Sure, I enjoy a fine film. But for day-to-day enjoyment, I find it is often hard to beat a good rom-com!
Last night we watched The Jane Adams Book Club. Nothing that I expect to remember in a week or so, but a good couple of hours of enjoyment. The same damned story told in just a slightly different way.
My tastes run to the rom-coms (or the subset of teen rom coms) rather than the pure romances or tearjerkers, but if those are your pleasure, feel free to post your praises here.
And, IMO, there is definitely a distinction between a chick flick which is well done (if that is not too much of a contradiction in terms) and one which is not. And often it is hard to put my finger on exactly why I feel one was done well and another not. I presume some combination of clever writing, decent enough acting, and interesting filming - because it CAN’T be unpredictability. You KNOW how they are going to end up!
What are some of your faves? Or if you detest what are generally considered chick flicks or rom-coms, feel free to explain why (tho I generally think it good form not to yuck someone else’s yum.)
And apologies to anyone who is offended by the term “chick flick.” That term has fond memories in our house. When our kids were young, choosing a movie (remember the trips to Blockbuster? Seemed they always ended up with someone in tears!) that all our kids would agree on (and we could tolerate sitting through) was quite the challenge. One night someone suggested a certain film and someone else questioned whether we should get it as it was a chick flick. To which one of my young daughters piped up, “Dad LIKES chick flicks!” One of those mundane moments that has stuck with our family through the ensuing decades.
I do, though the real answer is somewhat more complicated. Movies are a social activity for me and I never watch them by myself, so I haven’t actually watched all that many chick flicks because the person who is most frequently around and wanting me to watch a movie with them is my boyfriend (and before that, my husband, etc. Point is it’s usually a man who doesn’t like chick flicks.). The men I date are typically into those grand plotlines, like a superhero saving the world from destruction or something, but I prefer on a small scale that center around the dynamics of a family, or a school, or a group of friends, or a romantic relationship. (The horror genre typically ends up being the best compromise between the two, if you were wondering.)
Anyways, I would say Sweet Home Alabama is my favorite chick flick, since I also love the trope of a big city girl coming back to a small town. Bridesmaids and Mean Girls are two other movies about the drama within a group of friends that I enjoy.
You seem to be using the terms “chick flick” and “rom-com” interchangeably. While there’s a huge overlap in the Venn diagram, I don’t consider them synonymous. I haven’t seen Thelma and Louise, but my impression is that it’s a chick flick but not a rom-com. Some Adam Sandler movies (e.g. The Wedding Singer) are rom-coms without being chick flicks.
Depends on how formulaic it feels. Silver Linings Playbook and Love, Actually had a tendency to flatten my ears immediately. Felt like they’d laid out the generalities of a “chick flick” or “rom com” and then stretched a plot around that structure on purpose. But there are many that do fit the general description that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. I still rewatch French Kiss and Ever After now and then.
Good point. I was going to post something similar, but you probably said it better than I would have. I enjoy watching a good rom-com with Mrs. solost. I even sometimes watch what might be considered chick flicks or TV “she-shows(?)” with her, but there is a fine line…
Yeah, for me I draw the line when it has too much cheesy manufactured soap-opera drama. I used to watch ‘Gray’s Anatomy’ with Mrs. solost, but I had to stop years ago because it just got too cheesy for me to tolerate.
More recently, I started watching ‘Virgin River’ with Mrs. solost, which is about as chick-flicky as a TV show gets, and is on the very edge and beyond of my tolerance for soap operatics, but I like some of the actors, and the scenic backdrops can’t be beat for some couch zombie watching.
I’m having a hard time defining “chick flick” for the purpose of contributing here. I know I’ve enjoyed a film or three that I thought were chick flicks, but I can’t remember the titles right now.
After having a look at my collection of films, the only defining theme that occurs to me is the development of a romantic relationship. I guess films about strong, independent women, especially an ensemble of them, could be considered chick flicks, but nothing’s coming to mind.
Annie Hall is about a relationship, but Woody Allen films are in their own category, IMO.
La La Land is about a relationship, but it’s more of a musical.
Groundhog Day is about a relationship, but the main attraction is the stuck-in-time element.
The French Lieutenant’s Woman might be a good fit.
I enjoyed Frankie and Johnny (1991, directed by Garry Marshall) and would like to see how it stands up on second viewing.
I love The Cutting Edge. I need some humor in my rom com/chick flicks. I hate any that seem overly contrived or built to spec. Personally, I hated Sweet Home Alabama. But any story that portrays country folk as pure and perfect and city people as evil and artificial really hits that sour spot for me.
I tried to make clear that my preferences did not run to the entire range of what could be called “chick flicks”, but that I was not intending the thread to be limited to rom coms.
To me, a Chick Flick has a romance as a major plot point. RomComs would be a subset of Chick Flicks. I don’t usually watch either except when my wife wants to see one. I did watch one by accident once.
I don’t watch a ton of rom-coms, but I have seen some I do like.
I don’t like the terminology because it implies women’s stories are only interesting to women, which is a really sad commentary on society. I also dislike “chick lit” for similar reasons.
I write romance. It’s one of the most disparaged genres out there, I’ve seen other writers viciously attack it apropos of nothing, or go out of their way to say they like everything except romance, none of that women’s shit for me, no thank you… but that’s misogyny for you.
For me, it held up well on second viewing. And, for that matter, subsequent ones. It’s a favourite of mine.
One of the things I like is that the romance is not the centre of the story; at least, not for most of the story. We get to know the other characters as well: the cafe owner, the cooks, the waitresses, the cafe regulars; and in some cases, we get to know them in surprising detail. The romance simmers underneath until it quietly rises to the top. Watch it again; you should enjoy it.
I admit to liking the Seth Rogan vehicles. Zach & Miri Make a Porno was inspired. The Long Shot was pretty good.
There’s an excellent romantic drama called Dan in Real Life starring Steve Carell. Beautiful, poignant love story.
(ETA I just watched the trailer for this and it frames itself as a rom-com. It’s romantic and it’s funny, but it’s also about a deeply depressed man grieving his dead wife, which the trailer doesn’t even mention! The whole thing just has this tender pathos that takes it out of rom-com territory, IMO.)
I like Bridget Jones because Colin Firth. I like to see Colin Firth in movies. Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy? Yes, please.
I like weird relationships.
Harold and Maude. Silver Linings Playbook.
I like unconventional heroines. I can’t think of any immediate examples but I’m open to recommendations.
I think of chick flicks as more of the “Plucky female reporter travels to New England where she meets a single dad Christmas tree farm owner who falls in love with her and is secretly a prince and also Santa Claus” genre. Of those a fan I am not.
It somehow crams every Hallmark trope into one film, and it’s a glory to behold.
From the outset, the plot of A Christmas Prince has several reindeer-size holes in it, including the premise, which has American journalist Amber traveling to a fictional European country, the very realistic and totally normal-sounding “Aldovia,” in hopes of getting dirt on Aldovia’s hot, Harry-esque prince, Richard, who has been playboy-ing around town. Amber wanders her way into the palace and somehow gets mistaken as a new math tutor for Princess Emily, who is wheelchair-bound. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but the rest of the story, as the Twitter-sphere has chronicled, is a grab bag of various made-for-TV plot elements, including but not limited to: adoption, an attempted coup, a snowball fight, a wolf, poetry, a coronation/Christmas ball, a hidden birth certificate, and a New York City diner.
Books, not movies (we can dream one day), but have you read Tamsyn Muir’s Locked Tomb series? I don’t think you can find more unconventional heroines or an unconventional love story.
ETA: I don’t think you can find… is a pretty fucking bold statement, reworded, I haven’t found more unconventional heroines or story.
