Legally Blonde review

Reese Witherspoon's career goes from strength to strength with every film she makes. While she may not be a household name just yet on this side of the Atlantic, she has cornered the Hollywood market in playing the precocious, bratty and spoilt young woman. She excelled as the manipulative would-be High School President in the fabulous Election, shone in the amusing and lightweight Cruel Intentions and now with her latest film confirms that she is one of the brightest young comedic actresses around.

There's nothing challenging or offensive about Legally Blonde and for most of its running time it cracks along at an amusing and enjoyable pace. Witherspoon stars as Elle Woods, a major in fashion marketing and sorority queen at an exclusive Californian college. With the ability to spot a fake Prada at fifty paces, the singular most important thing in Elle's life is her desire to marry her would-be Senator boyfriend Warner Huntingdon III (Matthew Davis). But when Warner tells her he is dumping her and is off to enrol at Harvard Law School, no amount of manicures and skin-cleaning sessions can console a heart-broken Elle.

That is until she comes up with the bright idea of enrolling at Harvard herself. In one of the film's most amusing scenes, her Martini-quaffing parents react in horror: 'Harvard is for squares', but an undaunted Elle hires a Coppola to make a video entrance essay and it is enough to persuade the squares at Harvard to let her in. Once she arrives, of course, she is a fish out of water: designer-clad, pooch in hand and driving her Porsche she fills her right-on classmates with horror. Even worse for Elle is that her beloved Warner has wangled himself a beautiful new girlfriend (the talented Selma Blair). How will Elle manage to win Warner back and prove to her classmates and professors that she has a right to be there?

Screenwriters Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith (who debuted a couple of years back with the above average teen comedy Ten Things I Hate About You) have penned a pacy comedy which has more than its fair share of decent one-liners. There's an old-fashioned screwball feel to Legally Blonde and Witherspoon is the perfect leading lady: her ditzy nature and impeccable comic timing give the film an energy so often lacking in bigscreen comedies. Newcomer Robert Luketic directs with colourful style, and it is only when Elle becomes involved in a murder trial that the pace starts to flag. Nevertheless, this is well-polished fare: pretty much instantly forgettable but an amusing way to while away a couple of hours in the cinema.