Gimme your 5-Star ratings... for chick flicks

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See, "chick flicks" are about romance and relationships. But if men also like them, then they aren't chick flicks, they are just good movies. Because the function of the term is to look down on someone and you can't look down on someone if you're also enjoying the film.

This is why the question is inherently rigged. "Chick flick" basically means movies with plots and themes that are generally meant to appeal more to women, but not executed with enough skill to make them appealing to a broader audience (so Center Stage, a story of a ballerina navigating conflict and sex/romance in a ruthless ballet company is a chick flick, and Black Swan, a story of a ballerina navigating conflict and sex/romance in a ruthless ballet company is not a chick flick).
It’s interesting. I do genuinely believe, as far as personal experience goes, that men enjoy films about ‘romance and relationships’ less. Is that controversial? I also feel like films centred around female characters with few or no male characters tend to be less plot-driven or full of ‘action’. Which are pretty definitive characteristics.

I’d suggest that one could quite easily argue why Black Swan isn’t a ‘chick click’ and it’s due to its relatively dark tone, misanthropic take on female rivalry (rather than the more optimistic ‘sisterhood’ narrative of something like Birds of Paradise), and a relatively voyeuristic portrayal of women (including the sex scene). Whereas something like Booksmart is more obviously a ‘chick flick’, seeing as it centres the female experience and makes zero effort (imo) to make anything or anyone visually appealing or erotic in the basic ‘male gaze’ sense. To me the distinction is perfectly real.

I agree that ‘chick flick’ is a ridiculous term, but if you just Google ‘films for women’, you get the exact same results, so I think the gendered distinction is quite real. Can you think of any films exclusively about ‘romance and relationships’ (inasmuch as one can even determine what a film is ‘about’, but, say, with no subplots whatsoever except who marries who) that appeal to a large percentage of men?

I can’t.

(…Carrie? )

There are definitely a few assumptions ingrained in the whole idea of a ‘chick flick’, such as that women don’t like explicit heterosexual sex scenes (I’m judging by my own old thread right here) or seeing other scantily clad women walk around in films (though, as a lifelong fan of the Bond franchise, I can’t begin to understand why not), or graphic violence, but inasmuch as we can agree that women dislike these things, then yeah, I think ‘chick flicks’ (or films aimed at women, if you will), are definitely a thing.



I think of chick flicks as popcorn movies aimed at teen girls/young women...In the same way I think of popcorn action movies as guy flicks. Nothing wrong with either type of movie but often they're not really good, more like fast food movies.

I love It Happened One Night, it would easily make my top 100 and would place towards the top too.
Chick flicks are romance films that women dream of the perfect guy.

One of my 4 stars is Pride and Prejudice (2005). Mr Darcy is an ass but by the end, you want to be Elizabeth Bennett.

I just enjoy Matthew MacFadyen's acting. I loved him on Ripper Street.



Chick flicks are romance films that women dream of the perfect guy.

One of my 4 stars is Pride and Prejudice (2005). Mr Darcy is an ass but by the end, you want to be Elizabeth Bennett.

I just enjoy Matthew MacFadyen's acting. I loved him on Ripper Street.
Love the Pride and Prejudice films I've seen many of them. Same for Jane Eyre & Wuthering Heights which I think I've seen every production of them.

Check this out: EVERY Brontë adaptation IMDB list



Love the Pride and Prejudice films I've seen many of them. Same for Jane Eyre & Wuthering Heights which I think I've seen every production of them.

Check this out: EVERY Brontë adaptation IMDB list
You want to see an unknown chick flick with Victorian edge, see Firelight (1997).



Chick flicks is what snobbish film school students call romantic comedies .

Among my 5 star rom coms:
Notting Hill (1999)
Love Actually (2003)
The Family Stone (2005)
Playing by Heart (1998)



Kate and Leopold is a chick flick. Who wouldn't want to be romancized by a Victorian era Hugh Jackman. I would say a 4 star chick flick.



Some of my favorites that could fall into this category are About Time, Silver Linings Playbook, and The Best Years of Our Lives, though they are all male-led, I guess.



Mean Girls being mentioned often in this thread doesn't jive with the dismissive nature of the term because Mean Girls is great.
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Mean Girls being mentioned often in this thread doesn't jive with the dismissive nature of the term because Mean Girls is great.
Chick flick is no more dismissive than Guy flick, and is less dismissive than Dick flick (the opposite of a Chick flick) a term I've seen used here on MoFo.

Literally Chick flick and Guy flick just describe movies that appeal usual to one gender. Though in my case I'm a guy who doesn't like most Guy action flicks and yet I have liked Chick flicks, if they are well done or just plain fun.



Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
Kate and Leopold is a chick flick. Who wouldn't want to be romancized by a Victorian era Hugh Jackman. I would say a 4 star chick flick.
You mean, who wouldn't want to severe all his limbs while burning him alive? Now, this sounds more up your alley, Liz.
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.



You mean, who wouldn't want to severe all his limbs while burning him alive? Now, this sounds more up your alley, Liz.
Again not funny.



Chick flick is no more dismissive than Guy flick, and is less dismissive than Dick flick (the opposite of a Chick flick) a term I've seen used here on MoFo.

Literally Chick flick and Guy flick just describe movies that appeal usual to one gender. Though in my case I'm a guy who doesn't like most Guy action flicks and yet I have liked Chick flicks, if they are well done or just plain fun.
I don't use either term anyway, but let's just not deviate from the main point of my post, which is the fact that Mean Girls is great.



I don't use either term anyway, but let's just not deviate from the main point of my post, which is the fact that Mean Girls is great.
Theif, you must be on the younger side and relate more to that film.

I am older and relate to how Andie was treated in Pretty in Pink.



Theif, you must be on the younger side and relate more to that film.

I am older and relate to how Andie was treated in Pretty in Pink.
Trust me, I'm closer to Pretty in Pink than I am to Mean Girls #TeamDuckie



Trust me, I'm closer to Pretty in Pink than I am to Mean Girls #TeamDuckie
Pretty in Pink is why I can't stand James Spader as an actor. Stef is a pure d*ck!