# Chick Flicks **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 25, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591 "2002-11-25T03:24:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/21 "2002-11-25T12:46:13Z")
It depends on the chick flick. If there were some other aspect about it, like it takes place on the Hindenburg and I have a little Hindenburg museum in my home, then yeah, I’ll watch it. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/22 "2002-11-25T13:31:36Z")
Then there’s the Lifetime network. Home of the Helpless-Vic-Chick Flick. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/23 "2002-11-25T14:06:33Z")
I like chick flicks AND the Man Show. What does that say about me? ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/24 "2002-11-25T14:13:44Z")
When Jack Chick starts producing movies, I’m _so_ there! ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/25 "2002-11-25T14:27:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by glarGH \* > \*\*Its funny. My SO watches more chick movies than I do (Wedding Planner, The Sweetest Thing, You’ve Got Mail etc.) for some unknown reason. Poor lad. \*\* We’ve been over this before. He’s gay. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/26 "2002-11-25T14:28:28Z")
😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/27 "2002-11-25T14:35:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LindyHopper \* > \*\*…and I _loved_ “Steel Magnolias”. > > To be fair, I hate all the Julia Roberts romantic comedies… \*\* Okie, so…did you like “Steel Magnolias” in spite of Julia Roberts, or because it _wasn’t_ a romantic comedy? And why was it in the Meg Ryan paragraph? \I just don’t understaaaaaaaaaaaand.\ ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/28 "2002-11-25T15:12:53Z")
My wife convinced me to see “Sweet Home Alabama” over the weekend. (She had seen it previously with friends.) She kept warning me that it was a chick flick, as though that would turn me off. I like some chick flicks. But what I _don’t_ like is inconsistency within the framework of the film itself. “Sweet Home Alabama” has at least one huge, monstrous, glaring inconsistency concerning the star (Reese Witherspoon), and that ruined the movie for me. I still laughed at the jokes, and I still enjoyed many of the scenes. But the overall movie stunk, because of that inconsistency. ---
**Author:** ![GKW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@GKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GKW)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/29 "2002-11-25T15:17:05Z")
What exactly is a chick flick? Besides being a subset of bad Hollywood movies - can anyone provide a better definition? Does it just have to involve romance between a man and a woman? “Thelma & Louise” is a chick flick (right?) but that doesn’t have any romance. So does that mean buddy flicks like “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid” or “Brian’s Song” are the man’s version of a chick flick? ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/30 "2002-11-25T15:24:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Athena \* > \*\*I like chick flicks AND the Man Show. What does that say about me? \*\* You are quite obviously a hermaphrodite. **DreadPirateJimbo** had it right, but you could say the same about “Guy Movies” of the action/adventure genre. I don’t think a movie deserves to be called a “chick-flick” or a “guy-flick” unless it follows those insulting formulas. I thought _The English Patient_ was a very good movie, because there was very little to it that was cliched or formulaic, and I’ve heard people refer to it as a “chick-flick”. Likewise with a lot of the better war movies that break the mold. ---
**Author:** ![airdisc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19adc/32.png) [@airdisc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/airdisc)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/31 "2002-11-25T18:22:35Z")
“Dick flicks”? Sounds like gay porno. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/32 "2002-11-25T18:41:41Z")
“Thelma and Louise” has a lot of romance-how can you forget the introduction of Brad Pitt, Louise’e boyfriend, the tender efforts of Harvey Keitel to keep the girls from getting deeper in trouble, and the obvious love the two leads have for each other? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/33 "2002-11-25T19:46:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by javaman \* > \*\*It depends on the chick flick. If there were some other aspect about it, like it takes place on the Hindenburg and I have a little Hindenburg museum in my home, then yeah, I’ll watch it. \*\* That example was somewhat fanciful, but a more concrete example of a chick flick I try never to miss is _Desk Set_, starring Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. You see, the story centers around a New York TV network hedquarters, where Hepburn is the chief librarian and Tracy is a “methods engineer” who has come to implement a new computer system. This movie was made in about 1958, and I’m fascinated by antique computers, and how they were portrayed in films of the time. Actually it does have some pretty good screwball-comic moments. ---
**Author:** ![airdisc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19adc/32.png) [@airdisc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/airdisc)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/34 "2002-11-25T19:51:07Z")
> [@](#): > > For some reason I just got a mental picture of Julia Roberts throwing somebody into a lake of fire and saying “HAW HAW!” > > \ Thank you for the funniest thing I’ve read in weeks. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/35 "2002-11-25T20:30:36Z")
I can’t remember where I heard this, but someone once defined movies like this: Chicks like movies about one person who dies slowly. Guys like movies about many people who die quickly. Whoever said that, I give them kudos! ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/36 "2002-11-25T20:45:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Chick flicks have bad, clichéd dialogue, bad, clichéd acting, and bad, clichéd characters, all wrapped up in a bad, clichéd storyline. By 15 minutes in, I can usually predict the ending of any one of these films, right down to who falls for who, when, where, and what their dialogue will be when they reveal their true feelings to each other. They are mass-produced pablum which will invariably attract enough viewership to turn a decent profit, but will rarely rise up to the level of greatness. Amen. I hate these movies and my closest friend loves them. The only part I dread about moving to her area is that I KNOW she is geared up to go see every one of these that hit the theater and she LOVES me to go along. We alternate movies- I pick, she picks, and she always picks the chick flicks. In addition to the reasons above, I hate them because more often then not they’re all about love, and their notions of love are (in my opinion) wrong, misleading, and destructive. Guess what- if you’re going to sit on your ass and wait for your Prince Charming to ride up on his horse and kiss you, you’ve got a long, lonely fucking wait. And if you think a perfect marriage or love is like the sappy shit you see on the screen or that all fights end with kisses or that your lover is so into you that they’ll come back from the dead for you, you’re wrong, too. I hate 'em. (Note, this is not all traditional “chick flicks”, but I’m talking Horse Whisperer, Runaway Bride, My Best Friends Wedding- that crapola) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/37 "2002-11-25T21:43:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sauron \* > \*\*“Sweet Home Alabama” has at least one huge, monstrous, glaring inconsistency concerning the star (Reese Witherspoon), and that ruined the movie for me. \*\* What, what? Can you put it in a spoiler tag because I’m really curious. I saw it and realize the set-up was contrived, but what specifically do you mean? –gigi, who watched “Clueless” and “10 Things I Hate About You” in a row Saturday, (only changing the channel when “The Man Show” came on) and was disappointed she had to leave the house and miss “Never Been Kissed”. ---
**Author:** ![CthulhuSpawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@CthulhuSpawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CthulhuSpawn)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/38 "2002-11-25T21:55:40Z")
[hijack] > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by catsix \* > \*\*I can’t remember where I heard this, but someone once defined movies like this: > > Chicks like movies about one person who dies slowly. > > Guys like movies about many people who die quickly. > > Whoever said that, I give them kudos! \*\* It’s from **Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human** , a hilarious ‘documentary’ about a man and woman as they meet and fall in love, all told from an alien viewpoint. (“The female gets approval from her pack for her intended mate” etc…) Coming to DVD in January or so. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/39 "2002-11-25T21:58:56Z")
Chick flicks, or romantic comedies, perpetuate the idea that you can change a man by marrying him. The slob becomes Prince Charming, leading women to believe that they can marry a dolt and a philistine and then magically change him with her feminine wiles. Not gonna happen! Maybe this is why some women love to be with assholes, because their girl movies make them think they can change him. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591/40 "2002-11-25T22:15:55Z")
**red\_dragon60** has the right idea, but a romantic comedy is even more insidious than that. Just about any romantic comedy out there has the following plot theme: 1. Woman is involved in a romantic relationship with a man who seems an appropriate match, but is somewhat uninspiring. 2. On the scene appears a man who is on the surface entirely inappropriate for the woman, but is in some way “romantic” (e.g. he’s a newspaper reporter or helicopter pilot or something). 3. Circumstances throw Woman together with inappropriate man, causing banter and statements that they’d never be interested in one another. 4. There’s a subplot with another couple. 5. Woman realizes that her relationship with appropriate man is uninspiring and that she should go out with inappropriate man. 6. Woman goes out with inappropriate man, and they live happily ever after (or at least to the credits). Once you realize that all romantic comedies have that theme, you will find them as miserable as I do to watch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chick-flicks/138591.md?page=3)