A word of warning here for all you "Superpricee Film Op Fans" (all three of you) - this isn't my usual style of film op. Normally I do a wee bit of background research on a film, reading the video jacket, a press release or two, maybe even a trip to the Internet Movie Database. Well, not this time. All I've done in preparation for this op is watch the film at the cinema. Why the lack of in-depthness, I hear you cry? Well, to be honest, I just couldn't be bothered. Well, it's not quite as clear-cut as that - I just feel deeply underwhelmed by the film, and I shall now endeavour to tell you why.
PLOT: Very simple this bit. Elle Woods is your typical (or not, as I'll allude to later on) California ditzy blonde, who lives to shop and party. After being dumped by her posh boyfriend for not being up to the standard required for his future role in public life (he wants to be a senator), Elle decides she's going to win him back. In order to do this, she somehow manages to get admitted to Harvard Law School, and much hilarity ensues. Or doesn't. Anyway, you get the gist of it - think of Clueless set at an elite haven of snobbery and you're halfway there. But while Clueless was a decent (i.e. FUNNY) movie, this falls a little bit short.
CAST
AND CHARACTERS: The central character of Elle is actually quite a good one - she's not your completely stereotypical dumb blonde. She's actually not dumb at all, and that's the one thing that I really DID like about this film. Right from the start (in a scene in a clothes shop) Elle is shown to be an intelligent and thoughtful person, who although she has the dumb blonde exterior and overly-bubbly too-social outward persona of an IQ-deficient "chewny-swinger" (if you don't know what that means, it's a Dundonian term meaning "girl who stands around swinging about half-chewed gum in an effort to look dead cool, with the opposite effect"), in fact possesses a keen intellect, and is not one for being pigeon-holed. A nice touch, especially when she meets up with another girl of similar type, who just happens to be on trial for murder - this character, Brooke Taylor, is also a "dumb blonde" who isn't so dumb, but has made a career for herself by exploiting preconceptions. This whole "the ones who are being laughed at are actually doing the laughing themselves" concept is tremendous, and it is a shame that this angle in the film isn't explored more fully. The other characters in the film ARE complete stereotypes, although the acting is fine everywhere. Warner the boyfriend is a shallow fool who ends up with nothing, his posh new girlfriend who initially hates Elle but ends up admitting the error of her ways, the slimy law professor who starts off being helpful but just wants in her pants, the nasty law professor who ends up being a rock and an inspiration - you can see them all coming.
(actually, the best fun I had with this film was playing "What were they in before?" with myself - you'll find Stifler's mum from American Pie as Paulette from the Salon, and one of the surviving girls from Final Destination as the Murder Suspect)
SETS AND DIRECTION: Um, well.......it's set in Harvard, which is a pretty campus with leaves everywhere. Don't know (and don't care) who the director was. Nothing special to report here. I shall now move on.....
PLUSSES: Well, it's a comedy film I didn't find particularly funny, but there are a couple of genuine hilarious moments - Paulette breaking the Delivery Guy's nose while trying to seduce him is the best, Elle's video-diary entry essay she sends to the Harvard admissions committee is brilliant, and there a few shopping and dumb-blonde related funnies that I can relate to (my girlfriend could shop for Scotland at international level). The film is a feel-good movie, and it certainly isn't BAD. I just didn't think it was GOOD.
MINUSES: Curiously, this film is a film of two halves (first half dreadful, second half quite chucklesome and fairly enjoyable), although there is no real "split" in the film itself. The characters are too stereotypical, the plot too obvious, and, most of all, for a sharp comedy it was nowhere near funny enough. HOWEVER. I am prepared to admit that, as a man, an awful lot of humour was totally lost on me, as the numerous occasions where Kirsty was ending herself while I had a blank look on my face showed. I think this is just a bit too much of a chick flick, aimed too far at the female side of the market, whereas broadly similar films like the aforementioned Clueless, She's All That and Never Been Kissed manage to appeal a bit more to the boys, and are therefore more enjoyable.
OVERALL: Although I didn't like this film, there are a few things to commend it. Reese Witherspoon plays an excellent part in Elle, the not-so-dumb blonde with hidden depths, and there are a few really hilarious funnies. I think my maleness is what's stopped me enjoying this movie, so I can't be too hard on it. But then, I have to rate it as I see it from my own point of view, and not my girlfriend's! Suffice to say, if you're a girl, you'll love it. If you're a bloke, well - don't say I didn't warn you.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Director: Tony Dow - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: John Challis, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Tessa Peake-Jones, Gwyneth Strong
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Thanx for a great op - i really enjoyed the film (im blonde) but you did actually re-cap my memory with a few of the scenes, cheers! :) LAx
bhairuk 30.11.2001 14:43
well i rerated it ok and read it when i didnt have a hang over
moose 12.11.2001 14:13
LOLOLOLOL! This is EXACTLY why I didn't drag my bloke along to see it - you guys never appreciate a real good click flick with loads of fluffy pink things in it do you!!!! Excellent review made me laugh!
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Witherspoons Elle is a ditzy blonde forced by circumstances to metamorphose into a strong-minded and academic lawyer, without losing her strong sense of self in the ...
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sorority queen who enrolls at Harvard Law School. Expecting her boyfriend Warner Huntington III (Matthew Davis) to propose Elle is mortified when instead he says he nee...
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![Legally Blonde [DVD] [2001]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78531096.jpg "Legally Blonde [DVD] [2001]")
Nov 5th, 2001
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