Classic Chick Flicks: the Perfect Ingredients

Dirty Dancing. A sweating Patrick Swayze in a tight black vest, sizzling dance scenes, sing-along in-the-shower music. Yes, Dirty Dancing is back on February 9th and to mark this highlight of the cultural year, chick flick fan and one of Ireland’s chick literati, Sarah Webb shares her guilty celluloid pleasures.

What are chick flicks? They’re films you can watch over and over again without getting bored. They’re comforting films with a happy ending, films that compliment huge tubs of ice cream or boxes of Heroes chocolates, films that lift your spirits even on the coldest, bleakest January day. Films like When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and Bridget’s Jones’s Diary are obvious ‘chick flicks’. But what about films featuring strong, subversive women? They’re not classic romantic comedies, but do have strong girl appeal.

And what makes the perfect chick flick? I asked thirty women to list their five favourite chick flicks. Bestselling author, Sheila O’Flanagan suggested Aliens for its strong female heroine and the love scene with a cat (the mind boggles!). Actor and fellow writer, Claudia Carroll picked the classic saga Gone with the Wind as her favourite, followed by the wonderfully atmospheric Rebecca. Columnist and girl about town, Marisa Mackle chose Pretty Woman, followed by the more recent Devil Wears Prada. Tina Reilly suggested any film with Johnny Depp in it, as ‘he does it for me’, and many women suggested the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, ‘the one with Colin Firth in the wet shirt’, although it’s not actually a film at all! Many chose the 1991 film Thelma and Louise, a stirring tale of friendship with the added bonus of Brad Pitt’s pecs.

Why do women like chick flicks? Clare Dowling, Fair City script writer and author of ‘No Strings Attached’ has a theory. ‘I think women like chick flicks because we like to see how other people manage their relationships. How do you know if you’ve met the right person? How do you make it work? And there’s nothing nicer to watch than a really good love story.’

So based on my own favourite chick flicks (When Harry Met Sally and Steel Magnolias) and those selected by my thirty closest friends (ahem!) here it is – my definitive my list of the perfect ingredients for a winning chick flick:

The Everywoman Heroine

First of all you must have the right heroine. An everywoman that most women can identify with, a woman with as many flaws as the rest of us, who eats chocolate in bed, gets dumped by her boyfriend, but who still manages to conquer all by the end of the film. A strong, feisty heroine is good; but a kind and honest one who’s a good friend is even better. And if she can get one up on the nasty girls/boys in the film, using her wit and her charm, a la Clueless, even better.

Like the best chick lit, the heroine must learn something during her journey. Andy in The Devil Wears Prada who discovers that being top of the fashion pecking order doesn’t make you happy; Baby in Dirty Dancing learns how to stand up for herself and learns how to dance too. Added bonus!

Cute Hero

Then comes the hero. Let’s not beat around the bush, he has to be cute, cute, cute. But not necessarily in a conventional way. Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and his floppy hair may do it for some, but for others it’s Colin Firth, Christian Slater, Rob Lowe, Johnny Depp or yes, even Jack Nicholson. A bad boy with a good heart is great, like Swayze in Dirty Dancing. And he also happens to have a good body, even better. Tom Hanks is an unlikely romantic hero but his star turn as distraught widower in Sleepless in Seattle can melt even the most hardened, cynical heart.

A Cast of Friends (and I don’t mean the sit com)

Mix in one, or even better a whole slew of best friends, a la Four Weddings and a Funeral or St Elmo’s Fire. Beaches deals with the close friendship between the over the top, brassy CC Bloom (Bette Midler) and the classy Hillary (Barbara Hershey) and manages to be tender and funny and stay just on the right side of mawkish. Thelma and Louise is the ultimate girls’ road movie but it’s the close friendship between the two women that makes for most of the drama and humour.

Throw Rocks at Her

Then you have to give the heroine an obstacle to overcome, or as they always say in creative writing classes, put your character up a tree and throw rocks at her. The ‘problem’ or obstacle can be social snobbery – Emma; bad timing – When Harry Met Sally; illness – Love Story. Or in the case of the quirky and clever While You Lay Sleeping, a comatose stranger.

Kicking Soundtrack

Add a kicking sound track. Songs you can sing along to, that evoke happy memories, songs you can sing in the car or in the shower. Who can forget the Harry Connick Jr’s version of ‘It Had to Be You’ in When Harry Met Sally? Or ‘The Wind Beneath My Wings’ in Beaches. Dreadful song, but wonderfully dreadful.

And when it comes to sound tracks, Dirty Dancing tops them all. Set in 1963, it plays on the nostalgia of the time, and uses retro songs like Be My Baby and Do You Love Me? Perfect toe tappers.

Hope Springs Eternal

Sprinkle liberally with hope and optimism. Despite what people may think, in a chick flick happy endings are not obligatory. At times, what us girls really want is a good cry. And films like Steel Magnolias or Love Story never fail to get those tear ducts working.

So there you go, the perfect chick flick. And to all you Dirty Dancing fans out there, it’s time to say it loud and say it proud, ‘Nobody puts baby in a corner.’ See you on 9^th February!

The Top 5 Chick Flicks

1) When Harry Met Sally 1989

Written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner, it’s full of clever dialogue, nad will they won’t they plot teasers. And who can forget Meg Ryan’s fake orgasm, which made Katz’s Deli in Manhattan famous? As the lady said, ‘I’m having what she’s having!’

2) Pretty Woman 1990

A guilty pleasure if ever there was one! Despite its rather rose-tinted view of the sex industry, it’s a classic Cinderella rags to riches tale. Richard Gere and Julia Roberts are perfectly cast, the Big and Carrie of their day. It won Roberts an Academy Award nomination for her sassy portray of Vivian Ward, the hooker with a heart.

3) While You Were Sleeping 1995

An interesting one, this, as it’s often overlooked. A sweet, feel good film about loneliness and family, starring Sandra Bullock as a lonely fare collector on the Chicago elevated railway. Also starring Bill Pullman, it’s highly watchable and very romantic.

4) Bridget Jones’ Diary 2001

Based on the book of the same name by Helen Fielding, heralded by some as the first ever chick lit novel, which is nonsense as we all know our own Marian Keyes got there years earlier. Bridget gets everything wrong, including her choice in men. But of course there’s a cracking happy ending. Huge nods to the Austen classic, Pride and Prejudice, which also rated highly on the poll.

5) Sleepless in Seattle 1993

Meg Ryan and Nora Ephron team up again, this time with Tom Hanks in the male lead. Essentially a reworking of An Affair to Remember, Meg plays a journalist from Baltimore (Annie) who is engaged to the mild mannered Walter (Bill Pullman again!). Annie hears a widower called Sam on the radio, becomes obsessed with him and with a lot of help from the Sam’s eight year old son, Jonah, travels to Seattle to find him. What happens next is one of the most sweet chick flick endings ever.

This article first appeared in The Irish Independent, 2007