Elle is a perky, popular sorority president at her Southern California college and a fashion maven who wears Versace dresses, Manolo Blahnik shoes, and the best Chacarel fragrance, NOA. And while Woods has a 4.0 average in her major, fashion merchandising, her mind isn’t on grades or graduate school, but rather on getting her Mrs. degree. She is hoping that her longtime college beau, a blueblood named Warner Huntington (Matthew Davis), will pop the big question before graduation.

Huntington is very fond of Elle but sees her as a liability to his future ambitions. Having been accepted into Harvard Law School, he wants to follow in his family’s political dynasty. “I need a Jackie, not a Marilyn,” he matter-of-factly informs a heartbroken Elle.

Elle thus figures the only way to win back Warner is to get into Harvard Law as well. She miraculously aces the LSAT and submits an unorthodox -- to say the least -- admissions video, which we are told in the film was directed by a Coppola. Not surprisingly, she is accepted.

The moment law school begins, however, Elle receives a rude awakening. What had once made her popular in L.A. makes her an outcast in Cambridge. She is snubbed by classmates and feels particular animosity from Warner’s new, more socially-acceptable girlfriend, an icy Brahman named Vivian (Selma Blair).

As one can surmise, the film has a courtroom finale in which only Elle can devise the right defense for her team’s client. This obvious plot device does not, however, insult our intelligence too sharply.

A game cast makes “Legally Blonde” work. Reese Witherspoon keeps us rooting for the ditzy Elle. Veteran character actors Holland Taylor and Victor Garber are splendid as a pair of Harvard Law profs. Taylor is great as Prof. Stromwell, a clear spoof of the late John Houseman’s Prof. Kingsfield; Garber is credible as the hip and lecherous Prof. Callahan. My favorite character, however, is Enid Wechsler (Meredith Lynn Scott), a snooty lesbian with a Ph. D. in sociology from Cal-Berkeley. With a little more screen time, Lynn Scott could have easily stolen the show.