Chick flicks are in trouble, according to The New York Times. Recent additions to the “romcom” market — 27 Dresses, The Holiday, PS, I Love You — have proved to be shit compared to the bad bitches of the 90s like Sleepless in Seattle and Notting Hill, so Hollywood’s out to save the genre! How? By casting cute women in funny/awkward/romantic situations to which men can also relate.
For instance, the upcoming Isla Fisher vehicle, Confessions of a Shopaholic, sure sounds like a chick flick (that title!), but producer Jerry Bruckheimer swears it’s totally not: “We all have spending habits, a lot of us do.” Good point: idiotic conspicuous consumption is genderless.
And what about Julie & Julia, the seemingly estrogen-spiked cryfest described thusly: ” … a complex exercise … based on both the life of the cooking enthusiast Julia Child and the 2005 book of the same title by Julie Powell, who, stuck in place as an office temp as she approached 30, spent a year whipping up every recipe in Ms. Child’s ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking.’” Strictly for the ladies, right? Wrong! Says one of the film’s producers: “We hope this will be a movie for everyone who likes eating.” That means the models will absolutely hate it, but they hate everything, so you can’t listen to them. Men love to eat, and so do many women. Winner!
Chill, Times, the chick flicks are gonna be fine. Now run along and fill another page with obvious drivel marketed as analysis.
Editor
Confessions of a Shopaholic is actually a book series written by Sophie Kinsella. They are chick lit books, written by a woman for women, they are fantastic books and if they are changing the film that much from the book they won’t get a return from it.
Also PS I love you is a chick lit book by Wendy markham and sucked because is wasn’t nearly close to what the book was
Both these books were international best sellers.
i wouldn’t have a problem with chick flicks going away forever. if i want to cry and be sad i’ll watch the news or the lifetime channel.
Know what else was an international best seller? My coochie.
I’m with deimos. Let them go. Chick flicks usually just depress me anyway.
the chick flicks that don’t depress people are sappy comedies that feed people an unrealistic image of how relationships work.
Not that I’m a fan of the genre, but maybe they’ve just been making crap films?
SEX AND THE CITY: THE MOVIE… May 30, 2008
I’m a huge fan of the feel good chick flick, but I’ve gotta say that I’m starting to burn out on the regular story lines. 27 dresses was good, but it’s not a pretty woman or a sleepless in Seattle…but one could argue that pretty woman and sleepless in seattle are nothing compared with Roman Holiday and definately, the genius movie An Affair To Remember…perspective is everything.
Speaking of “chick flicks” there are ads all over this site for a craptastic looking movie “Made of Honor”…I’m sure no one will see it.
PS I love you the movie was based on the book by Cecilia Ahern not Wendy Markham. PS I love you was almost the exact same as the book version.
to be fair, julie and julia was not what i would think of as chick lit. it’s actually about the ennui and stagnation faced by a late-20-something woman and the way she personally tried to cope. based on a true story. market it to the garden state crowd?
Well, one way to save the genre is for the actresses to get wise to themselves. Meaning… stop trying to be the American woman’s best friend, diet/exercise guru, role model and/or magazine cover girl, etc. Some of these actresses are entirely overexposed; it’s really annoying.
Another way to save the genre is to stop recruiting leading ladies and men from television. Quite frankly, actresses like Katherine Heigl, Jennifer Aniston, Eva Longoria, etc. lack the charisma/screen presence to make the audience feel invested in their characters, much less the characters’ love lives. And given that some of these actors/actresses have killed the concept of romance/true loves on their respective shows (Jennifer Aniston), it’s crazy to think that these people can reinvigorate the genre in movie theaters.
Writers have a hand in this too. They need to stop thinking that everything that can be said about love, romance, men and women, etc. have already been said. It hasn’t. Cutting down on huge romantic gestures like in Sweet Home Alabama or any Drew Barrymore romcom would help. Also, don’t make the lovers so lopsided; the characters don’t have to be totally likable or contemptable.
Meg Ryan owned the genre and did a great job, but blew it and her reputation when she went public with Crowe. I think Drew Barrymore could pull it off with some good male co-stars. I love the feel good light romantic film! We need more of them, not less. When’s Hollywood going to realize that feel bad movies, Iraq War movies, Bad, Bad, USA government movies, violence and torture movies are so OVAH.
Jen Aniston lacks screen presence? Really? So you’ve obviously never seen The Good Girl or Friends with Money then.
I saw The Good Girl and Friends With Money; she was a dead-eyed doormat in both films.
Yeah… that’s worth hauling ass to the movie theater to see.