Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)

Legally Blonde

2001. Romantic Comedy

By Robert Luketic

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victor Garber, Jennifer Coolidge, Holland Taylor, Ali Larter, Jessica Cauffield, Alanna Ubach, Oz Perkins, Linda Cardellini...

Country: United States

Language: English

Monster-in-Law (2005)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

Monster-in-Law began with a thin concept and has nothing else. The characters are so flat they could be folded in half and slipped under your door. The romance is non-existent. The jokes are painfully unfunny. The complete lack of substance means you can predict entire scenes moments after they begin. This romantic comedy has no imagination whatsoever.

After a series of random encounters, Charlie (Jennifer Lopez) and Kevin (Michael Vartan) begin dating, fall in love and move in together. When he brings her to meet his mother, Viola (Jane Fonda), he decides to take the relationship to the next level and proposes. Mortified, Viola decides to do everything she can to break the couple apart. Feigning a medical condition, she agrees to let her "future daughter-in-law" take care of her while her son is away at a conference.

It’s a romantic comedy - at least in theory - so it’s no surprise we eventually get a happy ending. More than a given, it’s what the audience wants to see. Sure, it’d be unexpected to have Charlie murder Viola and run away into the sunset while the police are after her but no one who gets excited by the poster would leave pleased. As stated earlier, the problem isn't that we know how the movie will end, it's that writer Anya Kochoff has put no effort into their script. Charlie and Kevin have nothing in common. The film knows this and does everything it can to separate them asap. Kevin's extended work trip leaves the two female leads to battle it out and that's all Monster-in-Law cares about. If Kevin were present, there would be no movie. Not if he had a brain. It’s obvious to everyone watching that Viola is playing up her condition to make life hell for Charlie but everyone plays along because if they didn’t, the movie would be over and that can't until a sufficient amount of our time has been wasted.

The only way this premise could've worked is if it was commenting on racism, classism or homophobia. It doesn't, meaning there are all sorts of creepy connotations. As  human beings with the ability to think, we recognize that Charlie and her future husband can barely hold a conversation about what their day was like but the movie never acknowledges this. We're supposed to see them as a loving couple. Viola is just cooky and mean, except any sort of critical thinking reveals her as someone who's got some serious malfunctions in the head. What kind of person hires actors to play parts, pretends to take medicine and moves out of her house when a conversation would solve the issue? The film is never self-aware enough to realize what it’s trying to get us to swallow.

Director Robert Luketic (whose best movie, Legally Blonde must’ve been a fluke considering he directed this and The Ugly Truth) should be ashamed. It’s like he was making the movie up on the fly so many plot points or actions go unaddressed. Early in the movie, Charlie meets Fiona (Monet Mazue), Kevin's ex-fiancée. She lies to her and says that Kevin is gay to prevent them from getting together. After the truth is revealed and Charlie begins dating Kevin, she catches him kissing Fiona. He explains that it wasn't what it looked like. Fiona says otherwise. Why would Charlie believe the woman who lied to her earlier instead of the man she loves? There are so many points like this one that you can only come to the most lofical conclusion that no one cared.

Monster-in-Law is best compared to Ruby, Viola's loyal assistant, played by Wanda Sykes. She serves no purpose in the film except to provide snide remarks that fall flat and give “outrageous” reaction shots. So basically, she’s useless. So is Monster-in-Law. (August 7, 2020)

Legally Blonde (2001)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Like, duh. Obviously, I wouldn’t rate this anything lower than five stars.

It is better to look good than to feel good, but Elle Woods manages to achieve both in this heart-warming and empowering comedy. She is a so loyal to her gal pals and always sticks up for herself. She has always been an inspiration growing up.

Fuck Warner.

Watch this movie for

the pink & the feminism

the oh-so-satisfying karma jabs

Similar titles:

Barbie (2023) (also pink, but the message is a tad ‘Feminism 101’)

Uptown Girls (2003) (growing up, and doing it fabulously)

Film Meme - (5/8) Female Characters-Elle Woods

“It's impossible to use a half-loop stitching on low-viscosity rayon. It would snag the fabric. And you didn't just get it in - I saw it in the June Vogue a year ago. So if you're trying to sell it to me for full price, you've picked the wrong girl.”

*Legally Blonde (2001, dir. by Robert Luketic)

Legally Blonde (2001)

Title: 21

Rating: PG-13

Director: Robert Luketic

Cast: Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, Laurence Fishburne, Jack McGee, Josh Gad, Sam Golzari, Helen Carey, Jack Gilpin, Ben Campbell, Donna Lows, Butch Williams, Steven Richard Vezina, Chaska T. Werner

Release year: 2008

Genres: drama, crime

Blurb: Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent student at M.I.T. in Boston who strives to succeed. Though he wants to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine and become a doctor, Ben learns that he can't afford the $300,000 for the four to five years of schooling. One evening, he's introduced by his unorthodox math professor to a small but secretive club of five. Students Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher are being trained by Professor Rosa to count cards at blackjack...and they want Ben to join.

Kate Bosworth and Jim Sturgess in 21 (Robert Luketic, 2008)

Cast: Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, Laurence Fishburne, Jack McGee, Josh Gad, Sam Golzari, Helen Carey, Bob Phillips. Screenplay: Peter Steinfeld, Allan Loeb, based on a book by Ben Mezrich. Cinematography: Russell Carpenter. Production design: Missy Stewart. Film editing: Elliot Graham. Music: David Sardy. 

Harvard has a very fine medical school, no doubt. But so do NYU, Penn, Johns Hopkins, UCSF, Columbia, Stanford, Duke, and the University of Washington, to name a few. And 21 asks us to believe that its protagonist, Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess), is so set on going to Harvard's, and only Harvard's, that he will betray his friends, lie to his mother, and put his life in jeopardy to raise the money he needs to attend. He's already been admitted, of course. He has straight A's at MIT and a genius IQ. Moreover, he's an ideal candidate for financial support: He has a single mother and has to work part time. But according to the screenplay, there's only one scholarship available and it has scores of other applicants. So Ben will find himself roped into a card-counting system devised by a rather shady MIT professor of statistics, Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), who takes a group of hand-picked students and trains them in a foolproof system of beating the odds at the blackjack tables in Las Vegas. The premise is valid: Ben Mezrich reported on an actual MIT Blackjack Team in his 2003 book Bringing Down the House. But the makers of 21 aren't interested in the actuality of Mezrich's book, maybe because it involves a lot of boring stuff like mathematics. So they cobbled it into a routine con-game drama, with some Vegas glamour, a little romance, some snaky double-crossing, a little violence, and a moderately happy ending. The actual MIT team was mostly Asian, so there are some token Asians in the cast, but the movie's story centers on the good-looking white guy and the dishy blonde. That the Vegas casinos wouldn't spot this gang of pretty people as phonies defies belief. At best, 21 is a passable time-waster.

21 (2008)

Legally Blonde (2001)

You can foresee every beat in Legally Blonde and ultimately, the picture is little more than a fluffy, breezy comedy - but that’s exactly what it aims to be. This is the kind of movie you’d watch as a teen and fall in love with, always treasuring it even if you start spotting the flaws in later years.

Sorority girl Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) expects her boyfriend, Warner Huntington III (Matthew Davis), to propose. Instead, he breaks up with her. He says she’s not “serious” enough to be wife material for a future lawyer at Harvard. Determined to win him back, Elle applies to Harvard Law as well - and gets accepted.

Two things above all make this film work. The first is Reese Witherspoon. It helps that she’s adorable as a button but one look at her face and you know her soul is pure and clean. This leads us to the second great thing about Legally Blonde; Elle Woods. Though she may come from a rich family and her looks would be able to land her any man she wants, she’s an underdog at Harvard. Men, women, teachers and students all take one look at her and pass judgment without hesitation. They think because she likes pink and takes care of her hair that she’s stupid. She isn’t. No matter where you come from, you see a part of yourself in Elle. We’ve all been in her position and there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing bullies proved wrong. Elle deserves to set them straight because she’s honest, compassionate and charismatic. Even if she wasn't a golden-haired beauty who looks good in a bathing suit and knows it, her personality would win you over.

Twenty-plus years after its release, several elements of the film have unfortunately dated Legally Blonde. For all its talk of not judging people based on their appearances, it utilizes quite a few stereotypes (primarily when shaping its gay and lesbian characters) and if this film were made today, you probably wouldn’t have quite so many moments that approach the #Metoo movement. You could also criticize its conclusion, which works hard to wrap up everything too quickly while also offering everything you want to see. There are several elements director Robert Luketic jettisons unceremoniously when someone should really address them. That’s fine. They don’t take away from the many laughs and moments of sweetness. You know Elle’s unique penchant for fashion will be what makes the difference in the big case she’s been given. That’s your moment of triumph. It might be easier for her to become exactly like her romantic rival, Vivian (Selma Blair) and wear nothing but turtleneck sweaters but then she wouldn’t be herself. You want Elle Woods to succeed. She deserves it.

Legally Blonde could’ve been a lot more hard-hitting. Instead, it’s fun and light, even pleasantly silly. This makes it so easy to digest you almost don’t realize you’re watching an empowering story about the importance of being yourself. You go in expecting some laughs. You get them, and a lot more thanks to Witherspoon’s terrific performance. She makes Elle a real person. You’d be hard-pressed to dislike Legally Blonde; it glitters with charm. (May 8, 2020)