Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
66 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Legally Blonde

EMAILPRINTMGM

Legally Blonde reviews
59
7.9 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 47 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy

Written by: Karen McCullah Lutz
Kirsten Smith
Amanda Brown (novel)

Directed by: Robert Luketic

Release Date:
Theatrical: July 13, 2001
DVD: November 6, 2001

Running Time: 94 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for language and sexual references

Starring Reese Witherspoon, Matthew Davis, Selma Blair, Luke Wilson, and Holland Taylor

Elle Woods (Witherspoon) has it all. She's the president of her sorority, a Hawaiian Tropic girl, Miss June in her campus calendar, and, above all, a natural blonde. She dates the cutest fraternity boy on campus and wants nothing more than to be Mrs. Warner Huntington III. But, there's just one thing stopping Warner (Davis) from popping the question: Elle is TOO blonde. So, when Warner packs up for Harvard Law and reunites with an old sweetheart from prep school, Elle rallies all her resources and gets into Harvard, determined to win him back. (MGM)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80

Newsweek David Ansen

If this Popsicle of a movie melts long before it's over, the first half has more good laughs than all of “Sweethearts.”

Read Full Review >
80

Wall Street Journal Ed Epstein

Thanks to Ms. Witherspoon's artful portrayal of a winning, if beachless, Gidget, I found Legally Blonde very enjoyable.

80

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

In a perfect marriage of player and part, Reese Witherspoon is Elle Woods.

Read Full Review >
80

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Blondes may or may not have more fun, but in this one case, they certainly provide more fun.

Read Full Review >
75

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A featherweight comedy balanced between silliness and charm.

Read Full Review >
75

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Smart screwball comedy that upends the stereotype of the airhead towhead.

Read Full Review >
75

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Imagine the sequel to "Clueless" reconceived as a peroxide "Paper Chase" and punched up with a valley girl version of "My Cousin Vinny" for the climax.

Read Full Review >
75

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

Guilty of inciting a near-laugh riot thanks to an irresistible leading lady whose comic instincts are as impeccable as her manicure.

Read Full Review >
75

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Witherspoon goes further, pouring so much humor and pizzazz into Elle that she lifts up the whole movie.

Read Full Review >
70

TV Guide Stephen Miller

Witherspoon turns in yet another stellar, nuanced comic performance.

Read Full Review >
70

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

With her ductile physicality and undeniable charm, Witherspoon remains acutely present even when everyone else -- director, writers and cast -- has checked out.

Read Full Review >
67

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Somewhere in that chirpy half-pint frame dwell some meaty comic chops. Goldie Hawn may have found her successor.

Read Full Review >
67

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Alas, the movie just isn't bouncy, fresh or funny enough. It's just not blonde enough.

Read Full Review >
67

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

She may be follically blond, but as an actor of distinction who's all of 25, Reese Witherspoon reveals interesting dark roots even as she plays golden girls.

Read Full Review >
63

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Unashamedly sticks with its light comedy roots.

63

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Like all blond jokes, Legally Blonde is basically meanspirited, and that's when it's funniest.

Read Full Review >
63

Boston Globe Jay Carr

There's always Witherspoon, swimming upstream and never letting it slow her down. Blindingly purposeful, she's a perky blond tornado. Marilyn Monroe would not only have cheered her on. She'd have learned something.

Read Full Review >
63

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

A smart comedy about a smart blonde -- that would be a sensation. But a dumb comedy about a smart blonde turns out to be not bad.

Read Full Review >
60

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Witherspoon's sophisticated-pixie brilliance practically makes the movie, and her easy, confident, curvaceous carriage doesn't hurt, either -- she's the thinking guy's cupcake, maybe because her mind is just as supple as her curves.

Read Full Review >
60

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Witherspoon -- though miles from the keen satire of "Election" -- stays one sharp cookie even as her film crumbles.

Read Full Review >
60

Slate David Edelstein

I half-admire its exquisite balancing act, squeezing laughs out of its leading lady's wardrobe, vocabulary, gestures, and cretinously oblivious Beverly Hills sense of entitlement, while simultaneously demonstrating her brilliance, sturdy ethics, and unflappable egalitarianism.

Read Full Review >
60

Variety Todd McCarthy

The mildly engaging silliness of its premise is never transformed into something more substantial, and the attempt at a fine-tuned "Clueless"-like tone is only sputteringly achieved.

Read Full Review >
50

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Benefits enormously from smart casting across the board.

Read Full Review >
50

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Witherspoon fills the screen with bright-eyed bounce. The rest of the cast is as forgettable as the flimsy story.

Read Full Review >
50

Village Voice Jessica Winter

A junk-food movie striving to be nutritious -- it's one of your racier Be Yourself after-school specials crossed with 'Who Moved My Cheese?" for Cosmo girls.

Read Full Review >
50

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Guilty of squandering resources. Amusing as it goes about setting up its premise, in Witherspoon, the gifted veteran of "Election" and "Pleasantville," it has an actress willing to throw herself completely into the part to excellent effect.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Merely a watery, poorly directed update of "Clueless."

Read Full Review >
50

The New York Times Dana Stevens

The character as written is incoherent, but Ms. Witherspoon has the reflexes to make Elle both appealing and ridiculous. It's funny -- in that slightly queasy, un-P.C. Doris Day kind of way.

Read Full Review >
40

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

That's just not enough to recommend it, though it does have one moment of real justice: The person sentenced to jail has truly bad hair.

40

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Really nothing more than "Clueless" redux but without the edgy, knowing wit.

Read Full Review >
40

New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein

The muddiness of the basic concept and the thinness of its execution eventually defeat even Witherspoon's talents.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 47 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Crystal L. gave it a10:
I love this movie. It's a great feel good about yourself film.

Jared B. gave it a10:
This is one of the smartest, funniest comedies I have ever seen. Reese Witherspoon was absolutely hilarious. Even as a straight male, I found myself wanting to kill Victor Garber's character near the end. This movie rocked.

Kirstie R. gave it a10:
Awesome movie, blew my mind away.

Angie G. gave it a3:
The most predictable movie EVER! Believe me, even if you haven't seen it, you have.

Liz S. gave it a 9:
I think Witherspoon really acted her heart out in this smart comedy about a blonde, who isn't so dumb after all. This movie has pure spice, originality, and a great sense of humor. This is a definite family movie, and I recommend it for everyone. Even those who despise preps...

Yoon Min C. gave it a 7:
A smart dumb blonde comedy it panders to both the elitist and populist in each of us. With its fish out of tank scenario, Witherspoon plays an elitist by West Coast standards who's a plebian by haughty East Coast Ivy League standards. Never rising to the level of satire it's happy to refashion what's really tired material. It only deviates from most airhead comedies of its kind due to its heady political incorrectness, most often at the expense of gays(though no harm done). However, what really brings the movie to life and maintains its generally cheerful spirit is Reese Witherspoon who plays her character both conceited and conscientious, carefree and caring. A bubbly movie with lots of sparkle.

Jen S. gave it an 8:
First of all, I have seen "Clueless", and "Legally Blonde" is DEFINITELY not a copy of it. And I hope you know, it was a NOVEL before it became a movie (see who wrote it) and the person who wrote it went through the same things Elle did in the movie, so how can that be copying "Clueless"?

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use