Although some may argue about the validity of what makes a movie a ‘chick flick’ – is it a romantic comedy, does it have to feature a plot where a character receives compensation in order to date a social outcast but ends up falling in love – we can agree that the stupidity and predictability of these plots is what makes these movies so enjoyable to watch.
Mean Girls (2004)
Produced by Lorne Michaels, creator of Saturday Night Live, the movie focuses on Cady Heron (Lindsey Lohan), a homeschooled teenager who moves from Africa to an American high school. She befriends a group of social outcasts who convince her to enact a plot of revenge against Regina George (Rachel McAdams), the leader of the clique called “The Plastics”.
The entire revenge plot leads to Cady herself becoming one of the plastics, perpetuating the very social structure she was trying to collapse. This leads to Cady losing her original group of friends who believe she has gone too far calling her “cold, hard, shiny plastic.” The movie then divulges into the inner workings of the gossip between the plastics; who use each other to spread rumors, eventually writing about each other in the ‘Burn Book’, a book which contains secrets about every girl in the school. Once the book is found and eventually confiscated, Cady takes the blame, starting a thread that disbands the plastics and allows the school to peacefully coexist as each member of the group finds their own cliques.
Between Rachel McAdams’ memorable performance as Regina George, and the list of iconic references, “Stop trying to make fetch work,” and “That’s why her hair is so big. It’s full of secrets,” referring to plastic Gretchen Wieners, this movie ranks among the top of the list because of its comedic exaggeration of the American high school experience.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
Based on a picture book of the same name, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days features Matthew McConaughey as Benjamin Barry and Kate Hudson as Andi Anderson. The plot of this movie revolves around Andi attempting to take control of her own creative freedom as an advice columnist. Her boss allows her to write a column detailing how to date and get a guy to break up with her in 10 days.
Ben works at an advertising agency focused on sports campaigns. When the opportunity to lead a campaign selling diamonds presents itself, Ben wagers to his boss that he can make any girl fall in love with him in exchange for control over the campaign. Ben’s co-workers, who also hope to lead the campaign, are aware of Andi’s column and convince him to pick her as the girl. Ben and Andi begin to date and Andi spends every date attempting to act as repulsive as possible to get Ben to break up with her before the deadline. Ben similarly is holding out so he can secure the advertising campaign.
The movie comes to a head when both find out each other’s motivations. It concludes with a motorcycle chase scene as Ben follows Andi, who is in a taxi headed to Washington D.C. for a job interview, in order to tell her his true feelings. The ups and downs of this movie, paired with a soundtrack that is perfectly suited to the film with songs like Somebody Like You by Keith Urban is why this movie ranks among the top romantic comedies.
The Notebook (2004)
The film takes place in 1940’s South Carolina and features a young couple in love with Ryan Gosling playing the role of a mill worker (Noah Calhoun) and Rachel McAdams playing Allie Hamilton, a rich girl. In one of the movie’s early scenes, Allie confides to Noah about her dream home when they visit the old, run-down Windsor Plantation. She describes the house as “white with blue shutters, a wraparound porch, and a room that looks out over the lake.” This is significant because later on in the film, Noah rebuilds the house exactly as she had detailed. Noah discovers Allie’s plans to attend Sarah Lawrence College and the relationship is broken up due to Allie’s parents’ disapproval.
Fast forward to the start of World War II, Noah enlists to fight for the country. Allie on the other hand, works as a nurse helping wounded soldiers. During her time as a nurse, she meets a wounded soldier and lawyer, Lon Hammond, who comes from a background of money and they become engaged. After the war, Noah buys the Windsor Plantation to begin repairing the house and Allie returns to find him again. Before the wedding, Allie decides she would rather be with Noah.
McAdams’ range was evident, as after filming The Notebook, she began filming for Mean Girls, which subsequently released prior to The Notebook in April of 2004 while The Notebook released in June. In addition, this was the role that allowed Gosling to break out as a household name.
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Although this movie just misses the mark coming out in 1999, 10 Things I Hate About You is too iconic to leave off this list. Based on a late 16th century Shakespeare comedy, “The Tanning of the Shrew,” the movie features Heath Ledger as Patrick Verona and Julia Stiles as Kat Stratford. Like in The Notebook, Kat also is accepted into Sarah Lawrence College but her father disapproves as he wants her to attend her alma mater, the University of Washington.
The premise of this movie surrounds a new student, Cameron, smitten with Bianca Stratford, a fellow underclassman. Due to a rule in the Stratford household where Bianca can only date if Kat does, Cameron enlists the help of Patrick, the stereotypical bad boy character. Patrick and Kat begin to develop a relationship, but Kat becomes suspicious of his motivations when Patrick asks her to prom. The climax of this movie occurs when Kat finds out from Joey, a classmate who also likes Bianca, that Patrick was paid to take her out.
At the conclusion of the movie, Kat reads a poem based on her own version of a Shakespearean sonnet called “10 Things I Hate About You,” where she writes that she still cares about Patrick. A highly regarded film – Teen Vogue had the movie ranked number one on their list of teen romance films – Stiles and Ledger are able to take a movie that is at times corny and deliver memorable performances.
