Movie Marathon!

Chick Flick Roundup

By Joy Davis
Glee Contributor
Updated: Sunday, June 11, 2006

You have to be a woman to understand the full potential of a good chick flick. These colorful vignettes are emotionally complex romantic comedies (or dramas) that envelope us in a whirlwind journey of boy meets girl. And no matter how many times you see the same movie, you still want to see it again. That's because chick flicks typically leave you feeling really good about love in general by the time they end. Are you ready to fall in love again? Call your girlfriends, get the tissues, whip up some martinis and go rent some of these all-time favorites for a chick-flick round up of the classics and newcomers.

Pretty Woman
This one wins, hands down as the all-time chick-flick favorite. Julia Roberts, who plays an independent, carefree hooker, meets up with Richard Gere while she's… uh, on the job. She's from the streets… he's a successful corporate mogul, but he falls for her anyway because she's the most striking call girl he's ever had the pleasure of 'calling.' We know what's going to happen — it's totally predicable, but we love watching Julia's unwitting, slow and naive seduction.

Funniest moment: When Julia Roberts is trying to eat escargot (snails) and it flies off her fork and lands into the waiter's hand.

Bridget Jones's Diary
She's horribly frumpy, pudgy and prone to getting into the most embarrassing situations ever, which is what makes Renee Zellweger so convincing as Bridget Jones. At the ripe old age of thirty-something, this loveable Brit has vowed to make some changes is her life to avoid turning into an old spinster. How she ends up in the center of a love triangle with two hot bachelors fighting over is comic relief in a major way. Bridget is far from perfect: she drinks too much, she smokes too much and thinks she should shed a few, but we adore her because she's real, and most of all, in the end, even she gets her man.

Why we love her: Because Bridget is real with real flaws. When you watch this flick, you can't help but wonder… if she can look like that and still get a man, then there must be hope for me!

When Harry Met Sally
Can men and women just be friends? We know they can't, but Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal try to find out in this loveable, slow-paced flick about Sally and Harry. They met in college, and end up running into each other’s lives again and again over a span of a decade. She wants friendship. He wants more, but he'll take whatever he can get. The friendship grows and they become inseparable as they realize that they can talk to each other about just about anything--including sex--which takes us to that infamously loud restaurant scene. In the end, they stop fighting and give in. They end up married and gallop off into the sunset like two star-crossed lovers.

Favorite scene: When Sally does her version of a fake orgasm in public while Harry reels in embarrassment.

Waiting To Exhale
We see ourselves and our sisters depicted in this wonderful romantic comedy revolving around the lives of four independent women who bond as they try to dealing with their man drama--and we're talking tall drama. And because they are African-American women living in the desert (Phoenix) the pickings are slim. Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon bring the kind of fiery passion to their characters that's almost palpable. If you've ever been stood up, dumped or played by a man (that's all of us, isn't it?), you can relate to this keeper.

Memorable moment: Bernadine (Angela Bassett) who gets dumped by her cheating husband sets his clothes, car and just about everything else he owns, on fire in the driveway. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a loveable, modern-day Cinderella story about a Greek woman who finally finds her soul mate, but there's one problem: he's not Greek. Nia Vardalos portrays Toula, a practical, plain-Jane woman who finds her soul mate in the very un-Greek Ian, played by John Corbett. The culture clashes will make you laugh and the innocent romance that blossoms against-all-odds will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy all over.

Why this movie’s special: Because we all have families just like Toula’s in many respects, and you can't help but fall in love with the way they love her. This wonderful little flick embraces you with Greek culture, to the point where you're left wishing you had your own Big Fat Greek family.

The Break Up
This movie, starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston, recently hit the box offices and is already a monster summer hit. This is an unbelievably simple but funny movie about a relationship gone sour over a dinner-table dispute. Vince stars as Gary, the typical 'man's guy' kind of boyfriend. Jennifer portrays Brook, Gary's live-in girlfriend and an art dealer who’s had it with her boyfriend's apparent lack of respect for her hard work. The bickering escalates and suddenly it's an all-out war rivaling that of Michael Douglas' War of the Roses. You'll laugh out loud.

Scene-stealers: There are many and I won't go into detail because the movie is too new. Just go see it.

If you’re going to make it a chick-flick movie night, jot down some of the movie names mentioned and make a run over to Blockbuster's. You’ll have enough 'feel-good' movies to keep you and your girlfriends entertained for hours.