The favorite film:

Doesn’t she look like she’d make an amazing lawyer? Bruiser can be second chair! (Image via Fanpop)

Legally Blonde, a 2001 MGM romantic comedy that spawned a sequel (2003’s Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde), a straight-to-DVD spin-off that shall not be named and a hit Broadway adaptation. The film was directed by Robert Luketic, and adapted from Amanda Brown’s novel by screenwriters Karen McCullah Lutz and Kristen Smith.

The synopsis:
Elle Woods is a beautiful, blonde California sorority queen. She’s a Hawaiian Tropic model, is an expert on fashion and is in a serious relationship with the most eligible frat boy on campus. As the film opens, Elle is preparing for the Big Night in which she hopes her boyfriend, Warner Huntington III, will propose to her.
But rather than put a ring on her finger, Warner dumps Elle. He’s from a high-class, East Coast family who expect him to marry “a Jackie, not a Marilyn” and become a senator.
In order to try to win her sweetheart back, Elle concocts a plan to get into Harvard Law herself, impressing Warner and his family her brains rather than her blonde-ness.

The cast:
Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods
Matthew Davis as Warner
Selma Blair as Vivian
Luke Wilson as Emmett
Victor Garber as Professor Callahan
Jennifer Coolidge as Paulette
Holland Taylor as Professor Stromwell
Ali Larter as Brooke Taylor Windham
Jessica Cauffiel and Alanna Ubach as Elle’s sorority sidekicks, Margot and Serena

It’ll be hard to win Warner back when he’s already planted a huge rock on stuffy Vivian’s finger. (Image via Fanpop)

Fun facts:

  • Reese Witherspoon’s goal was to portray Elle as something more than a stereotypical, shallow and air-headed sorority girl. In order to make this happen, she spent two weeks studying actual sorority sisters and Neiman Marcus customers.
  • Both the setting (Harvard) and the sorority (Delta Nu) were changed from book to film in order to avoid conflicts with the real organizations.
  • Before MGM produced the film, it was turned down by Universal.
  • Reese Witherspoon’s contract required that she be able to keep all of her many costumes after filming. She sports 40 hairstyles and nearly as many outfits throughout the course of the film.
  • Tori Spelling and Chloe Sevigny were considered for the roles of Elle and Vivian. (No offense to either, but I’m really glad they didn’t get/take the parts!)

Favorite things:

  • Elle told that saleswoman. Don’t mess with a girl who knows her fabrics!
  • Never trust a sorority “good luck” card. Warner + Elle =/= 4 Ever
  • Elle’s video essay – should I try this tactic when I start applying for grad school?
  • Totally awesome, early millennium pop soundtrack. Sing it with me, folks: “It’s a per-fect da-ay!”
  • Tony Perkins’ son is in it. Yes, that Tony Perkins. Oz Perkins plays a very awkward character and eventually does some very awkward dancing.  It’s completely awesome.
  • Stephen Hawking stole my paper… and I’m full enough of myself to wear a shirt that says “GENIUS”
  • The whole cast gives completely believable performances, and the ensemble of characters is a lot of fun to watch. A particular favorite side character is the ultra-awkward but also sweet, dog-obsessed beautician Paulette, portrayed by the underrated Jennifer Coolidge.
  • Elle has a fuzzy pink cordless phone cover… and a matching cover for the tissue box.
  • Elle’s wardrobe in law school features quite professional silhouettes, but often in blinding, fluorescent-bright colors. Some of the outfits are very nice, though, such as the ensemble she wears on the first day of her internship.
  • Bend… and snap!
  • Elle is quick to come to the defense of “Dorky David Kidney” when he’s picked on by a few rude ladies.
  • The use of dramatic slow-mo when Paulette drops the UPS man’s signing pen
  • Elle’s revenge on Warner in the end
  • Elle’s dad thinks the graduation is BYOM (Bring Your Own Martini… and he does. Three olives!)
  • Pretty much everyone except Warner wins in the end.

    Elle meets a cast of odd characters at orientation, but she seems like the odd one out to them. (Image via toutlecine.com)
  • Quotes:
    • Warner: “Bad salad.”
    • Elle: “LIAR! (Throws chocolate)”
    • Mr. Woods: “Law school is for people who are boring, and ugly, and… serious.“
    • Warner: “You… got into Harvard Law?”
      Elle: “What, like it’s hard?”
    • Elle: “I’ll show you how valuable Elle Woods can be!” (And then she goes to buy a laptop while wearing a bunny costume)
    • Paulette: “I’m takin’ the dog… DUMBASS!”
    • Brooke: “LIPOSUCTION! Oh, God!”
    • Vivian: “He got waitlisted.”
    • Brooke: “You know a Delta Nu would never sleep with a man who wears a thong.”
    • Serena: “Look how cute! There’s, like, a judge and everything!”
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