Legally Blonde

Directed by Robert Luketic, Legally Blonde follows Reese Witherspoon’s bubbly Elle Woods as she concocts a scheme to win back her ex-boyfriend (Matthew Davis’ Warner) by enrolling in Harvard’s prestigious law school – with the narrative subsequently detailing Elle’s exploits alongside her much more studious fellow students. It’s a fun, lighthearted premise that’s employed to predominantly (and pervasively) watchable effect by Luketic, as the filmmaker, armed with a script by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, delivers a briskly-paced comedy that benefits substantially from Witherspoon’s engaging, spellbinding efforts as the affable central character – with the actress’ top-notch work here certainly matched by an impressively stacked supporting cast that includes Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Victor Garber, and Jennifer Coolidge. (The latter’s turn as an oddball manicurist is responsible for the movie’s biggest laughs, undoubtedly.) And although the picture doesn’t contain much in the way of innovative elements (ie there are few, if any surprises, contained within the movie’s 96 minutes), Legally Blonde, which boasts a tremendously satisfying climax, mostly comes off as a breezy and entertaining endeavor that generally fares much, much better than one might’ve anticipated.

*** out of ****