Legally Blonde - 1st March 2011

So, we have gone back to the Chick-Flicks, but with two girls in the house, I'm on a hiding to nothing and will always lose out on the vote (not that I mind).
It was a proper Chick-Flick night tonight as well, as we sat eating a box of chocolates and watching.......

Legally Blonde!

To be honest I was not expecting much from this movie, the format was pretty much determined by the first 20 minutes.
Blonde air-head Fashion and Design major, gets blown out by her boyfriend who's off to Harvard to study law.
She mopes around for a week, pigging out on chocolates and then decides that to win back her beau, she should also go to Harvard and study law.
If he wants a serious girlfriend, with a serious future, that's what she should do!

So she does.

First term at Harvard and she is humiliated even more, she discovers her boyfriend is engaged to a fellow first year student. She finds people are making fun of her. She looks a blonde airhead and is treated as such, by pupils and staff alike.

So there we have it, the stage is set for the usual feelgood movie formula;

• Great start.
• Bottom falls out of world.
• Seeks revenge.
• Ups and downs.
• Then finally wins.

However, there's a but. This is the formula for this type of movie, but Legally Blonde, in my honest opinion, does it better than all the rest!

Reese Witherspoon is a sheer delight as Elle Wood, the blonde bimbo (that's a bit harsh, but it'll do), who becomes our heroine. She is so believable, that you do really get behind her character and yes, I cheered at the end!

The finest supporting role in this film for me was; Jennifer Coolidge who played Paulette Bonafonté, Elle's manicurist whilst she is at Harvard.
Their relationship for me, really helps to make this movie more rounded. Paulette is Elle's confidante and they help each other out through their various troubles. It is this relationship above others, in the film, that adds an extra layer of completeness.

Clearly the formulaic approach has you rooting for the underdog, and as such you have your nasty characters for our leading lady to contend with, but they have done this quite cleverly, as several characters in turn play the enemy, so to speak.
There's Warner Huntington III (played by Matthew Davis), Elle's original boyfriend, who dumped her, clearly he's a candidate for nasty character, that our blonde heroine can wreak revenge upon.
Then there's Vivian (Selma Blair), Warners fiancé at Harvard, who is a bitchy character at the start, but turns good at the end.
Then later in the story we get; Professor Callahan (Victor Garber) who is one of Elle's tutors, who after lauding praise on Elle throughout the trial they are working, tries to make a pass at her. He get's his comeuppance.
And there's others, who just can't see past the dizzy blonde facade.

My point is here; all these characters further exaggerate the underdog trait of Elle. Therefore, you start to root for her even more. This is also very key, because if you don't believe these things are happening, right here, right now, in front of your very eyes, on the screen in front of you, then the film makers are not doing there job properly.
I was totally sucked in and entranced by the story.

It was brilliant.

Some people like disaster movies, some like horror, some like thrillers.

I like a really good feelgood movie.

Legally Blonde is a really good feelgood movie.

You can generally tell how much I like a movie, by counting the lines between this point and the start of the review. The more lines, the better the film!!

Enjoy.