# chick flick - how can you tell? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2001, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522 "2001-10-30T14:38:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522/21 "2001-10-31T15:19:56Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Wumpus \* You may be watching a chick flick if… The movie starts with a sepia-tinged image of a small town and the words, “It was the summer that everything changed.” [/QUOTE} “Stand By Me”? > [@](#): > > One of the characters under the age of 50 has a terminal disease. “Brian’s Song”? ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522/22 "2001-10-31T15:31:37Z")
justinh, all the women I ask have their own idea of what film they enjoy. I guess I must choose more intelligent, articulate women as few, if any of them, enjoy that saucy romance stuff. I’d rather read about films that could get a guy laid. Hey, now that would be fun. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522/23 "2001-10-31T15:48:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\* > I’d rather read about films that could get a guy laid. Hey, now that would be fun. \*\* Start that thread, \*\*handy[\b] - my first post to it would nominate _Risky Business_ - man, was that film berry, berry good to me! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522/24 "2001-10-31T15:50:18Z")
ooooops - I blew my “turn off BOLD” instruction - I HATE that…:wally for me… ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522/25 "2001-10-31T16:16:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*I’d rather read about films that could get a guy laid. Hey, now that would be fun. \*\* _The Bridges of Madison County_ worked for me. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Ivar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ivar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ivar)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522/26 "2001-10-31T16:24:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Why A Duck \* > \*\*If the movie features either Julia Roberts or Harvey Keitel’s penis, then odds are it’s a chick-flick. \*\* unless it’s “Bad Lieutenant” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522/27 "2001-10-31T16:50:31Z")
\*Originally posted by Ivar \* > [@](#): > > unless it’s “Bad Lieutenant” Hey, speaking of “flicks”, that’s what I say to my boogers… “bad lieu tennant, bad bad lieu tennant.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bluepony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Bluepony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluepony)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522/28 "2001-10-31T17:36:41Z")
Bluepony’s Prime Indicators That He Is Watching A Chick Flick –Profound enjoyment throughout the movie, and rampant teary-eyed euphoria by Mrs. Bluepony –Lack of serious body count and mindless/gratuitous sex scenes, or any combination thereof –Profound interest by Bluepony in the last Milk Dud that’s always stuck at the bottom of the box –Fleeting thought that being suspended upside-down and eaten alive by rabid dingoes would be much preferable than listening to self-introspective dialogue by Gwyneth Paltrow/Julia Roberts/etc. –Little or no explosions or automatic weapons –Characters have more than one dimension (classic indicator) –Extreme gratitude in the free refills for large popcorn purchase and the start of Bluepony molding Gummy Bears into obscene sexual positions – Onset of semi-consciousness, followed by short periods of astral projection. Destination- Great Barrier Reef or Grand Bahama Banks ---
**Author:** ![justinh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@justinh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justinh)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522/29 "2001-10-31T19:10:37Z")
Handy, a chicflic is not a movie that women like. its a movie that was directed at the female of the species. You know that ENEMY AT THE GATES had nothing to do with a lonely couple finding love in a hellish world. it was about 2 snipers trying to shoot each other. but how many wives would allow themselves to be drug to that? so they add some good old tragic love. In some room in Hollywood there is a bunch of writers sitting around trying to figure out how to fool the women with another one. its right next to the room where they are trying to write the next Segal movie for the guys. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522/30 "2001-10-31T19:30:10Z")
I think the OP was about detecting as chick flick _before_ paying out for tickets to actually see it. The Cambridge Media Studies Movie Poster Analysis course lists many such clues, of which I can only recall a few: Any sign of gun, weapon or explosion - _not_ a chick flick. Any sign of a muscular male lead with a scar, wound or gritted teeth of determination - _not_ a chick flick. Two or more nice-looking women doing nothing more than smiling, chatting or laughing together - _definite_ chick flick. Strong visual allusions to food and its preparation, clothes & fashion, nature or sunsets - _definite_ chick flick Tag line refers to cop, death, revenge, destiny, justice, war or saving the world - _not_ chick flick. Tag line refers to self-discovery, learning, cooking, or the admirable triumph of a woman over testosterone-related obstacles in her way - _definite_ chick flick. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_B.Goode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Johnny\_B.Goode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_B.Goode)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522/31 "2001-11-01T10:34:50Z")
I guess it’s a sad indictment on my neanderthal brain that I would dig this up as a citation but here are the thoughts of ESPN’s “Sports Guy” on chick flicks (you’ll have to scroll to point 5): [http://espn.go.com/page2/s/simmons/011023.html](http://espn.go.com/page2/s/simmons/011023.html) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522/32 "2001-11-01T18:03:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by justinh \* > \*\* > You know that ENEMY AT THE GATES had nothing to do with a lonely couple finding love in a hellish world. it was about 2 snipers trying to shoot each other. but how many wives would allow themselves to be drug to that? so they add some good old tragic love. \*\* Funny you should mention that film – I recently picked it up on DVD, and watched it with Ms. Undhow. We both really liked it. But if you talk to both of us independently, you’d think we saw two _completely different_ movies, with the only thing in common being that it was set in WWII Stalingrad and featured a young Russian sniper. For her, it’s this whole tragic love triangle thing; for me, it’s about Jude Law and Ed Harris trying to blow each other’s brains out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flick-how-can-you-tell/90522.md?page=1)