50 Greatest Chick Flicks: ‘Beaches’ is the best on this writer’s list
By KEELI GARZA
kgarza@star-telegram.com
Chick flick has somehow become an insult lately like, because the girl gets the guy in the end, it isn’t real cinema.
Says who?
Not all of us go to the movies to be thoroughly depressed. Real life has plenty of death and disease and heartbreak. Sometimes, you just want Richard Gere to climb the fire escape or Billy Crystal to run down endless city blocks on New Year’s Eve to say “I love you”. We want proof that happily ever exists, or at least in movies.
Luckily, we have stumbled into the golden age of chick flicks with Confessions of a Shopaholic and He’s Just Not That Into You debuting in back-to-back weeks.
Of course, neither is likely to win an Oscar. Chick flicks rarely do.
And so until mostly male critics learn to appreciate this underappreciated genre and stop expecting Sex and the City to be The Reader, we decided to assemble a couple of lists of the best chick flicks ever made.
Keeli Garza’s top 50 Chick Flicks
1. Beaches (Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey; 1988): The ultimate depiction of a turbulent but tried-and-true friendship, Beaches follows “CC” Bloom and Hillary Whitney from their initial meeting on the boardwalk in Atlantic City all the way to a final goodbye when one of them dies from heart disease. This film requires tissues for viewing and features one of the most performed songs of all time, Wind Beneath My Wings.
2. Notting Hill (Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant; 1999): Julia Roberts as a chick-flick .”‚.”‚. villain? Say it isn’t so! In a rare twist on a traditional chick flick, Roberts plays a flighty actress who breezes through town, steals the heart of a sad, lonely and recently divorced Hugh Grant, leaving him heartbroken. Notting Hill features my favorite chick-flick line of all time: “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”
* 3. About a Boy (Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, Nicholas Hoult; 2002) (Note: The asterisk indicates that some may not view this movie as a chick flick. Too bad, it’s my list.): Hugh Grant plays a stereotypical heartless male, who only finds his soul with the help of a nerdy little schoolboy, played by Hoult. Best moment: Grant’s guitar stylings on Killing Me Softly during a school talent show.
4. Steel Magnolias (Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton; 1989): Four Southern women celebrate love, life and loss in this textbook chick flick. Set around the life of Shelby (played by Roberts), we follow Shelby’s mother (Field) and her three friends through a wedding, the birth of a grandchild and loss of a child. Another movie that requires tissues.
5. Pretty Woman (Julia Roberts, Richard Gere; 1990): You know the story – a wealthy, terse businessman can’t keep a girlfriend, so he picks up a hooker on the Sunset Strip to escort him to social events and play the role of real-life lover. All for $3,000 and paid-for shopping sprees. Of course, the prostitute falls in love with the businessman .”‚.”‚. but he can’t love her back .”‚.”‚. or can he? Best moment: When describing her new life to her fellow prostitute friend, Roberts asks Kit (played by Laura San Giacomo) to tell her one person this life has worked out for. Says Kit, “Cinder-[expletive]-rella.”
6. Terms of Endearment (Shirley MacLaine, Deborah Winger, Jack Nicholson; 1983): Ever felt like you and your mother never see eye-to-eye? This movie is for you, as it follows a dysfunctional 30-year relationship between mother (MacLaine) and daughter (Winger). Kleenex required. However, the sequel “Evening Star” is worth passing.
7. P.S. I Love You (Hillary Swank, Gerard Butler; 2007): Emotional torture never felt so good. Swank plays Holly, a woman at a crossroads in her life who has just had to bury her husband Gerry (played by Butler) after a lengthy battle with cancer. But before his death, Gerry sets a series of letters and events to help Holly get through her grief and over her life. Through the course of the letters, and the moments Holly recounts through the movie, both Holly and viewers are taken on an extreme emotional rollercoaster, complete with the highest of highs and the very lowest of lows. One box of Kleenex might not be enough for this one.
8. 27 Dresses (Katherine Heigel, James Marsden; 2008): Like most girls, Jane became obsessed with weddings when she was very young. Still the hopeless romantic, she serves as a bridesmaid 27 times before finally finding the man of her dreams – after her long-time crush falls head over heels for her sister. Most akward moment: Jane’s speech during a slideshow at her sister’s wedding rehearsal dinner.
9. Sleepless in Seattle (Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks; 1993): Kids do the craziest things — in an effort to help his dad find happiness, a young boy calls a radio talk show to try and find his recently widowed father a woman. Letters and pictures flow in from all over the country, but the perfect woman is set to be married to another man. The boy sneaks away to New York City, hoping to meet the woman of his dad’s dream. Insert romantic moment atop the Empire State Building here.
10. My Best Friend’s Wedding (Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Dermot Mulroney; 1997): Best pals Roberts and Mulroney make a pact that if they aren’t married by a certain date, they will marry each other. Three weeks before the deadline, Mulroney announces he is engaged to be married. Roberts realizes that she loves Mulroney, but can’t bring herself to tell him. Instead, she sets out to sabotage the wedding in hopes he calls it off and runs off with her. Scene stealer: Rupert Everett plays, George Downes, a friend of Roberts’ character. Let’s just say he gets an entire restaurant to sing “I Say A Little Prayer for You”.
11. Under the Tuscan Sun
12. Garden State
13. Clueless
14. The Devil Wears Prada
15. Moulin Rouge
16. Legally Blonde
17. Runaway Bride
18. Father of the Bride
19. Message in a Bottle
20. Dirty Dancing
21. The Bodyguard
22. Never Been Kissed
23. Titanic
24. Romeo + Juliet
25. Sex and the City
26. Bring It On
27. Center Stage
28. Sense and Sensibility
29. My Big, Fat Greek Wedding
30. In Good Company
31. Miss Congeniality
32. Finding Neverland
33. Sweet Home Alabama
34. Muriel’s Wedding
35. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
36. Monster-in-Law
37. The Wedding Planner
38. Fried Green Tomatoes
39. Now and Then
40. Love, Actually
41. The Sound of Music
42. The Nanny Diaries
43. A Walk to Remember
44. The Notebook
45. While You Were Sleeping
46. Little Women
47. Hope Floats
48. Grease
49. The Prince and Me
50. Down to You
