The movie, which was seen by many as part of the ''Girl Power'' movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s, is based on a book by Amanda Brown of her unpleasant time at Stanford Law School as the spoiled child of a name partner of Brown & Bain, and has spawned a 2003 sequel, ''Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde''.
Although the film's setting is Harvard University, the movie was actually filmed at UCLA; the real Harvard only appears briefly in certain aerial shots.
While Elle is a sister of Delta Nu sorority in the movie, the real sorority Delta Gamma is the sorority mentioned in the book.
A stage musical titled ''Legally Blonde: The Musical'' will premiere at the Palace Theatre on Broadway on April 29, 2007, presented by Hal Luftig and Fox Theatricals, producers of the Broadway musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. The score is by Nell Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe. O'Keefe is the composer/lyricist of Bat Boy: The Musical.
'''Tagline:''' ''This summer, go blonde!''
Plot
''Legally Blonde'' is the story of a rich girl, Elle Woods, who enjoys fast cars, credit cards, and shopping sprees with her friends in Beverly Hills. Her favorite color is pink, which is the predominant color of most of her possessions.She applies to Harvard Law School (Stanford University in the book) to follow her boyfriend and prove to everyone that she is more than a free-spending, free-spirited young woman. Elle scores high enough on the Law School Admissions Test to be accepted to the school, and her unusual application videotape wins the approval of the admissions board, mainly because it would show that they accept a diverse amount of students. She brings her pet chihuahua with her and expects to find happiness at Harvard, but she is met by skepticism of her abilities to graduate from the school.
Things do not turn out as easy as Elle believed they would at Harvard Law. Many people are critical of her abilities, and few people take her seriously when she tries to act as a lawyer. However, she manages to find someone who believes in her in Emmett, a graduate of Harvard Law. She is assigned to the difficult case of a young woman (a member of the same sorority as Elle) who is accused of the murder of her older, wealthy husband. Meanwhile, Elle finds out that Warner (Her ex-boyfriend) is engaged, but she befriends Warner's fiance, the two of them bonding over Elle's dog. She briefly thinks about leaving the case after her professor hits on her- he assigned her to the case because he liked the way she looked- but Emmett convinces her to stay on nevertheless.
Her professor is fired by the accused, and Elle takes over. She discovers that the one witness who was being used by the prosecutors- the pool cleaner, who claimed he was having an affair with the accused- is actually gay (Given that he is able to correctly identify her shoes, something that a straight man should know nothing about), and who had been perjuring himself on the stand after being bribed by the real killer.
Using her beauty expertise, she makes the victim's daughter confess to the crime (The daughter claimed to be having a shower at the time, but Elle knew that, having had her hair permed recently, the daughter couldn't have showered without deactivating the ammonium thioglycolate and therefore ruining her perm), thereby proving her client's innocence. Subsequently, Elle graduates at the top of her class, Emmett forms his own practice and proposes to Elle after graduation, and Warner's fiance leaves him (He also graduates with no honours or job offers).
Cast
*Reese Witherspoon – Elle Woods*Luke Wilson – Emmett Richmond
*Selma Blair – Vivian Thelma Kensington
*Matthew Davis – Warner Huntington III
*Victor Garber – Professor Callahan
*Jennifer Coolidge – Paulette Bonafonté
*Holland Taylor – Professor Stromwell
*Ali Larter – Brooke Taylor Windham
*Jessica Cauffiel – Margot
*Alanna Ubach – Serena
*Oz Perkins – 'Dorky' David Kidney
*Linda Cardellini – Chutney Windham
*Bruce Thomas – UPS Guy
*Meredith Scott Lynn – Enid Wexler
*Raquel Welch – Mrs. Windham Vandermark
*Wayne Federman – Harvard Admissions Counselor
