1061. Legally Blonde (2001)

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair

Director: Robert Luketic

Running Time: 96 mins

Legally Blonde is an American film about a popular sorority queen who, after being dumped by her boyfriend, enrols in Harvard Law School in the hope of getting him back, only to discover that she actually has a real talent for litigation.

This may be a cutesy, happy chick flick, but it’s so painfully predictable and boring to watch that it’s really hard to be uplifted by its positivity. What’s more is that the characters are largely annoying, and the comedy is really below-par.

Let’s start with the person at the centre of this film, Reese Witherspoon. Now, I like her as much as the next person, but in this film, she’s just so annoying. Her performance is perfectly decent in terms of sticking to the brief of an LA prom queen/dumb blonde stereotype on the outside, but it’s almost an overdone performance, because despite the character being very well-meaning, intelligent and kind-hearted, her exterior image is frustrating enough to put you off supporting her completely.

In terms of the story, it’s the general sort of chick flick plot, although there is an impressive lack of emphasis on romantic pursuits that pushes this slightly away from being too generic. However, the problem is that the part of the story that should be most interesting, that is this woman’s struggle to be an accepted law student, is tedious.

She may face prejudice at first, but it all gets dealt with within seconds, and then whenever there are any dilemmas or more important moments, they last for a fleeting moment, meaning this just isn’t an interesting story to watch at all.

Of course, you can always say that the intent of this film isn’t to make an intriguing plot, but give you a good laugh. I’m always open to that idea, however it just doesn’t work if the comedy isn’t funny either! The laughs are so weak here, it’s impossible to believe that this is rated PG-13, with only the odd slapstick joke giving you a good chuckle, resulting in a tediously unfunny film that doesn’t engage you in any way, and that’s why it gets a 5.9 from me.