Review of Legally Blonde

Introduction

Legally Blonde was pitched to the studio as "Clueless goes to Harvard", and that is exactly what gets delivered - a light, fluffy comedy that won`t spoil your appetite. Reese Witherspoon stars as Elle, the most popular girl in college who gets dumped by her boyfriend because he sees himself marrying a Jackie, not a Marilyn if he wants to be Attorney General before he`s thirty. Her plan to win him back is simple - she gets into Harvard Law School as well ("What? Like it`s hard??").

This is, like "Clueless", a feelgood picture about a photogenic blonde with a perky nature who succeeds when all about her are trying to exploit her. Dumb she is not - she merely proves to be dancing to a different tune to the rest of us.

Video

This is a pleasantly shot little movie, presented in anamorphic 2.35:1. Image quality is first-run, with little discernable wear-and-tear. Colours are vibrant (they have to be to handle Elle`s wardrobe) and details are sharp.

Audio

The picture carries a standard DD5.1 mix in English that does little apart from occasional atmospheric effects. Most of the sound stays in the vicinity of the screen rather than venturing towards the back speakers.

Features

Interesting set of extras for a very light movie. There`s an audio commentary featuring director Robert Luketic, Reese Witherspoon and Producer Marc Platt. There are a few deleted scenes (most of which would have made Selma Blair`s character too unsympathetic), the theatrical trailer and a music video by Hoku of "Perfect Day".

Most interesting of the extras are the "trivia track" which is actually a series of pastel-coloured captions that flash up during the movie, and the regulation puff-piece documentary "The Hair That Ate Hollywood" which is all about something us blokes watching the movie wouldn`t have noticed - in every scene, Reese Witherspoon has a different hairstyle (forty in all) and that her hair had to be a specific shade of blonde, not just any shade of peroxide.

Conclusion

This is a very pleasant, light-hearted comedy. It won`t tax the little grey cells, take you on an emotional rollercoaster or scare you out of your skin. It won`t gross you out or leave your ears burning at the language used. If you like fish-out-of-water comedies, or you just like blondes, you`ll like this picture.