“Legally Blonde” is classified as a Rom-Com but has a great message of girl power that might be overlooked because of the Rom-Com label. In fact, I was initially turned off from the Rom-Com label and thought it was just going to be another story of the girl getting the guy in the end. I ended up loving “Legally Blonde” a lot more than I anticipated.
The story starts off with Elle Woods getting ready for dinner with her boyfriend Warner, believing he will propose to her. They go to dinner and he unexpectedly dumps her and goes off to Harvard. Elle is devastated and decides she is going to go to Harvard and win her boyfriend back.
Elle gets to Harvard and makes a fool out of herself in her first law class, when a girl named Vivian Kensington supported the professor in kicking Elle out of the classroom. Elle meets Émmett, who gives her tips on how to do well in law school, then she meets up with her ex-boyfriend and learns he is engaged to Vivian. Elle becomes devastated and goes to a nail salon, where she meets Paulette.
While there, Elle learns about Paulette losing her dog during a divorce and eventually helps her get her dog back. The plot of Elle trying to win her ex-boyfriend back takes a backseat and the rest of the movie focuses on Elle finding her own success and she has a rivalry with Vivian.
Elle begins to do well in her classes and is taken on as a first-year law intern. Elle proved her intelligence early on by proving “Brooke’s lover” was actually gay and making the story up. She later gets an alibi from Brooke to prove her innocence and doesn’t tell Professor Callahan, the man she is interning under because she promised Brooke she wouldn’t. Vivan befriends Elle after this because she thought what Elle did was “classy.”
Things seem to be looking up for Elle until she stays behind to talk to Professor Callahan and he tries to make a move on her. Nothing happened but Vivian walked in at the wrong time and accused Elle of having an inappropriate relationship with Callahan. Elle almost quit because she felt no one took her seriously, but got her confidence back and was Brooke’s lawyer with Emmett’s help.
During the trial, it seemed that Elle had no idea what she was doing and that Brooke was done for. However, because Elle understood not being able to wash your hair after getting a perm for at least 24 hours, she was able to prove Brooke innocent.
Warner, of course, came to Elle begging for another chance, but she turned him down and he lost Vivian at the end, who became best friends with Elle. Besides evolving into a story about Elle’s success, she was also dating Emmett during her time in law school, but it wasn’t a large focus of the story and was revealed at the end of the film, he was also proposing to her on the night of her graduation.
“Legally Blonde” was a fantastic movie that started Elle going to law school to try to win her boyfriend back, but then shifting into her growth. In fact, most of the film focused more on Elle’s time in law school and her success rather than her having a boyfriend.
In fact, she did not have a known boyfriend for the majority of the film. Elle dating Emmett wasn’t a plotline, it was just quickly revealed at the film’s ending. Even though there is some romance, I feel that Rom-Com might be too broad of a term to describe “Legally Blonde.”
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