Legally Blonde (2001), Directed by Robert Luketic , is a fun, light comedy about believing in yourself and never judging a book by its cover. Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) is portrayed as your stereotypical Californian girl - blonde hair, bubbly personality and a college major in fashion.
When her boyfriend Warren dumps her to go to Harvard Law School, Elle decides the only way to get him back is to become a serious law student. The movie relies heavily on the stereotype of being blonde, “Blondes are usually associated with both low intelligence and ability and high beauty and femininity. (Bry. C, Follendant, A.
, Meyer, T. , 2007) Despite getting into Harvard, Elle is excluded from the study group after they tell her “It’s a smart people thing. ”Her ex doubts Elle’s abilities to which she replies “did we not just get into the same law school. ”Throughout the movie she is constantly judged based on her appearance and friendly personality.
The soundtrack is expected for such a light-hearted film consisting of pop songs including the opening and closing track Perfect Day (Hoku).This song is played to images of blonde hair, manicured nails and groups of sorority students having fun which sets the overall tone of the movie. Luketic uses many close up shots which mean the audience has to rely heavily on facial expressions over physical movement. This framing works well with the type of movie as the times when full body shots are show it is to emphasises the outfits worn by Elle in the scene. The outfits are part of Elle’s character, bright and colourful.
There are faults in the movie with audio and visual synchronicities in quite a few scenes.There are times when an actor is talking but in the shot their mouth is not moving. There are some factual errors as well, “In the courtroom scenes the U. S. and state flags have been placed on the incorrect sides” (IMBD) The storyline does produce some unbelievable qualities with Elle winning her first trial based on her knowledge of perms not on her legal ability and even the method of getting into Harvard Law School with her background in fashion merchandising proved to be a little far-fetched.
I believe that these are also its merits as it attribute to the underlying message of the movie that despite what others believe, if you believe in yourself you can achieve anything. With its bright and cheerful colouring, up-beat soundtrack and talented cast, Luketic was able to create a movie that is fun and motivational but also very predictable and lacking depth in its plot and characters.
