Chick flicks: Opposites attract

Continuing my Chick Flicks Guide, I turn to "opposites attract" - an age-old theme in chick flicks.  This could be a very, very long list... these are just the ones I happen to like while leaving out ones that I don't want to repeat that will show up in other categories.  There's also a related category - adversaries attract - and I'll cover those in another post.

The Chick Flicks:

Green Card
4 stars
The fact that they can make us root for Gerard Depardieu in a romantic role is amazing in and of itself.  But this movie really gets me.  Andie MacDowell and Mr. Frenchie are stuck (in a gorgeous apartment) playing hubby and wife because he needs a green card.  She's a neat perfectionist, he's a slob. Too bad they hate each other... until they don't.

Forces of Nature
4 stars
Sandra Bullock as a wild child gypsy, meets Ben Affleck as a straight-laced man on his way to his own wedding.  This also falls into the Road Trip category, as they're stuck on a train ride together with adventures along the way.  Attraction ensues, but doesn't necessarily go where you expect.

Double wedding
4 stars
Anything with Myrna Loy and William Powell in it I am going to watch, okay?   Their movies are silly, light and yet witty and intelligent.  They have such a chemistry.  Not to mention the 1930s fashions.  In this cinematic pairing, we get to see what happens when a responsible serious gal meets up with an artist who lives in a trailer.

Someone like you
3 stars
She's looking for Mr. Right and he's man about town not interested in settling down. Sound familiar? This was actually a book first.  And I liked the book.  The movie adaptation didn't thrill me as much.  Sometimes you just wanna slap the heroine of the film and tell her to grow up.  But it's still a decent movie, with a little too much cheese factor.  Starring Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman.

Something new
4 stars
I wasn't initially drawn to this film.  It struck me as being "about" racial issues.  (No offense to anyone, but when I'm looking for a light film about love, I don't think "racial issues").  But it wasn't really about that at its heart.  It's about an  uptight professional woman who has to break out of her preconceived notions to find love with a spontaneous, challenging, gardener.  And it's actually very non-cheesy. Try it, you might like it.

A New Kind of Love
3 stars
This is an obscure film you've probably never heard of... Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward, star in this early sixties tale set in Paris.  He's a sports reporter, not exactly looking for love - not the permanent kind at least.  She's a tomboy who works in fashion.  How these two meet and fall in love is a strange, twisted, slightly cheesy tale (an early precursor to the rom-com cheese fest of the last 20 years).  But it's fun to watch this movie just for Paris, sixties fashion and Paul Newman's blue eyes.

Romancing the Stone
3 stars
If Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas didn't do such a brilliant job embodying their characters, this movie wouldn't be so fun. This is classic opposites attract - a prissy romance novel writer somehow falls in with a rough and tough adventurer in a hybrid of romance and action.  Have a 1980s flashback and enjoy...  (Am I the only one who thinks they shouldn't have made a sequel?)

Leap Year
3 stars
And I have to include Leap Year in the mix because I just saw it recently.  It seems to follow the "type A female" meets "type B male" formula and at times it felt a bit too much like a formula.  While I didn't think it was utterly brilliant, if you like chick flicks you'll probably enjoy it.  And the movie comes alive when Matthew Goode shows up and the scenes in Ireland are beautiful.

Recommended double features:
Free spirits: Double Wedding and Forces of Nature
Man about town gets tamed: A New Kind of Love and Someone Like You
Realistic tone: Something New and Green Card
Miss Priss meets her match: Leap Year and Romancing the Stone

Any favorites you would add to the opposites attract category?