Thursday, June 01, 2006

Lists

In honor of Jo's love for lists and our communal love for Chick Flicks, I have decided that we need to compile a Top 10 Chick Flicks List. This was inspired by a story on msn written by a 16 year-old girl. Though it's a well-written article, (click here for the link) she missed several landmark chick flicks. Chalk it up to youthful ignorance.

The procedure for the list is as follows. All members and commenters are welcome to nominate movies, up to 10 titles apiece. After a ten days (I want to give Kel time to get in on this), I will list the nominations and we will vote for our personal top 10. The 10 movies with the most votes will then be canonized (a la scripture) as the Top 10.

Guidelines for Nominations: (Suggestions only, exceptions will be made.)

1. Said movie must be capable of making one cry-or want to cry. (And not just hormonally imbalanced pregnant/premenstral women either.)

2. No man in his right mind would admit to liking said movie. (This category may have some exceptions.)

3. It is best if said movie involves major plot trickery: the death of a loved one, the requiting of an impossible love or a hidden identity and/or makeover. Having all three is a bonus.

4. In most cases, said movie needs to have a relatively happy ending.

BONUS GUIDELINES:
1. If said movie inspired a catchphrase (e.g., "I'll have what she's having.")
2. If said movie has a kickin' soundtrack (especially heavy on the 80s/early 90s songs is ideal)
3. If said movie has a "moment" that all women remember (e.g., Jake and Sam sitting on the table over the birthday cake in 16 Candles or John Cusak and the boombox)

I'll start the nominating with some of my personal favorites.
Fried Green Tomatoes
Steel Magnolias
The Princess Bride
Never Been Kissed (yea for M. Vartan)
When Harry Met Sally

Let the nominating begin!!

9 comments:

Sars said...

I know it's dorky to comment on one's own post before anyone else, but there is another story on msn that warrants a read, if you need to waste some time. It's a list of 10 movies that should have skipped the happy ending.http://movies.msn.com/movies/dvd/doomed

Jo said...

Sars, I read that article this week (the one about the happy endings). I didn't agree with all of it but it was a funny read.

By the way, this was a brilliant idea of yours. There are some obvious choices that jump right to the top: Say Anything, French Kiss, Fools Rush In, Jerry Maguire, High Fidelity. Maybe Serendipity and Happy Accidents. But just like the care that Rob Gordon takes in High Fidelity to craft his mix tapes, I am going to have to give some serious thought to my list and how it is ordered.

Sars said...

Somebody stop me, please, I'm a link-posting fool. I stumbled on this GEM of an article about Vince Vaughn (who I have loved since Swingers and Psycho, so, NO, I am not just jumping on the bandwagon, thank you very much) and it is a fun read. It is better than the other two links I've posted today.
Read it!
http://movies.msn.com/movies/dvd/vaughn

Jo said...

Vince is so money.

By the way, I disagree with Guideline #2.

Mrs.Robinson said...

Oooh, I love a good list! Here is mine:
1. Steel Magnolias. My fave movie of all time.
2. You've Got Mail
3. Love Actually
4. Ever After
5. Say Anything
6. Bridgit Jones Diary
7. Pride and Prejaudice (I can't spell today)
8. Anne of Green Gables
9. About a Boy
10. Notting Hill

Mmm...now I can day dream about Colin Firth...and Hugh Grant...

kel said...

I'm not crazy about guideline number two either. Of course if we didn't have guideline number two all chick flick movies would go like this: girl and boy meet and fall in love. The End.

I ditto everything on Wendy's list, except #5 (not a fan). I'm embarassed to say that I would have to add A Walk to Remember (it's embarassing, but true). Little Women (or is it too literary?), Wimbeldon, My Best Friend's Wedding (more for quirkiness than its actual romantic aspect- plus the girl doesn't get the guy, that's probably a violation), While You Were Sleeping, My Big Fat Greek Wedding (anyone not in love with John Corbett after seeing that movie is insane!) Four Weddings and a Funeral (Hugh Grant at his stutting, stammering, hair pushing best).

My sister adds Sweet Home Alabama, Fever Pitch, and Return to Me (I believe it qualifies quite well under all your criteria).

We DO NOT endorse Failure to Launch. As much as we enjoy SJP and Matthew McConaughey (so tan! such nice teeth!), this movie was so stinky that even though I did not pay a dime for it and I was stuck on an airplane with literally nothing else to do- I wanted that one hour and 36 minutes o fmy life back. The last scene of the movie involves Matthew falling off a boat and being rescued by a dolphin. Enough said.

Must the chick flick be romantic? Lots of girls like movies like Miss Congeniality, but I find the romance part not that great.

By the way, my dad LOVES chick flicks.

kel said...

Is this an appropriate time to remind everyone that I saw Vince Vaughn. In Person.

kel said...

50 First Dates. I want someone to love me even though I've had a traumatic brain injury.

kel said...

I'm going comment crazy today. I just feel like I have so much left to say being away from the blog for 10 days!

I am suffering from jet lag and apparently a symptom of jet lag is the inability to read well. So in my looooong comment above I said I had a problem with guideline #2. Scrath that. It's #3 that has its quirks that I mentioned above.

I also take issue with #1 (apparently I am NOT a "Rules Girl" after all). Many of my favorite chick flicks (BJD jumps to mind) are clearly girl films yet do not make me cry (unless tears from laughing count) and if you do cry from sadness then you are clearly unbalanced and need to seek help from your closest mental health practicioner. No need to cry. Bridget and Darcy will end up together. This is the movies, people, not real life when in actuality Darcy would have really been in love with Bridget's best friend and Daniel Cleaver would have turned out to be gay.