I succumbed and finally watched “Legally Blonde.” Instagram Reels did not stop recommending it, and YouTube had it for free, so I had to watch it. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Do I think it is a masterpiece? I wouldn’t say so, no.
“Legally Blonde” is focused mainly on stereotypes towards blonde girls who belong to a sorority. Some other themes such as feminism, friendship, relationships, and justice emerge through the movie as well.
Reese Witherspoon plays Elle Woods, the president of the sorority house Delta Nu. I liked the color contrast at the beginning of the movie, the scene when Elle Woods steps on Yale for the first time (bright pink and dark colors like gray and burgundy). To me, this transition represents the big contrast between being in a house full of girls who supported her, to being in a place where achievement was more important than having a friendship, and people put more weight on competition than loyalty. A hint of the challenges that awaited her. I appreciated that Elle did not change her style or values, which led her to make a difference in other people’s perspectives to the extent that even her rival ended up being her best friend (I know, mind-blowing).
Elle decides to go to Harvard after Warner, her boyfriend, breaks up with her with the excuse that he needs to focus on his career (yeah, right). If you’ve watched the movie you might agree with me that one of the best scenes of the movie is when Elle runs into Warner, and he implies that he does not believe she got admitted to Harvard, to which she simply responds: “What? Like it’s hard?” (*inserts laugh*).
Elle Woods acts like a girl who has no responsibilities and no worries in the world, which honestly, might be because she is the only child in a rich family and has lived in a pink bubble her entire life. Her characteristic traits are: first, the way she dresses with pink and shiny stuff; second, the way she walks, moving her hips and putting one foot in front of the other in an imaginary straight line; third, her non-funded optimism accompanied by an expectant smile.
All of these external traits might make Elle sound intolerable to be around, but once I started seeing deeper into the character’s inner characteristics I started seeing a fun, loyal, and smart girl who fell in love with the wrong person in the beginning of the movie, and ended up falling in love with the career and perhaps more importantly, herself. The one scene that shows Elle’s character growth is when she is flirting with Warner (who is engaged at the moment) and once again he implies that Elle is not smart enough, only this time it is about the competitive selection for an internship. Elle backs out of his embrace, looks at him with disappointment in her eyes, and before leaving she says, “I’m never going to be good enough for you, am I?” It all went better for her after that. Hands down, my favorite scene.
It would not be a 2000s movie without some romance. In the process of trying to get her ex-boyfriend back, she meets Emmett, a cute and smart law school associate, who accepts her as she is. From the moment they met, he gave her advice on how to succeed in her classes and did not judge her for how she looked. Spoiler alert, they end up getting married (*happy giggles*).
The score I would give this movie is 7/10 because although the movie was fun to watch, it lacked some depth of characters and unexpected turn of events. Overall the movie was enjoyable and I would recommend watching it if you like romcoms.
