Legally Blonde (2001)

Elle Woods, a fashionable sorority queen is dumped by her boyfriend. She decides to follow him to law school, while she is there she figures out that there is more to her than just looks.

Director:

Robert Luketic

Writers:

Amanda Brown (novel), Karen McCullah (screenplay)

Stars:

Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 6 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Reese Witherspoon	...	Elle Woods
Luke Wilson	...	Emmett
Selma Blair	...	Vivian Kensington
Matthew Davis	...	Warner
Victor Garber	...	Professor Callahan
Jennifer Coolidge	...	Paulette
Holland Taylor	...	Professor Stromwell
Ali Larter	...	Brooke Taylor Windham
Jessica Cauffiel	...	Margot
Alanna Ubach	...	Serena
Oz Perkins	...	Dorky David Kidney
Linda Cardellini	...	Chutney
Bruce Thomas	...	UPS Guy
Meredith Scott Lynn	...	Enid
Raquel Welch	...	Mrs. Windham Vandermark

Storyline

Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) has it all. She's the president of her sorority, a Hawaiian Tropic girl, Miss June in her campus calendar, and, above all, a natural blonde. She dates the cutest fraternity boy on campus and wants nothing more than to be Mrs. Warner Huntington III. But, there's just one thing stopping Warner (Matthew Davis) from popping the question: Elle is too blonde. Growing up across the street from Aaron Spelling might mean something in LA, but nothing to Warner's East-Coast blue blood family. So, when Warner packs up for Harvard Law and reunites with an old sweetheart from prep school, Elle rallies all her resources and gets into Harvard, determined to win him back. But law school is a far cry from the comforts of her poolside and the mall. Elle must wage the battle of her life, for her guy, for herself and for all the blondes who suffer endless indignities everyday.

---

Plot Keywords:

blonde | law | sorority | harvard | law school | 

---

Taglines:

Meet Elle Woods. She's a lawyer with a heart of gold...and a mane to match!

---

Genres:

Comedy | Romance

---

Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 July 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

La revanche d'une blonde

Filming Locations:

Villa del Sol d'Oro, 675 W Highland Ave, Sierra Madre California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,377,426, 15 July 2001, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$96,520,674

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$141,774,679

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM),Marc Platt Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow, Alicia Silverstone, Katherine Heigl, Christina Applegate, Milla Jovovich, and Jennifer Love Hewitt were all considered for Elle Woods.

---

Goofs

When the group leaves after meeting Brooke for the first time, Elle's hair repeatedly switches from being down by the side of her face, to being behind her ear between shots.

---

Quotes

Elle: This is what I need to become.
Old Lady at Manicurist: What? Practically deformed?
Elle: No, a law student.

---

Alternate Versions

There are eight deleted scenes which are:

• "After the Break-Up" - after the break up of Elle and Warner, Elle stumbles down the corridor. Her two friends are shocked, expecting to find a ring on her finger. (Keep)
• "Rollerblading" - a short scene that was part of Elle's admissions video sequence.
• "The Betting Pool" - Vivian and others place a betting pool at the party to see how long Elle would last at Harvard. This comes in the film after Elle storms out of the party after talking to Warner. (Keep)
• "Elle's Revenge" - Extended sequence where she exacts her revenge on Aaron, one of the people betting against her. He would eventually go on to lose all his money, though. Even Elle's bullies get a chuckle out of it. (Keep)
• "Depositions" - sequence where they interview the witnesses, one at a time with all lawyers present. They make Chutney sound so dumb in this scene (but she's always dumb), Enrique is exaggerating the story of after incident, sounding like some character off a soap opera.
• "Delta Nu Sister" - this makes sense when you watch it, a quick scene of Elle going to see Brooke in jail, hoping to get her alibi. She identifies herself to the police officer as Brooke's sister, Delta Nu. (Keep)
• "Professor Callahan & Emmett" - little quick scene where Emmett confronts Professor Callahan after he comes on to her. (Keep)
• "Mrs. Windham Vandermark" - quick cameo scene near the end of the film where Mrs. Windham tells Elle she was once a blonde, and that her daughter needs a good lawyer.

---

Connections

Referenced in Studio C: Episode #8.1 (2017)

---

Soundtracks

Watch Me Shine
Written by Dino Esposito
Performed by Joanna Pacitti
Produced by Dino Esposito
Under license from A&M Records

User Reviews

Reese Goes To Hah-Vard

Legally Blonde finds Reese Witherspoon in one of her breakthrough roles as sorority queen Elle Woods who is dumped by her preppy boyfriend Matthew Davis. He's moving on to Harvard Law School where he will get his law degree, marry a woman of good background in Selma Blair and claim the family legacy of public office. So there's no time for his homecoming queen Reese although I'm sure he'd arrange something on the side later.

She's totally floored by this, but our intrepid girl vows to fight fire with fire. If he can go be a Hah-Vard Law School Graduate so can she. I mean she's got a 4.0 GPA even if it is in fashion design.

But beneath her Barbie Doll personality, she actually does have a brain. She aces the law boards and sends a unique video essay that is something different for the admission committee to ponder. She gets to Harvard to be with Davis, who's unfortunately there with Blair.

At this point the charm of Reese Witherspoon really takes over and dominates the film. I'm not sure anyone else could have pulled off the part of Elle Woods. With that wonderful combination of charm and guilelessness, Reese Witherspoon has created an endearing character, one she's already done a sequel film with.

She's nicely aided by Luke Wilson as an attorney and crony of one of her law professors. Another performance that I liked was that of Holland Taylor as a feminist law professor who's initially put off by Witherspoon, but gradually comes to appreciate her worth.

In fact in the end just about everyone in the film comes to appreciate her worth, some to their regret.

I don't know about you, but I'd like to see a Legally Blonde 3.