Legally Blonde
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation (MGM) | Release Date: July 13, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
14
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
SalonStephanie 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
SlateDavid 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
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Witherspoon -- though miles from the keen satire of "Election" -- stays one sharp cookie even as her film crumbles. Read full review
60
VarietyTodd 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
60
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Predictable, cutesy and surprisingly short on genuine humor, Legally Blonde gets by thanks to the magnetic presence of Witherspoon. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJessica 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
Christian Science MonitorDavid 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
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Benefits enormously from smart casting across the board. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth 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 PostJonathan Foreman
Merely a watery, poorly directed update of "Clueless." Read full review
50
The New York TimesDana 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
Washington PostMichael 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
40
Mr. ShowbizKevin 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.
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