Monday, October 8, 2012

Chick Flicks

Is it me or has the caliber of the good ol' stereotypical chick flick seriously fallen by the wayside? It's like they have been added to the endangered species list or worse, have gone extinct altogether. Now, I watch a lot of movies, always have. Previously, more of these movies were watched at the actual theatre but I can no longer afford neither the cinema nor the babysitter needed to watch the Mae Mo so I've developed a new relationship with Mr. Redbox. For $1.29 the hubby and I can enjoy a flick on our semi-new iMac. We literally cannot hear the movie if we watch it on our old DVD+TV tube combo setup in the living room so to the computer in the guest room we go. Anyway, there we've sat on many a recent weekend watching movie after movie after movie and what I can report is that my movie-picking privileges have officially been revoked. I am not a fan of gore and guts so Shawn obliges my semi-girly requests in between picks of general consensus. Well, up until recently that is. My second to last choice broke the camel's back: The Lucky One.

The Lucky One is based on a Nicholas Sparks novel and stars Zac Efron and Taylor Schiling. I naively assumed, based on the enticing previews, that this would fall inline with other previous Sparks-novels-turned-movies, a la The Notebook. It didn't. Ryan Gosling Mr. Efron is not. It was terrible. TERRIBLE. Horrible acting, horrible plot, horrible production. I think Efron had like 25 lines total. Apparently his only job was to stare off into space or look at the camera lens a time or two. Seriously, it was bad. And what's more astonishing, 67% of those that viewed it actually claimed to liking it according to rottentomatoes.com. Clearly they were drunk. This movie fell right inline with another doozy I suggested a while back, Just Wright with Queen Latifah and Common. Both of these movies have now formed a category I like to call, pornos sans the sex scenes. You know the type: bad plot, bad acting, bad soundtrack.

What to Expect When You're Expecting wasn't terrible, but it certainly was predictable. There were moments of laughter, which unlike a few others, made this movie tolerable. Wanderlust was pretty funny too actually, but also a bit raunchy (moving the needle more towards the manly movie side) and at some parts, over-the-top. Friends with Kids = horrible. It's basically the cast from Bridesmaids but not funny at all and at most times, very, very awkward. I will say though, one diamond in the sand we came upon was Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. It sparkled for two reasons: 1. Emily Blunt and 2. the dialect. Not only did the main characters have whimsical and contrasting accents, but their conversations were brilliant and beautiful to listen to. Call me old fashion but this mere fact alone made the movie for me. So I guess all my recent attempts haven't been total losses, but the odds are not in my favor.

Therefore I'm declaring that the classic chick flick era ended with Julia Roberts. I think I own nearly every movie she's ever been in and I still, to this day, watch them from time to time, on my VCR. BOOM! The world needs a new Julia. Something present-day to rival the timeless Pretty Woman, which Miss Roberts was nominated for an Oscar for by the way. I point this out because it just goes to show a good chick flick can also be highly acclaimed. The two are not mutually exclusive. I had high hopes with Katherine Heigl but it's been a while since 27 Dresses and Life as We Know It. Also, her most recent release, One for the Money, got a whopping 2% freshness on rottentomatoes.com. 2%. That's the lowest I've ever seen which says allot because we religiously refer to Rotten Tomatoes for most movie recommendations. Which begs the question, why are we watching such bad movies in the first place then? Well… sometimes you want a movie to be good in spite of it's reviews. Sometimes you just have to see it to believe it. Sometimes a good chick flick is hated by the critics but loved by the masses. Sometimes… you just hope you found a hidden gem. Well I haven't and I'm killing my husband in the search.

Someone help. Have you seen something recently I should check out? Do tell. Me and my glass of wine will be waiting. Same goes for a good book although I'm having far more luck in that arena so let's talk talkies…

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