Flicks for Chicks!

“Someone once told me to write well, you have to write what you know.  Well here’s what I know…”  Okay, yes.  I stole that.  Completely, word for word from one of my favorite movies.  There are some movies that you can watch again and again, and you never tire of them.  You have the lines memorized. You know what parts you don’t want to miss; you know when to go to the bathroom.  For me, these are movies  affectionately known (and named by the male species I bet) as “Chick Flicks.”

Don’t get me wrong.  I am discriminatory about which chick flicks fall into my “watch over and over” category.  I am a sucker for a happy ending.  If it is corny and predictable, so be it.  Don’t give me the “dying of a fatal disease” movie.  Don’t make me sit through the “perfect for each other, yet can never live together so they walk away from each other a la Streisand and Redford” viewing.   I MUST have the happy ending.

I did NOT have a very romantic or date-filled teen life (that is a whole blog in itself) so I guess I learned early to live vicariously.  Some of my first loves in this genre were movie musicals; better known as the “spontaneously burst into song and dance”, chick flick.  “Those Sabine Women” in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.”  Harold Hill finally admitting that he got is “foot caught in the door.”   Judy falling for the “Boy Next Door,” and then not having to move from St. Louis.  They don’t get cornier or chick flickier than that folks.

At this time I also discovered the teen chick flick.  16 Candles ( “Thanks for getting my panties back.”), Breakfast Club (An athlete, a basket case, a princess, blah blah blah”).  My affection for these movies  morphed into made for TV smarmy Hallmark and Lifetime goodies that are absolutely irresistible to me. 

My DVR is filled with the last 15 minutes of what many would not consider stellar cinema, but to me – they are feel good moments. I watch Justin Long return a pen to Ginnifer Goodwin.  I see Ryan Reynolds confront Sandra Bullock about leaving him at the altar with the whole office watching.  James Marsden admits to Kathryn Heigel, “I cried like a baby at the Keller wedding!”) Over and Over I die when Michael Vartan runs across the baseball field to give Drew Barrymore the kiss she deserves.

Ridiculously crazy genre? Some may think so.  Waste of time? Most likely.  Predictable, formulaic, corny? Definitely.

But, these flicks make me feel good.  They make me forget reality for a while.  Let’s face it – with all that is going on in the world today, and in our lives, we deserve a little distraction.  Smarmy, happy endings make my day!