susan granger's review of " legally blonde " ( m . g . m . ) it's a " pretty in pink " / " clueless " coming-of-age story for the new millennium as elle woods ( reese witherspoon ) , a perky southern california sorority queen , switches from fashion to law in order to win back her yuppy boyfriend ( matthew davis ) . the girl-power story begins as this sweetheart of delta nu is unceremoniously dumped by a bonehead who says : " if i'm going to be a senator by the time i'm 30 . . . i need to marry a jackie , not a marilyn . " determined to prove she's as smart a snobby brunette ( selma blair ) from country-club connecticut , elle not only applies to harvard law school but gets in , much to the amazement of family , friends and faculty . once there , this flaxen-haired fish-out-of-water not only survives but tenaciously thrives , befriending a local manicurist ( jennifer coolidge ) , dazzling a professor ( victor garber ) and rescuing a defendant ( ali larter ) in a celebrated boston murder trial , plus finding a more worthy beau ( luke wilson ) . in the tradition of teen-comedy film-maker john hughes and his disciple amy heckerling , there's wit , cheerfulness , a fidelity of observation and a penchant for problem-solving . first-time feature director robert luketic is blessed with reese witherspoon who's joyously incandescent in this utterly formulaic light comedy written by karen mccullah lutz and kirsten smith , based on a soon-to-be-published novel by amanda brown . the supporting cast is terrific , particularly raquel welch and holland taylor - and i particularly got a kick out of the gag of elle distributing scented resumes in pink , her signature color on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , " legally blonde " is a frivolous , funny , feel-good 8 . filled with ditzy blonde ambition , it's a movie for high-school kids that their parents would be happy to have them see .
