In theaters

LEGALLY BLONDE, 96 minutes, PG-13, directed by Robert Luketic, written by Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah Lutz.

Robert Luketic’s “Legally Blonde” is the closest thing to teen camp since Christina Aguilera first tie-dyed her hair, opened her mouth and ruined pop music. The difference? “Legally Blonde” means to be a joke.

The film stars Reese Witherspoon in the lead, and while it may not feature the wit of its inspiration, Amy Heckerling’s “Clueless,” or the bite of Witherspoon’s best film, “Election,” it does have energy, a few big laughs, clever writing and loads of style.

As Elle Wood, Witherspoon is a high-spirited wonder, a terminally sweet, fashion-forward sorority starlet with pink on the brain, Prada on the hips, and – by initial appearances, at least – dumb on the diaphragm.

When her boyfriend, the wealthy East Coast snob Warner Huntington III (Matthew Davis), dumps her before leaving California for Harvard Law School (“I need to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn”), Elle shakes off the doldrums with a manicure, a pedicure, a good cry and a box of chocolates. Recharged, she becomes a blond little ball of paprika determined to win back her man – which, in this case, means gaining admission into Harvard herself and showing Warner why she’s Jackie enough for him.

Naturally, since Elle’s fluffy pink mules and Malibu Barbie chic are in sharp contrast to Harvard’s more conservative climate – Elle claims she grew up across the street from Aaron Spelling while one of her classmates quietly demurs that he spent his summer deworming orphans in Somalia – complications ensue as Elle tries to find herself in the annals of law.

With Selma Blair as Elle’s impossibly well-bred rival and Jennifer Coolidge in a fun turn as the manicurist who doubles as Elle’s counselor, “Legally Blonde” is every bit as thin as it sounds and it builds to a predictable ending (who knew blondes could have this much fun and win murder trials?), but it works because of Witherspoon, a gifted comedian who has the kind of spunk to sell this sort of line: “Whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed.”

Whoever said all blondes are dumb hasn’t seen Reese Witherspoon in action.

Grade: B+

On video and DVD

THE GIFT, 112 minutes, R, directed by Sam Raimi, written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson.

Sam Raimi’s “The Gift,” an old-school, Southern Gothic thriller charged with strong performances, gorgeous cinematography and an involving story that grips from the get-go, is pure pulp entertainment, a movie that’s eminently watchable in spite of its handful of missteps.

As predictable as it is, the film, from a script by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson, nevertheless manages to weave a mesmerizing narrative, one that satisfies in large part because of its superb cast.

At the center of the film is another terrific performance from Australian actress Cate Blanchett, a master actor who consistently delivers performances so transcendent and pure, she lifts whatever film she’s in.

Such is the case in “The Gift.” As Annie Wilson, a young backwater widow who inherited her grandmother’s psychic gift, Blanchett’s quiet intensity grounds a movie that easily could have given itself over to Southern-fried camp. Indeed, she doesn’t play Annie as cinema’s answer to Madame Cleo, the ribald Jamaican Tarot card reader currently dispensing her foot-stomping brand of advice on television. Instead, Blanchett infuses Annie with sensitivity and humility, a mother of three boys who’s fully aware that her gift has the power to change lives.

About those lives – it’s a shame the film doesn’t give Annie a character as interesting as herself to work with. Instead, the script is more content to offer her a host of Southern stereotypes, including an emotionally troubled car mechanic (Giovanni Ribisi) whose father abused him as a child, and a battered wife (Hilary Swank) whose violent husband, Donnie (Keanu Reeves, in one of his best performances), swears he will kill Annie if she doesn’t stop meddling in their lives.

Toss into this potent stew a passive-aggressive school principal (Greg Kinnear) who’s engaged to the town tramp (Katie Holmes), a woman who winds up at the bottom of the town swamp, and the film starts to crank up the heat in a whodunit that plays fair until its final moments, when – inexplicably – Raimi breaks the film’s haunting momentum with divine intervention.

Grade: B+

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays in Style, Thursdays in the scene, Tuesdays on “NEWS

CENTER at 5”

and Thursdays on “NEWS

CENTER at 5:30” on WLBZ-2

and WCSH-6. He can be reached

at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

THE VIDEO CORNER

Renting a video? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores.

The Gift ? B+

Family Man ? D-

Saving Silverman ? F

Down to Earth ? D

Monkeybone ? D

Thirteen Days ? A-

Unbreakable ? C+

The Wedding

Planner ? D+

You Can Count on Me ? A

Proof of Life ? C-

Save the Last Dance ? C-

State and Main ? B

O Brother,

Where Art Thou ? A-

Cast Away ? A-

Crouching Tiger,

Hidden Dragon ? A+

The House Of Mirth ? B

Shadow of the

Vampire ? B+

Traffic ? A

Antitrust ? D

Before Night Falls ? A

Best in Show ? A

Requiem for a Dream ? A

Vertical Limit ? B-