So when Elle says “It's impossible to use a half-loop top-stitching on low-viscosity rayon. It would snag the fabric.” does that actually make sense or is it just nonsense? If it makes sense can someone explain it?
I think the honest answer is a little bit of both. Based on a google search it seems like the basic fact is true, a half-loop stitch is a sewing technique that is indeed not suitable for delicate fabrics such as rayon or China Silk (which is substituted in the musical). However on the other hand a half-loop stitch is a hand sewing technique so it's unlikely that a dress being sold in a shop would use it anyway since even high end clothing is still generally done with a sewing machine nowadays.
Basically, Elle just plucked the first thing she could think of that no brand in their right mind would ever do (using a completely inappropriate stitch for the fabric) and used it to trip up the saleswoman. The fact that the stitch/fabric combo makes no sense is only relevant insofar as it reveals that the saleswoman has no idea what she's talking about.
Elle's trust
Was anyone a little put off by how Elle was utterly convinced Brooke was innocent... because they went to the same Sorority? If someone like Warner had said "I can't believe a Harvard man would murder" (or words to that affect) it would at best look ridiculously naive, and possibly even villainous but Elle's version of the old school tie network is completely okay (yes Brooke is innocent, but a lot of Elle's conviction seems to be based on bias because Brooke is a lot like her.)
It wasn't just that they went to the same sorority, Elle actually met her in person and even if she didn't know her that well, at least knew her well enough that she wouldn't commit murder.
Even if Elle believing Brooke's innocence simply due to her first meeting seemed bad, just remember that believing your client guilty without due evidence and then failing to support them is actually a violation of the bar in several countries. Also, it's more of a case of 'Support your own' so Elle is actually trusting her as a sorority sister and this is shown in the sequel to be a big deal for Delta Nu (it helps Elle get the support of a senator and lead a sorority march on the capitol!). It shows Brooke that Elle would fully support her case, thus helping her open to Elle to trust her with her Dark Secret (Liposuction!). Long story short, it was naive of Elle to trust Brooke so thoroughly but it ultimately paid off in the end.
Brooke is presumed to be guilty for the same reason that Elle is presumed to be a shallow ditz. The other lawyers would have a harder time seeing past a pretty celebrity marrying an older rich man, apparently for money. It is not a barrier for Elle, though. Elle understands how it is not to be taken seriously as a pretty woman and she knows people are going to assume the worst about Brooke because of her looks and her fame. Though she does go a little overboard with it, she wanted Brooke to feel like someone was truly on her side — even more so when Brooke can prove that she's innocent.
Paulette's age
How old is Paulette? In the musical, it says that she met her ex in a bar, meaning she had to be at least 21 to get in. They lived together for 10 years, making her at least 31 when they broke up so at least that helps. She also describes herself as middle-aged which implies 40s/50s. However, she’s young enough to get pregnant in the epilogue.
The typical age range for women to go through menopause is 48 to 55. Whilst fertility does decline it is still possible for a woman in her 40s and early 50s to get pregnant if she's still ovulating.
Referring to herself as "middle-aged" could be just her being hard on herself. It's not uncommon for people in their late twenties to refer to themselves as old now that they're nearing thirty. For the record, her actress Jennifer Coolidge was 39-40 at the time of filming, so plausible.
The Musical
How, exactly, did Enid win Callahan's internship? Callahan pointed out that her emotions made her weak, and she doesn't show much improvement, before or afterward (especially before, considering she charges Vivian in a berserk rage when she thinks she called Gloria Steinem a skank).
It's true that she gets emotional, but that doesn't mean that Enid doesn't do well in the class itself. We don't see her actually argue a case, but according to her verse in "The Harvard Variations" she worked in the Peace Corps and is clearly very determined, so it doesn't seem like much of a stretch that she'd study hard and do quite well in the class.
How did Warner win the internship? He lost the mock case to Elle before, and doesn't seem to have made much of an impression on Callahan otherwise, and then apparently ended up being so bad at law school that he dropped out. Considering that everyone kept saying that the internship meant a guaranteed career, he must have been an idiot.
It occurred to me that maybe Callahan granted Enid and Vivian — two upstanding, go-getting female students — the internship so that, in case Elle openly complained about Callahan sexually harassing her, Callahan could point to his other two female interns and say that he's supported other young women and never laid a finger on them — who could possibly call him a misogynistic toerag? That, plus the fact that Enid and Vivian are both (at the outset) unlikely to support Elle or back her up if she does accuses Callahan.
I always thought that Warner only did well because Vivian was helping him study (supported by the fact that he got in to Harvard on his family's money rather than academic ability). This would explain how someone who got the internship would do so poorly that he would quit law school altogether after Vivian broke up with him. Enid might be controlled by her emotions but like Elle, who was chosen partially because she was smart, and didn't agree with Callahan's amoral attorney strategy, probably proved herself good enough to get the position. Callahan does probably care about the image boost having a lesbian and a Huntington as his interns but if they aren't good lawyers it wouldn't mean much and might lower public opinion of him.
The Pool Cleaner
I might have missed it but do they ever explain why the pool cleaner lied about having an affair with Brooke despite being gay?
I don't think it's explicitly said, but it's most likely that Chutney was paying him copious amounts of money to lie in order to provide a motive for Brooke killing her husband. After all, she was already very wealthy and didn't need the money, so an affair is the next best motive and easy to set up when you can bribe the pool boy to lie for you.
Why wasn't the pool cleaner busted for perjury, for that matter?
Because a short musical number going "Okay, alright, I lied under oath" is less peppy than "Okay, alright, I'm gay!" ?
Are you kidding? You're believed to be having an affair with a well-known fitness instructor who everyone believes shot and killed her rich husband? People will automatically assume that she killed her husband to get everything and come rushing to her boy-toy! Do you have any idea how much those kinds of autobiographies sell?
Also his boyfriend's behaviour is a bit of a headscratcher. He is probably ok when the supposed affair with Brooke was questioned which is a lie, but when the pool guy says that Enrique is just a friend, not boyfriend, he storms out of the court room. Wasn't it clear to him that his boyfriend was lying and just trying to save his face in the testimony?
I just thought that Chuck was in on the whole thing from the start when Enrique was claiming he and Brooke had an affair. The moment that Enrique slipped and perjured himself, Chuck was like 'Aw, shit, he's going to jail now.' and was thinking of how to put as much distance between himself and him since he probably could be charged with conspiracy. Then Enrique gives him his out with 'he's just a friend'.
Also, some people consider there to be a difference between lying by omission and just straight-up lying. Enrique's testimony was never meant to include any references whatsoever to Chuck or their relationship, but Enrique was put in a position where not only was their relationship brought into it but he had to publicly deny its existence. It's practically a trope in itself to see a situation where one partner is upset because the other partner purposefully downplays their relationship in a public setting.
In addition to the above points, bear in mind that Carlos isn't necessarily acting completely rationally. Maybe initially he plans to confront Nikos after the trial since he doesn't want to waste the court's time, or maybe Chutney's paying Nikos off to lie and he knows about the bribery. However, having Nikos openly deny their relationship on the stand understandably made him very upset, enough that he would confront Nikos then and there. It's not necessarily a sensible decision, but it makes sense for the character to make that decision in that context.
The pool cleaner wears a sequinned thong as a work uniform and is wearing a disco bling shirt to court. Did we really need him to make a remark about Elle's shoes to make anyone wonder if he's gay?
They might have believed he was Camp Straight before.
This really confuses me - the idea of sequins on a thong seems incredibly uncomfortable for a menial job. Wouldn't it... I don't know... chafe?
Presumably the sequins were only on the front of the thong and not the strap part running between his buttocks.
Brooke's Liposuction
For a movie that points out the 24 hour wait time for a perm, it's never mentioned that if Brooke was out getting liposuction, there might have been indicators that something had happened to her. Like for example, having bandages, bruising and painkillers on her when she was arrested? Seriously, nobody noticed any indicators of this? There wasn't a strip search or anything? The Other Wiki indicates that there was probably evidence of this for someone to have noticed.
Then again, she could've gotten the bandages from the liposuction removed that day, and at that point, her bruises would have probably healed and she would be off of her medication. Thus leading to another motive for Chutney wanting to murder Brooke: the attention Brooke is now getting from Chutney's father.
I figured that Brooke wasn't literally getting liposuction that day, but she had a pre-admissions doctors appointment or something similar. The real question here is why she didn't say she had a doctors appointment, and patient-client privacy laws could have prevented discussing exactly what she was doing there.
Because a liposuction clinic would still be obvious. "I had a doctor's appointment." "Oh? Where?" "At the clinic with Doctor Whatsisname." "Doesn't he primarily do cosmetic surgery and liposuction?" "Well, yes." "So is that what you were going to have done?" "No comment."
It still wouldn't matter because what she was having DONE there wasn't relevant, just that she wasn't home. A call to the doctor's office was all that was needed. And for that matter, fitness gurus get work done all the time - Brooke is insane to think that a murder conviction would be less bad for her career than going to a plastic surgeon's office.
Well her career is already being harmed by a murder accusation. Even if she's found innocent, there will still be people who believe her to be guilty. And remember that this is the early 2000s - with the internet up and coming. If the story gets out, it will spread.
And in 2001 Brooke can't just take to her Twitter or Instagram just to post a heartfelt apology or explanation in an instant. So yes, it could damage her career very much.
More simply, her husband that she loved very much has been suddenly murdered and she's being framed as the prime suspect. Her stepdaughter hates her and thinks she's a murderer. Her entire life is falling apart around her, so maybe she's not in the best mental state and is extra paranoid about what the revelation could do to her career.
The Musical's Existence
Whether or not you like the show, you have to wonder- who exactly saw the film and thought to themselves, "Yeah, this should be a Broadway show"?
As someone who hasn't seen the show itself, but has worked in theater, it doesn't come across as incredibly ridiculous.
1. It's an easily-recognizable and established property that was proven to be popular and successful as a film (look at the number of Disney properties that have been turned into musicals, Broadway wants a safe bet just as much as anybody.)
2. It could be done fairly cheaply and easily fits into the mechanics of live theater. Courtroom, classroom, salon, all fairly easy sets to create and efficient for scene changes. There probably aren't any large, expensive props that a show like Wicked would have, and scene changes would be fairly quick and easy.
3. It's already a fun, campy, larger-than-life movie, with a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief. If anything, some aspects, like the Bend and Snap dance scene that fits perfectly into a musical filled with over-the-top dance numbers, make more sense in the musical than the film.
There's been an explosion of movies-to-stage adaptations over the past couple of decades. This was just one more example. And to be honest, it's a perfect candidate for that: the movie is lighthearted, fun, leaves plenty of room to expand on various characters/motivations, has a sizeable cast, and it has a good female leading role. Plus it's just popular enough to guarantee an audience but not so popular that it's a blatantly obvious "let's cash in on this fad" cash-grab. Really, it's not at all surprising in the least that someone say it and said "Yeah, this should be a Broadway show". There are plenty of far worse choices...
Okay, Harvard undergrad, maybe—she's not stupid, (4.0 GPA), but Harvard law school?! One of the most prestigious programs in the world?! Especially when she didn't turn in an essay?!
Just a theory, but on the Ivy League for Everyone page, it's said that the Ivies (and a lot of other selective schools) are desperate to increase diversity, in all forms (racial, financial and geographical.) It's talking about the undergrads specifically, but it might be possible that the law programs are, too, actually lampshaded in the movie by one of the people on the Harvard admission board while deciding to accept Elle. ("aren't we always looking for diversity?") Maybe the fact that she wasn't an old-money Connecticut blue-blood worked in her favor?
In the film, she turns in an (admittedly fairly idiotic) video essay, which seems to count as an essay. Also, she's got a 4.0 from a very good school (assuming CULA = UCLA in quality) with near perfect LSATs (they're graded out of 180; she gets a 179), and she's president of a sorority which, on paper, shows a significant amount of leadership potential among other things. Her guidance counselor also told her to get excellent recommendation letters from her professors, which presumably she did. As far as her being a fashion major, she's specifically a fashion merchandising major, which to Harvard could suggest a desire to go into corporate law (and anyway, your undergrad degree is mainly unimportant when applying to law school—this troper's father went to law school with a BA in studio art and did just fine). The musical's essay is mainly Refuge in Audacity, but in the film, it's not totally unbelievable.
I always thought that she sent in a paper essay along with the video essay.
Law school admissions are extremely, extremely numbers based. A 179 LSAT and a 4.0 GPA would guarantee admission at every school in the country, barring some sort-of character/fitness issue. Elle getting into HLS is one of the most realistic parts of the movie.
To clarify: It's not entirely unheard of and actually suggested that students wishing to go into Law and Medical schools to pick extremely easy undergraduate majors and take the bare minimum of classes necessary. Because schools are so numbers based, picking a serious major is a detriment. Harder majors means it's harder to get a better grade as the students are more competitive and the grade curve skews lower. A 4.0 GPA in fashion merchandising looks better than a 3.5 in Biomedical Engineering. For proof, just look at statistics for majors for pre-meds and pre-law. A huge amount of them have nothing to do with med or law school.
Title pun?
Okay, I'm clueless and English isn't my first language, but can anyone please explain to me what the title is supposed to be a pun of?
The term "legally blind."
There's also a joke regarding how someone who looks like the stereotypical Dumb Blonde is going into law school (where the "legal" part of the title comes from).
Why all the name changes?
In the musical, Emmett Richmond becomes Emmett Forrest, Enid Wexler becomes Enid Hoopes, and Enrique Salvatore (the outed pool cleaner) becomes Nikos Argitakos, among others. I know I'm probably nitpicking here, but what's the point? I understand that things change in adaptation, but this just seems unnecessary to me.
While I'm not sure about Enid, but the other two are easy to explain. Emmett got his last name changed as a bit of a stealth pun because he's paired up with Elle Woods. Woods, and Forrest together, ya see. Enrique got his first name changed to rhyme with his boyfriend's name of Carlos(Whose name was likely changed from Chuck just because it doesn't sound as nice.) His last name became Argitakos likely because it rolled off the tongue well, and a minor joke about the last part sounding a bit like tacos.
I suspect Enid's name was changed so it better fit the meter of "The Harvard Variations".
Chutney's Guilt
When this troper performed Legally Blonde senior year of high school, one of my fellow cast members wondered this: "Couldn't she have said she got another perm the following day after she somehow forgot about not getting it wet after 24 hours?" thus explaining how her perm is still intact?
She says she's been doing perms twice, I think, per year every since she was twelve. When it comes to hair habits, that's the sort of thing you don't just forget. Add that Elle put extra pressure on her by specifically saying that anyone with that number of perms done would remember that. Now she could've washed if she thought that this one turned out bad, but they could probably ask her hairstylist if she complained about it in the salon or something.
Chutney was caught off guard. She didn't expect that to be where she got found out. And if she lied to say she got her hair re-done, they could easily have called the salon and checked that out (if they don't have an appointment book then surely whoever was working there would remember someone coming back in the next day or so soon after to have it re-done). And maybe Chutney realized that since her alibi was falling apart around her, it was better to just confess and get it over with.
Adding on to this, I don't understand why no one has ever brought this up, but why didn't Chutney just say that she was wearing a shower cap in the shower so her hair didn't get wet? That isn't thought of as an option to anyone.
As stated above, Chutney was caught off guard. She probably wasn't quick enough to come up with that excuse.
One of the last things Chutney says before Elle calls her out is, "I was in the shower, I was washing my hair." Hard to claim you were wearing a shower cap after that.
It's not that it would be impossible for her to explain it away, it's that she doesn't have an explanation prepared, since it seems like she didn't even notice the potential inconsistency, let alone expect anyone to pick up on it. When Elle calls her on it, she's blindsided and can't think fast enough to come up with a plausible explanation on the spot, especially with Elle still firing off questions, and so she just falls apart and admits the truth.
Vivian and Warner's Relationship Timeline
The timeline in the beginning of the movie is something I was always iffy about. Elle is presumably in her senior year of undergrad, maybe halfway through. Warner breaks up with her, Elle powers her way through studying for the LSATs, and gets into HLS as a 1L grad student along with Warner and Vivian. First day of class, Vivian says Warner proposed over the summer. If we handwave a July proposal and a January break-up, Vivian and Warner got together and got engaged within 7-8 months, which seems REALLY fast for kids from old world money families. Unless Warner was cheating on Elle, which I wouldn't put past him.
Perhaps he was already with Vivian when he broke up with Elle. Vivian seems to know who Elle is as soon as she meets her, so perhaps they planned to get together and that's the reason Warner broke up with Elle - because he has this girlfriend who in his mind is better for his image.
And y'know, the relationship didn't work out so yes it was indeed a fast engagement.
I always assumed that Vivian and Warner already had some history, or that Vivian was already in love with him. Warner coming up to her and saying "I broke up with my girlfriend for you" and then sweeping her up into a whirlwind romance would probably be enough for her to leave caution to the wind.
He did state that they knew each other in Prep School. (The movie even states that they were dating then — Vivian isn't a new girlfriend per se, she's his ex-girlfriend and they got back together after Elle and Warner broke up.)
If the book is anything to go by, the breakup is early in senior year, Elle spends three months prepping for the LSAT which is held in January, and doesn't see Warner again before next fall.
The musical does make the timeline more plausible, noting that Warner and Vivian met in high school, and having him propose when the internship starts (which is presumably near the end of the semester).
How did Elle go from almost flunking out in her first semester to graduating valedictorian?
How on earth go they grade law school? Around October-ish of her first semester (in the musical at least) Elle outright states she's flunking out of school, but she finishes valedictorian. One bad semester will screw your average over for that. So how could she have gone from grades that were barely scraping by to highest in her year?
Can't speak for the musical as I haven't seen it, but Elle says she has a 4.0 grade average in the film. So she isn't flunking out of school there. If it helps, in the film's epilogue Elle is valedictorian of her final year. Presumably the grades of that year are what counts there.
In pretty much every context, valedictorian status is based on cumulative GPA for all years, not just senior year.
Her initial goal was just to become a law student, not to become a lawyer, so she didn't put her heart in it like when she was studying for her LSAT. Then she decided to prove herself. I don't believe she truly wanted to become a lawyer before defending Brooke.
This may be true, but the question is why that time where she wasn't putting in the effort didn't harm her GPA, since even one bad grade would be likely to ruin her chances of being valedictorian even if she had great grades the rest of the time.
The most likely answer is that law school grades are pretty much entirely dependent on exams, and it's usually just one big end-of-year exam per class and maybe a single midterm in December. As such, while not knowing her material and getting kicked out of class a lot might not endear her to her professors, it's unlikely that this would actually impact her grades (basically, it's an assumption that it'll work itself out because a student who can't keep up with the coursework won't be able to pass an exam either). Elle may feel like she's flunking out due to how poorly she's doing (and might even be misunderstanding law school grading and thinking she's actually losing points for these things), but in reality, if it's only October of her first year, she probably doesn't even have any grades yet, good or bad. As long as she aces her exams, she'll get top grades regardless of what happened earlier in the year.
Winning the internship
Why are Vivian and Warner so surprised Elle got in? They were just looking at the list to see their own names and there were four people on that list. They could hardly miss Elle's name...
They are too self-centered. They didn't notice anyone but them. And the list ordered the names by alphabetical order of their last names, so Warner and Vivian were at the top and Elle was at the bottom.
And Enid's there as well, isn't she? Her last name is Wexler in the movie, so she'd be above Elle.
Spineless snobs
In the song Blood in the Water from the musical, Callahan says "Only spineless snobs will quarrel with the morally dubious jobs." Isn't that kind of the exact opposite of what a spineless person would do? Spineless usually means someone is really afraid, and it doesn't seem like someone who's really afraid would become a lawyer just to do something morally dubious.
That's the opposite of what Callahan is saying. By "quarrel" in this case, he means "refuse" or "hesitate to take"; he's saying that a good lawyer will take on any case they can win rather than being concerned with the moral implications, and that the only people who would balk would be either "spineless" (afraid of tackling something with moral implications) and/or a "snob" (wanting to avoid a morally dubious case due to a sense of being holier-than-thou). It also makes more sense if one considers his approach to law — he clearly thinks (whether or not he's actually correct) that the only way to be a good lawyer is to be ruthless and cutthroat, so he considers things like emotions and morals to be a character flaw for a lawyer.
"Costume party"
When Vivian tricks Elle into going with a costume to the party she is holding, why Elle didn't realize that it wasn't a costume party upon arriving at the house? She should have been able to see through the door that there weren't any students with costumes, so why she didn't turn around and just left the party? She would have avoided herself to feel humiliated due her Playboy Bunny costume...
The out of universe explanation is that it makes for bigger Cringe Comedy to have Elle not realise until she's already in the middle of the party. The in-universe one - maybe she's in denial at first, thinking that the first few students she sees are just people who didn't feel like dressing up and maybe there will be more people inside. She doesn't confirm Vivian's trick until she's well inside.
And this is Elle Woods, who's nothing if not confident. She doesn't turn away from adversity. If she was tricked into showing up in that outfit, she's going to own it and have fun at the party anyway as the best revenge to Vivian.
Also, she was wearing that particular costume specifically to catch Warner's eye. Even realizing she looked out of place, she might still have wanted him to see it, potentially hoping he'd be too blown away to be concerned with the context.
