propose, but he instead breaks up with her, saying that her frivolous lifestyle would hinder his political future. Crushed, Elle decides she must revamp her image by attending Harvard Law and thereby winning back Warner. With an exceptional LSAT score and an unusual application video of her in a bikini, she wins the approval of the admissions board.
Elle is initially met with hostility and skepticism of her abilities at Harvard, 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 one of the top students in her class.
Along with Warner and Vivian, Elle is hired as an intern at the firm of one of her professors, Callahan (Victor Garber). They are assigned the case of defending a young woman, Brooke Windham (neè Taylor) (Ali Larter), accused of the murder of her older, wealthy husband. Windham is incidentally 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 instructor, she asks that Elle keep the alibi secret. Elle complies despite pressure from Callahan.
To further discredit Windham, Salvatore testifies that he and Windham had been having an affair. Elle reasons that Salvatore is actually gay, given that he is able to correctly identify her shoes as "last season Prada". (He says "Don't a stomp your little... last season Prada shoes at me, honey.") Although Callahan dismisses her claim as speculation, his trial assistant, Emmett Richmond (Luke Wilson), takes the initiative and tricks Salvatore into admitting this on the stand.
Callahan has a private discussion with Elle after the session. To her disgust, he reveals he finds her attractive and begins to caress her thigh. Elle angrily storms out and, convinced that she will never be taken seriously, decides to quit. However, after encouragement from one of her female professors and with Emmett's support, she decides to stay. Emmett informs Windham of Callahan's transgression, whereupon she decides to fire Callahan and replace him with Elle.
Since Elle is not a lawyer yet, she is supervised by Emmett. During her cross-examination, the victim's daughter, Chutney Windham (Linda Cardellini), claims 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 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.
The end of the film shows Elle graduating two years later at the top of her class with an offer to work at a prestigious Boston law firm. It indicates that Emmett has since quit Callahan's firm to start his own practice, and that he will propose to Elle that night. On the other hand, Warner gets no prestigious job offers or internships, loses his girlfriend and graduates near the bottom.

Reception

The film was met with varied reception from critics, earning "fresh rating" of 67% 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]
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 '', ''Sweet Home Alabama'' and ''Walk the Line'', which landed her an Oscar for Best Actress for playing June Carter.
In 2007 a musical adaption premiered on Broadway, 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.

Cast

★ Reese Witherspoon – Elle Woods

★ Luke Wilson – Emmett Richmond

★ Selma Blair – Vivian Thelma Kensington

★ Matthew Davis – Warner Huntington III

★ Victor Garber – Professor Callahan

★ Jennifer Coolidge – Paulette Bonafonté

★ Holland Taylor – Professor Stromwell

★ Ali Larter – Brooke Taylor Windham

★ Jessica Cauffiel – Margot

★ Alanna Ubach – Serena

★ Oz Perkins – 'Dorky' David Kidney

★ Linda Cardellini – Chutney Windham

★ Bruce Thomas – UPS Guy

★ Meredith Scott Lynn – Enid Wexler

★ Raquel Welch – Mrs. Windham Vandermark

★ Wayne Federman – Harvard Admissions Counselor

Music

★ "Perfect Day" by Hoku is the theme and opening/closing title music.

★ "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton

★ "Watch me Shine" by Joanna Pacitti

Trivia

★ Although the film's setting is Harvard University, it was actually filmed at USC^[3] and Rose City High School in Pasadena, CA. The real Harvard only appears briefly in certain aerial shots.

★ 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. Similarly, the novel takes place at Stanford Law School rather than Harvard.

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

★ 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 timeframe in which the movie was filmed.

★ In one scene, Elle is watching ''General Hospital'', which once featured Kimberly McCullough (Amy).

★ 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.^[4]

★ The producers intentionally gave "Elle" a different hairstyle for every scene

★ Curls can be wet following a perm, they just cannot be washed, so Elle's example of Tracy Marcinco's curls getting wet at a wet t-shirt contest would be null and void. However, since Chutney did say that she was upstairs washing her hair, the argument Elle uses is still valid.

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

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

References

1. Globes: 'Beautiful,' 'Moulin' golden Jamie Allen
2. Legally Blonde (2001)
3. USC Campus Filming Office
4. [1]

External links

★

★ Legally Blonde Musical

★ Legally Blonde movie fanlistings

★ ''Legally Blonde Style and Beauty Page''