I've been lurking on this subreddit for a while (and Reddit in general). Recently got inspired by another post on a FDS movie, and decided to watch Legally Blonde.

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Initially, Elle was a pickme who only entered law school to impress her boyfriend, who left her for another woman on the night she thought he would propose.

Her ex tells her that he's going to Harvard Law, so she applies in order to win his affection and 'prove' herself to him.

TLDR...Elle slowly but surely realizes that her boyfriend is a LVM and asshole and stops trying to impress him, but rather, continues to improve herself for the sake of her career. She ends up defending a local woman from her sorority - in court, even while experiencing harassment from her professor.

Somewhat relatedly, Elle also keeps bumping into this attractive law school graduate who tries to help her in subtle ways, but this love interest is not the main focus of the movie at all. She becomes best friends with her ex's new woman, who also dumps him.

Elle leveled up throughout the movie by focusing on herself, then coincidentally met someone who was higher value and a better fit than her ex. I also love how this movie implied that intelligence and caring about one's appearance aren't mutually exclusive...

Btw, this movie came out in 2001 - so it's now 20 years old!! The full thing can also be found online on Youtube, I'm sure.