The Chick Flick Guide

I'm going to be starting a new project, one born of playfulness and fun.  I want to create a guidebook of sorts to chick flicks.  Or at least the ones I like enough to give three stars on Netflix.

This first came up because I have a friend who also loves chick flicks and we spend a lot of time chatting about movies.  I started talking about categories and realized I wanted to put together a categorization of chick flicks.

Yes, there are probably already a million guides out there like this already... Some electronic compilations (lacking soul in my opinion), others made by actual people. But this one is mine.  My POV.  So you're going to see blog posts from me - about one a week, with different categories of chick flicks. If you're a chick flick fan too, I want your feedback.  So if you think I missed something in that category, send a comment my way and I'll update the page!

What is a "chick flick" exactly? To me, it's a movie that has innate appeal primarily to women.  It's not just romantic movies or romantic comedies - although those make up much of the list.  You've also got movies about female bonding, self-discovery, and don't forget your costume dramas and Jane Austen. Most chick flicks are happy affairs, that end with you feeling cheery - but chick flicks can be tearjerkers too.

There is one acid test for a chick flick  - when you mention the title to a man and he groans and then starts talking about an action movie that he'd rather see.


Now, some things I want to get out of the way...


I'm not a highbrow snob. Sometimes I enjoy a little light, fluffy cheese.  These are not the movies praised by critics or considered to be high art. The fact that I enjoy these does not make me daft, merely a bit escapist at times. I also enjoy a bit of highbrow too.  Just so you know, you'll get a little bit of both from me.

I find that detailed movie reviews can ruin a movie for me.  Sometimes they reveal the whole plot or critique this or that aspect or tear apart the actor bit by bit.  And what a "highbrow" critic is looking for in a movie is not always what I'm looking for on a rainy day when I want to watch a happy film. I think there is a place for detailed dissection, but there's also a place for childlike enjoyment free of intellectual snobbery.

Movie reviews can set me up to like or hate a film before I've even seen it.  I prefer to read movie reviews after I've seen a movie for that reason. So I'm not going to give a detailed review and I hope my opinions don't unfairly color your expectations of any of these movies.  But I will give each movie a star rating and a little description with a drop of my opinion swirled in.

So if you are a fellow chick flick lover, I hope you have fun along with me.  Expect the first installment tomorrow...