The Great Chick Flick Debate - Results
The Wedding Singer, seems to have the same polarizing effect on my readers as it does my home. Well, well, well…it’s a tie it seems with several people on the fence. It seems my hubby and I will have to continue our debate for at least another decade.
My side: I think it’s totally a chick flick! Why, you say? Because I cried like a baby at the end wishing that someday I too, could be loved so intensely that my special someone would do whatever it took to win my heart and live happily ever after. Much like Pretty Woman, my favorite chick flick movie of all time. If you want to see me bawl, put on Pretty Woman at the end when Edward is giving the necklace to the hotel manager…that little exchange, if I am not already sniffleing, I’ll go into a full tilt sob. I never cry at typical movies, I pretty much only cry at chick flicks or things like Crash (which made me sob by the way, you should see it if you haven’t) or God forbid, an animal movie, and those moments are rare, hubby says I have a heart of stone.
Yes, it’s funny, and I love all the 80s references, but it’s still a chick flick at it’s heart. They just tossed you boys a bone so you’d have something to watch too when you get drug to the movie by your girlfriend/wife.
The hubby says that a chick flick requires that someone die a horrible death of cancer or some other malady (a la Beaches or Steel Magnolias). While I agree that those movies are in fact also chick flicks, I think that romantic comedies also fall under the chick flick category. Anything who’s storyline revolves around affairs of the heart at it’s core is pretty much a chick flick to me.
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
March 10th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
You know, what is the real criteria for a chick flick anyways? Is it because it’s a movie chicks like to see? Do you have to cry in it? If so, then come on. Star Wars Episode III was a chick flick. Seriously. didn’t you cry at the end when Darth Vader was asking where Padme was? It brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it. (oh sorry for those folks who haven’t seen the movie yet!)
Anyways, I think most guys will not think of it as a chick flick simply because they liked it.
March 10th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Wikipedia’s entry defnining Chick Flick may be helpful.
And yes, I cried like a baby at the last half hour or so of Star Wars Episode III. But no, it’s not a chick flick, the central theme was the struggle for power between good and evil, not Padme and Anakin’s relationship, though that did play in to the central theme with devastating consequences.
Hmmm…boy, do I feel like a nerd now.
March 10th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
LOL I guess wikipedia is the authority on everything. amazing.
It’s still not a genre. even wikipedia says that.
It’s “slang”
March 10th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
bah it was the first thing that popped up when I googled it…it was consise.
You be nice.
March 10th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
I agree you with, Tigg, that a romantic comedy can be called a “chick flick,” although that label cannot be applied to all romantic comedies. I think that label could be applied to many movies where a woman and her feminine issues are the central part of the story. Movies like “Stepmom” (which is clearly not a comedy) deals with the new wife’s struggle to fit into a family as a stepparent, trying to gain the respect of the kids while not infringing on the remaining time of the existing mother.
A movie like “Roxanne,” about unrequited love, appeals to both men and women. We can all relate to not feeling attractive enough and unlovable. Does this movie qualify as a chick flick? Who knows? Maybe, maybe not.
I think it’s a subjective designation. Some movies are blatantly chick flicks because guys wouldn’t be caught dead watching it (Steel Magnolias, The Princess Diaries), while still others can appeal to both genders (Runaway Bride, Roxanne, City of Angels).
I know, this doesn’t clear up any confusion. Just my $0.02.
March 10th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Just to you don’t feel like a complete nerd tigger, I have to make sure that I’m even nerdier. I read the episode three book before I saw the movie and cried at the book. It was heart rending! And just to cement my complete nerdiness–wasn’t episode three a complete Greek Tragedy in all aspects!!
As for chick flicks–Ro co’s are totally chick flicks, even if the men like them sometimes!!!
March 11th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
I think a chick flick is the type of movie you go see on a date; it’s not the type of movie a guy asks his guy buddies to go see. I can see myself asking my guy friends to see Star Wars, but not Wedding Singer (even though I own the DVD and like it).
March 14th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
I wouldn’t consider The Wedding Singer a chick flick. For one, my boyfriend liked it. The central character was really Robbie. The only women’s issue is Julia almost married for money instead of love. It was a romantic comedy.