If you want comedy Hitch really can’t miss. Mean Girls is also a lot of fun and a good movie.
I have to second Stranger Than Fiction my husband I both adore this movie. Sweet romance, original quirky plot, fantastic script. Loved it.
I love classics and most women I know enjoy them as well, my favorites are almost all Cary Grant or Audrey Hepburn. You could do Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn but that’s a Hitchcock mystery, and therefor does not qualify under the “chick flick” category although it would definitely fit under the “good movie” restriction.
If Pride and Prejudice went over big, then I triple the recommendation of Sense and Sensibility (Directed by Ang Lee, written by/starring Emma Thompson). Alan Rickman is to die for, and Hugh Grant and Greg Wise are icing on the yummy cake. And bonny Kate Winslet for any who roll that way, not to mention Ms. Thompson herself. Funny, romantic, touching, and gorgeously shot / scored.
And for something that hasn’t been mentioned, Emma (Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam version). Bright, effervescent, witty, and ever-so-romantic. Just a big ball of joy.
If the ladies are into “women’s pictures” of the 1950s, or just like snark and wit and a bit of period glam, then go for All About Eve, the Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed classic with Bette Davis’s perfect role as Margo Channing, a 40-year-old theater star whose days as an ingenue are numbered, especially if her new Best! Fan! Eve (Anne Baxter) has anything to say about it. Adding to the fun are Celeste Holm as Margo’s dry but loving best friend, Thelma Ritter as Margo’s devoted but bitchy maid, and the unparalleled George Sanders as acidic, sly, suave theatre critic Addison DeWitt. (Also Marilyn Monroe in one of her earliest roles.) Not for nothing is it one of the most Oscar-nominated films of all time – 14 noms in total.
Another Joseph L. Mankiewicz film that seems underappreciated at least in comparison to AAE but is nearly as delicioius: A Letter to Three Wives. Three suburban wives are best friends in supposedly happy marriages, but the cracks begin to show when a fourth friend – Addie Ross, a woman they love to hate – sends them a letter just as they’re heading on a field trip, informing them that she’s run off with one of their husbands. Most of the film is spent in flashback as the wives (insecure former farmgirl Jeanne Crain, married-for-money-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks Linda Darnell, and wisecracking radio soap writer Ann Southern) wonder which of their husbands is the one who Got Away. Look out for a young, charming, snarky Kirk Douglas as Ann’s hubby, who’s a school teacher not quite thrilled that his wife is taking home more bacon than he is, especially writing trashy soaps. Ooh, and Thelma Ritter once again as a snarktastic maid.
Best list in this thread, IMHO. The rest of the movies, mostly, I’ve seen and think are mostly crap (“Casablanca” being the exception). Your list included mostly movies I thought were subtantive and interesting.
So now your chance - tell me how little I think like a conventional American straight woman.
Cousin Bette is a divinely wicked period story with Jessica Lange, Hugh Laurie, Bob Hoskins, and Elisabeth Shue. Any time it’s on, I watch it.
At the other end of the emotional spectrum is Enchanted April, which I watch to cheer me up. It’s a charming story about the power of love, set in the utter gorgeousness of Portofino, Italy.
Oh, and Eat Drink Man Woman, which was adapted into Tortilla Soup, is AWESOME, even if you normally hate subtitles.
One of the best movies of the year last year, hands down, a really great little movie. Also just happens to have a pretty high chick flick factor. But it’s such an all around great movie that to call it a chick flick is to be absurdly reductive. (Ebert: “a heart-tugger with the confidence not to tug too hard.”)
Moonstruck-- Cher is awesome in it, but the supporting cast is what makes it: Vincent Gardenia and Olympia Dukakis play her parents, and the aunt, uncle and grandfather are also outstanding. If there are any Italian Americans in your group, they will love it.
Steel Magnolias-- A classic, and my favorite parts are between Claree (Olympia Dukakis, again) and Ouiser (Shirley MacLain).
When Harry Met Sally-- Highly quotable love story spanning decades between Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal.
Princess Bride-- A cult favorite. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should.
Legend-- For a vision of Tom Cruise before he had his teeth capped. This movie is a fantasy/romance, but Tim Curry is the Devil, so it’s pretty awesome.
Two from Jon Favreau: Love & Sex, and Swingers. *Swingers *is arguably a guy movie, but the main character is such a sweetheart, and it’s a lot of fun. Plus any uninitiated viewers will finally understand when someone on TV or IRL says, “You’re so money and you don’t even know it.”
From my DVD cabinet: *Ladyhawke *(sword & sorcery romance with Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer), *Roxanne (Cyrano de Bergerac via Steve Martin), Best in Show (crazy dog show people compete - by the people who did Spinal Tap), Bullets Over Broadway (when is an artist selling out? What is art and who can do it? What is the difference between love and sex?), and *Noises Off *(off broadway sex farce rehearses and performs, with hilarious problems).
*love is very deep - sex only goes a few inches
Most of the movies I was going to suggest have already gone up.
Can I suggest a NZ oldie Desperate Remedies. Its come up on anothe thread so it may be available to you. The late great NZ actor Kevin Smith is in it. (swoon!)
& I haven’t seen it in years (& really wish I could get hold of a copy) but I loved Bette Davis weepie Dark Victory when I was a teen. & Marilyn Munroe’s Gentlemen prefer Blondes.
Clueless and Mean Girls are two of my favorite female-centered comedies (it’s clear from this thread that there doesn’t seem to be a standard definition for ‘chick flick’ except that it’s got at least one lady’s name in top billing). Ghost World is excellent, especially if women in their early 20s will be watching. Groundhog Day is always great, especially for mixed groups, in terms of gender and taste. It’s pretty much a sappy romance, but it’s funny enough (and stars a guy), so lots of people let that slide.
I agree with Clueless. Ghost World, too–it’s my favorite movie of all time. Though I never thought of it as a chick flick. I suppose Thora Birch and Scarlet Johanssen qualify as chicks. Either way, it’s a well worth watching film–great writing, acting, direction.
Happy Accidents - SF/Time Travel chick flick. It would make a nice double feature with something like Stranger Than Fiction or Groundhogs Day. Another romantic SF movie that’s not quite as chick-flicky: The Fountain.
Either way, it’s a well worth watching film–great writing, acting, direction.