12 Movies Like Legally Blonde to Watch While You Wait for the Third Installment

No one will object to these great movies, which are perfect for Legally Blonde fans everywhere.

The film was released in 2003 and followed Los Angeles sorority girl Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon), who applies to Harvard Law School to win back her boyfriend. But after getting admitted, she begins to develop a life of her own and eventually finds herself working on a high-profile murder trial.

Legally Blonde was a hit when it premiered, but it’s gotten even more popular in the decades since. The film’s legacy is so strong that it was turned into a hit Broadway musical in 2007, and in 2018 Ariana Grande paid homage to the film in her music video for “Thank U, Next."

Fans have a lot more to look forward to as well, with Legally Blonde 3 on the horizon and a spin-off TV series in the early stages of pre-production.

Before then, fans should check out these great movies that have the same spirit and humor as Legally Blonde — and are guaranteed to liven the mood better than the bend and snap.

She’s the Man

In 2006’s She’s the Man, Amanda Bynes plays Viola, a teenager who pretends to be her brother so she can play soccer at his prestigious boarding school.

The movie is a modernized retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and served as Channing Tatum’s breakout role.

Just like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, Viola finds herself in a place where she doesn’t belong, but fights to be accepted and respected. Plus, She’s the Man has some great comedy.

Easy A

Beneath Legally Blonde’s humor are powerful messages about society’s preconceived judgments about women and femininity, and just like Legally Blonde, 2010’s Easy A tackles those same issues with humor and wit.

In the film, Emma Stone begins lying about having sex to help herself and the reputation of her friends. In the beginning, she thinks she has the situation under control, but misogyny and society’s judgments about women end up putting her in over her head.

With smart humor and a punchy message, Easy A became a hit and helped prove Stone’s acting potential.

Erin Brockovich

One of the best aspects of Legally Blonde is watching Elle Woods do the impossible and become the lawyer nobody thought she could be.

Erin Brockovich tells a similar tale, and making it even more impressive is that it’s based on a true story. Brockovich was a working-class young mother when she discovered a slew of unexplained illnesses in the small town of Hinkley, California.

Armed with nothing but her ferocious spirit, Brockovich discovered that the utilities company PG&E had been contaminating the town’s groundwater for decades, resulting in a $333 million settlement for the victims.

Julia Roberts played Brockovich in the film and the role earned her an Oscar for Best Actress.

Clueless

Elle Woods is known for her bombastic fashion and Valley Girl attitude, and any fan who loves that side of her will definitely enjoy Clueless.

Starring Alicia Silverstone as the good-natured but privileged Cher Horowitz, the movie follows her as she navigates high school life in Los Angeles during the 1990s.

With tons of iconic fashion and memorable slang, Clueless has become a classic that continues to find new fans.

The movie was also loosely based on Jane Austen’s novel Emma.

Liar Liar

The finale of Legally Blonde turns the underdog tale into a courtroom drama … that’s turned on its head thanks to Woods.

For anyone who wants more legal procedurals gone wrong, check out Liar Liar. The movie centers around successful defense lawyer Fletcher Reede (Jim Carrey) who has no problem lying his way out of any situation.

But when he suddenly becomes unable to lie, his life is turned upside down and the messy divorce trial he’s working on goes off the rails.

Sweet Home Alabama

Legally Blonde wouldn’t be the same without Witherspoon’s fantastic performance. For any fans who want to see another of Witherspoon’s best roles, check out Sweet Home Alabama.

In the movie, she plays an engaged big-city fashion designer who must return to her small southern hometown to formally get divorced from the man she married years ago. But after returning home, her southern roots begin to pull her back toward her old life.

Sweet Home Alabama also had a stellar supporting cast that includes Josh Lucas, Jean Smart, Melanie Lynskey and Candice Bergen, among others.

Bring It On

A big part of what makes Legally Blonde so iconic is its fantastic dialogue. “What, like it’s hard?” Another early aughts movie with a similar vibe and fantastic writing is Bring It On.

When a high school cheerleading team discovers their old captain has been stealing cheers from another school, the new captain (Kirstin Dunst) is forced to take drastic measures to save the team.

With great characters and a fun story, Bring It On remains iconic to this day, but its real strength is its great and hilarious dialogue. “This isn't a democracy, it's a cheer-ocracy!”

Miss Congeniality

Miss Congeniality is kind of like the opposite of Legally Blonde. Whereas Elle Woods was a sorority girl thrown into the world of law, in Miss Congeniality, Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) is a hard-hitting FBI agent who is forced to take part in a beauty pageant for an assignment.

Though the movies contrast each other, both have a main character who uses their strengths to overcome the obstacles, plus they’re loaded with great humor along the way.

The Devil Wears Prada

The relationship between Woods and the no-nonsense Professor Stromwell (Holland Talyor) was one of Legally Blonde’s highlights, with Stromwell often pushing Woods to be better through tough love.

Fans will notice a similar relationship between Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada after Andrea (Hathaway) gets a job at Runway magazine under its domineering Editor-in-Chief Miranda Priestly (Streep).

As all movie lovers know, Priestly remains one of Streep’s most iconic roles and it even earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in 2007.

The House Bunny

Like Legally Blonde taken to an extreme, The House Bunny follows an uneducated former Playboy Bunny (Anna Faris) who becomes a House Mother for a fledgling sorority.

Faris’ character definitely has a spiritual bond with Woods from Legally Blonde, with both arriving in glowing pink outfits and both being totally out of their element.

The House Bunny’s similarity to Legally Blonde is no coincidence either, both films were written by the screenwriting duo of Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah.

Working Girl

Just as Elle Woods is underestimated in Legally Blonde, secretary Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) is disregarded as a bimbo by her coworkers in 1988’s Working Girl. But after her boss gets injured in a ski accident, Tess decides to pretend she’s her and show the business world that she’s a force to be reckoned with.

Working Girl was a massive hit, earning over $102 million at the box office and scoring six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

It also has a great cast with Sigourney Weaver, Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin starring alongside Griffith.

Uptown Girls

In 2003’s Uptown Girls, Brittany Murphy plays a free-spirited heiress who has never had responsibility, until she discovers that her accountant has been embezzling money, leaving her broke and homeless.

Forced to find a job, she becomes a nanny for a precocious young girl (Dakota Fanning) and together they learn to grow and become friends.

While the plot is pretty different from Legally Blonde, fans will notice a distinct similarity between Murphy’s and Witherspoon’s characters.