Let the wine and the tears flow; it’s chick flick night. Raid the refrigerator of everything that has no business in any of the five food groups, turn down the lights, leave the kids with daddy, keep your best friends close, and the tissues closer, and get ready for the mascara to run.
There’s nothing like a really good chick flick to remind us what’s really important in life. The chicks of the silver screen may lose their cool sometimes, but they always emerge as the coolest, and there’s no obstacle too big for them to face. If you’ve got the girl’s together, and are looking for a movie that hits all the right notes, here are some can’t miss classics.
Bridesmaids
Who couldn’t watch two hours of Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, and Melissa McCarthy doing almost anything? Tell the truth, if you had to pick a B.F.F. it would have to be one of these ladies, hands down. However, if you could get your real life friends together and just watch Bridesmaids, it might just be the next best thing.
When you’re talking about chemistry, these women have it in spades. Whoever did the casting on this movie is a magic maker. Kristen (Annie) is the riotous maid of honor, leading a motley crew consisting of Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper and Wendi McLendon-Covey down the aisle at her best friend’s (Lillian (Rudolph)) wedding. What could go wrong? How about some bridal gowns stained with vomit, some very ‘unfit to fly’ ladies on a plane to Las Vegas, and a few inappropriate moments? If you want to see some ladies behaving badly and then redeeming themselves, Bridesmaids is that teaches us that the only abnormality is the inability to stick up for your friends.
Thelma and Louise
Great as Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon are, no hot-blooded woman in America can deny that Thelma and Louise just wouldn’t be the same without Brad Pitt. This is vintage Pitt, ladies, when Angelina and the five kids were just a spark on the horizon. And those blue eyes? Can you say “hot?’
Still, Davis and Sarandon manage to steal the show, as can be expected by two actresses of such fine ilk. As the bumbling, sad, and all too real Thelma and Louise (Sarandon and Davis, respectively), these two spunky travelers do a great job of reminding us of ourselves if sometimes a little too much. Always triumphant, sometimes painful, Thelma and Louise will have you in tears one moment and stitches the next, and leave you with a new perspective that will last you a lifetime.
Bridget Jones’ Diary
Bridget Jones drinks too much, eats too much, weighs too much, and smokes too much. She’s awkward, often to the point of embarrassment, and sometimes not even sober enough to maintain her dignity. She’s no one’s idea of a role model, yet few who have seen Bridget Jones’ Diary have failed to be inspired by her.
Why does everyone love Bridget Jones? Because Bridget Jones (Rene Zewelleger) is never too proud to laugh at herself. No matter how tragic her life gets, Bridget Jones sees the humor in it, and that’s what makes her so beautiful. And when she becomes the center of two men’s desires, does she get high and mighty about it? Not our Bridget! Real, spunky, spirited and integral to the end, Bridget Jones Diary is not just Bridget’s triumph, but the triumph of every woman with insecurities, a.k.a the triumph of every woman.
Fifty Shades of Grey
If pornos and chick flicks had a baby, it would probably look a lot like Fifty Shades of Grey.
If your mind’s in the gutter, keep it there, if it’s not, it will be after you see this movie. Fifty Shades of Grey is the story of the naive Anastasia Steele, whose chance in counter with the worldly, dashing Christian Grey sweeps her off her feet and into a world of dominance, bondage, discipline, and submission. But when it becomes unclear about who’d holding the whip, you’ll start to wonder if this is Anastasia’s fall from grace or if it’s Christian’s? Tune in and turn on!
Crazy Stupid Love
The movie that first asked the millennial question, “What are you, photoshopped?” Crazy Stupid Love is the stupid crazy chick flick with the stupid crazy cast that first warmed the hearts of theater-goers in 2011.
With Steve Carell as Cal Weaver, the spurned middle-aged man at the center of the action, Ryan Gosling as the playboy who abets and corrupts him, and co-starring roles by the Emma Stone, Kevin Bacon, Marisa Tomei, and Julianne Moore thickening the plot, it becomes apparent that the world can be a really small and uncomfortable place sometimes, and a lot of what we see isn’t really as it appears. Kind of makes, “What are you, photoshopped?” seem like a though provoking question about today’s society.
Dirty Dancing
If this is the feature of choice for your girl’s night in, you better make sure you have some floor space. The side effects of Dirty Dancing may include, but are not limited to, some well-intentioned, but poorly executed dance moves, and may result in off-key singing.
Even though what qualified as “dirty dancing” in 1987, is probably considered tame by today’s standards, the movie can still hold its own at any chick flick gathering. The chemistry between Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey is probably hotter than even the most inspired twerking or dry humping on any dance floor. This is vintage Swayze, the way he would want to be remembered, the story is teen drama at its best, and the soundtrack is guaranteed to get you out of your seat, for better or worse.
Legally Blonde
It was once quite acceptable to believe that blondes might have more fun, but it was also acceptable to assume they had no brains. In days past, stereotypical blonde may have been sexy as all get out, as long as you overlooked the fact that she may find it difficult to compute the sum of one and one. Today, women can have it all, and blonde hair does not necessarily mean a woman hasn’t graduated cum laude from Harvard, and we may owe it all to the movie Legally Blonde.
In the movie, Reese Witherspoon plays the fashion merchandising student, Elle Woods, who finds out that love hurts when her rich governor’s son boyfriend dumps her. His reasoning? Elle is not serious enough to play role of wife in his political daydream. Boy, does Elle show him. With the help of her plucky sorority sisters, Elle manages a near perfect score on her Law School Admissions Test, and that’s when she really starts to lay down the law. It all culminates in one of the most riotous cross examinations in courtroom history, proving that blondes really do have more brains.
Gone With The Wind
“Frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a damn.” Rhett Butler may have been the character that set the mold for the Hollywood bad boy. How could a man so cruel make a woman so hot?
Gone with the Wind is the Civil War era story of the love affair between the dashing, if somewhat immoral Rhett Butler, (Clark Gable), and smitten Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh). He’s selfish, drinks too much, and there’s even a more than a hint of rape, yet all Rhett has to do is arch his eyebrow, and Scarlett is putty in his hands. Whom among us hasn’t been there? It’s the battle between the head and the heart during the battle between the north and south, of herstory and history, and who triumphs in the end.
The Devil Wears Prada
If there’s a recipe for the perfect chick flick, The Devil with Prada has all the right ingredients: dirt, drama, comedy, and Louis Vuitton Shoes. Not that any of us imagined Anna Wintour a dream to work for, but getting to see it from an insider’s view certainly drives it home. And can we talk about Meryl Streep?
Not that any of us imagined Anna Wintour a dream to work for, but getting to see it from an insider’s view certainly drives it home. And can we talk about Meryl Streep? First we love her as a Polish refugee in Sophie’s Choice, and now we love to hate her, as the Wintour-based Miranda Priestly. Shout out to Anne Hathaway who made the perfect foil to Streep as the unwitting Andy, who eventually comes to figure out sometimes the only way to win is not to play the game.
Miss Congeniality
With a gun on her garter, and a strapless Bob Mackie gown, Sandra Bullock may not be the most traditional Miss America, but she sure is one of the most likable. It all begins when FBI special agent Gracie Hart ( Bullock – and she is all heart and grace ) blows a sting operation when she can’t help trying to give the Heimlich Maneuver to a choking Russian mobster, and is demoted to a desk job.
When, years later, a domestic terrorist poses a bomb threat at the 75th annual United States Beauty pageant, Gracie seeks her chance for redemption. She masterminds a plan to go undercover at the event as Miss New Jersey, impressing judges with her glass harp technique and self-defense skills in the talent competition. Will Gracie win the crown or lose her life? Tune in and find out.
Confessions of A Shopaholic
Have you ever bought something because you might later regret not buying it when the perfect occasion to wear it comes up, and you find yourself with nothing to wear? Do you ever buy something just so no one else can buy it? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, then you can probably relate to Confessions of A Shopaholic.
Let us live vicariously through Rebecca Bloomwood, a woman trapped in a vicious cycle of new lows leading to new clothes and new clothes leading to new lows? Will she be able to face the reality of a maxed-out credit card, or will she have to file for bankruptcy? If your looking for a precautionary tale with a few fab dresses thrown in, Confessions of A Shopaholic will satisfy and entertain you and all your gal pals.
Beaches
Has anyone sat through Beaches without crying? Ok, so it might not be the funniest movie to sit through, but you will want to watch this movie with friends. Beaches
Ok, so it might not be the funniest movie to sit through, but you will want to watch this movie with friends. Beaches tells the story of C.C. Bloom (Bette Midler), New York singer and actress, and Hillary Whitney (Barbara Hershey), and their enduring 35-year friendship. It ends where it begins, and begins where it ends, with a panicked C.C. receiving a note form Hilary, which forces her to embark on a trip to San Francisco to Hilary’s side. The rest is history.
For the next two hours, the viewer relives the all too real friendship of these two women as they deal with dysfunctional families, failing careers, loves won and loves lost, heartbreak, tragedy, and of course, the value of friendship. Sound a bit cliche? Beaches is the movie that set the mold for cliche, and you can’t beat the original. Plus, you’ll get to see Mayik Bialik (Big Bang Theory) play an 11-year old C.C. Bloom, and that just may be worth a few boxes of tissues.
Grease
If you were a character from Grease, who would you be? Would it be Rizzo, the mean girl bully with a heart of gold, would it be Sandy, the blue-eyed innocent who falls “hopelessly” in love with the clef chinned bad boy, or would it be Frenchy, the pink haired misguided beauty school drop out? There’s a high school version of all of us somewhere at Rydell High, and we revisit it every time we watch Grease. So if this is your choice for your chick flick party, don’t be surprised if even your most conservative friend is singing, “Tell me more, tell me more,” along with “Summer Nights.”
Also, if it’s been a really long time since you watched Grease, you might be shocked by how many adult references there are in the movie. When you and your friends were singing your lungs out to Sandra Dee, were you even aware of what it meant to be “lousy with virginity?”
Make Grease the flick pick at your chick night and find out what it means to go together like “rama lama lama ka dinga da ding dong.”
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