Here's a lesson for Hollywood about how movie dollars get spent.

It was a rainy weekday afternoon, and I decided to go to the movies. There were no obvious choices at the nearby multiplex, so I opted to roll the dice in a manner of speaking. I looked at the capsule reviews in the paper placed above the listings, and figured I'd attend the best-rated movie in the building.

And the winner was, "Legally Blonde," which had somehow slipped under my radar screen. I'm sure the studio spent some money on advertising and marketing, but I sure missed it.

As it turned out, I made an excellent choice for such an occasion. "Legally Blonde" is more entertaining than it had any right to be.

The major reason is Reese Witherspoon, noted for good work in such films as "Election." She plays a beautiful fashion major who is dumped by her boyfriend around college graduation because she might get in the way of his plans to be a Senator by age 30. ("I need to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn," says the character.)

He goes off to Harvard Law School, and she decides to follow right behind ... somehow gaining admission. Warner (Matthew Davis), the dim Senator-to-be, already has a fiance by then (Selma Blair). Witherspoon has the predictable problems of fitting in with the rigid academic environment. Think she'll get it straightened out? Think she'll wind up in a court room?

All right, the plot doesn't take too many bizarre twists and turns, but there's a good amount of fun along the way. Witherspoon is greatly responsible for that. She's in virtually every scene and is obviously having fun. The rest of the cast, in basketball terms, in merely passing her the ball.

The key to her performance is that she takes a character that is so stereotyped that it would be easy not to like her, and she has the audience rooting for her in no time. That's not easy, and it's the key to the movie. Someone less capable could have turned this movie into a something unwatchable.

It will be interesting to see where Witherspoon goes in the future. I'd like to see her roles that stretch her acting abilities. In the meantime, she sure carries "Legally Blind" to respectable heights.

Thanks for reading this review.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS