Legally Blonde

I think the elephant in the room for people reading this review is that this movie is outside of every other movie I've reviewed. Romcoms are NOT a Matt Zimmer genre. But me and this movie have a bit of an interesting history. Believe it or not, I saw this one in the theater. I spent my own money on it. Why? The movie had one of the best trailers I had ever seen. It pushed all of my buttons regarding perseverence and empowerment and believing in yourself. I may be a genre guy, but the kind genre guy I am is a Trekkie. That's like catnip for us.

Ultimately, when I saw it in the theater I, of course, left disappointed. I honestly didn't really expect to love it, but the trailer had me hoping I could.

My opinion on the film has both warmed a little bit decades later, and I also acknowledge that the movie is problematic in a few respects in hindsight.

I'll talk about a problem that I believe other people will perceive about it first, and maybe sort of acknowledge it's a real concern, and also not one that I believe the movie itself ultimately suffers from. But has anybody in hindsight hate-reviewed the film for essentially making a rich, beautiful, popular white girl the underdog, and the intellectual elites the bullies? If that button isn't pushed in 2022, I'll be shocked. But while on the surface that appears to be what is going on, I don't think it accurately describes either Elle Woods or the characters around her. It's how the movie sold itself as, but I think that interpretation is missing the forest for the trees.

Now when Warner asks her how she got into Harvard, the laughline in the trailer was, "What? Like it's hard?" And no lie, her video in the bikini makes me absolutely cringe in hindsight. But both with Callahan's actions and the old dudes accepting her upon seeing that hot mess of a video, the movie states an unpleasant truth. It doesn't hold a value judgment against it, mostly because we love Elle, but the truth is good-looking people are given bigger breaks than ugly people. Sara Rue in 2001 would have had no shot if she released an identical video. And yes, Elle has to work hard to prove her worth. But it wasn't just the fact that she's smart and aced her LSATS. Part of the reason she got into Harvard is because she looks great in a bikini.

The reason this doesn't anger me as much as it could have is because despite Elle being granted that lucky break, the truth is she DOES work hard and she IS smart. And the reason nobody thinks she is is because her friends are stupid. Maybe if she hung out with people as smart as she is, she wouldn't be dismissed so easily. But the thing about Elle Woods that I appreciate is that while she IS smart, what she values is kindness. And the film is her performing random acts of kindness to everyone she meets simply because she can. And a lot of the seeming smart people in the movie aren't very nice.

But it turns out Warner isn't very smart and it turns out Vivian is nice after all. The movie could totally have been a slam against pointy-headed coastal elites if it weren't for the fact that with Holland Taylor's professor and Luke Wilson as Emmit, the film clearly values intelligence and knowledge and learning. And while that is true, I can't get mad for the subversive message of making the hot chick so abused and put-upon.

And in hindsight, I like the scene with Elle in the clothing store at the beginning where the salewoman sees her as a dumb blonde to take advantage of, but it turns out she's smarter than the saleswoman. People spend the movie underestimating Elle's intellect, which tells me the complaint that the movie is essentially the glorification of Karens everywhere is totally inaccurate.

I'll tell you another thing I love about Elle's intelligence. While she certainly doesn't shove it down people's throats, she also doesn't hide it or act secretly ashamed of it. She's not self-conscious about it at ALL which is beyond refreshing.

I forget the woman's name, but when she bitterly suggests Elle probably called people like her the d-word behind her back, I was like "If Elle were secretly the patron saints of Karens she would never outright say she never uses that word." Especially not in 2001. And that stuff is why I forgive a problematic premise.

I recall back in the day the movie lost me for randomly turning Victor Garber's character into the villain who is using Elle to get into her pants. That sadly still stands, but it's not as big of a deal-breaker or disappointment as it was when I first saw it.

One of the things that people could legit criticize the movie and Elle Woods over is that this specific heroine spends the movie defining herself by a man. And a seemingly crappy man at that. And the actually happy ending is that she stops doing that. It's her rejecting Warner for not being good enough for HER. This movie feels especially nice for that reason in hindsight. It flipped the princess' Prince Charming quest on its head to realize she don't need a dude, much less a mental dwarf.

If somebody ever tells you trailers don't matter, and mean nothing, keep in mind I saw this film in the theater because it had a great one. It's slightly better than I remember too. The movie was a surprise, out of nowhere smash too, but I wasn't actually shocked at all. It had a hell of a trailer. ***1/2.