Top Ten Chick Movies (Romantic Comedies) - that won't make you puke.

This one was hard, readers.  Cherise and I worked this list up over IM and it was a struggle.  I felt my balls shrink and my manhood abandoned me.  But we got through it and I'd like to point out that this week some of the descriptions are written by Cherise (with commentary by yours truly.)

10. Moonstruck - 1987

Widowed young, Loretta (Cher) has been waiting for her boyfriend Johnny to propose forever. Feeling she is unlucky in love she is dating him as he is a good and stable man that she respects, but doesn’t particularly love. Johnny is a Mama’s boy and has postponed their lives due to her health numerous times. He finally proposes and has to leave the country immediately to be at the death bed of his mother. Before he goes he asks Loretta to contact and make amends with his estranged brother, Ronny (Nicolas Cage), as he wants him to attend their nuptials.

Ronny is a dramatic and tragic, hilariously so, man who has had his own bad luck with love.  He and Loretta share a steak, then some lovin’ and that brings on a whole slew of comedic moments and funny lines. The majority of the funnies come from the supporting cast that makes up Loretta’s large Italian family. Olympia Dukakis steals the show as the long suffering mother and house wife of her cheating husband.

Note from CV Rick.  Just having this movie on the list made my balls shrink.  I think I lost some of my masculinity.  I'm having a testosterone deficiency just from having seen this movie.  My boobs are growing.  I just started crying.

Director:
Norman Jewison

Writers:
John Patrick Shanley

 

9. Bull Durham - 1988

Don't blame Cherise, I put this one on the list.  I know, I know, it's Kevin Costner and he should just disappear.  Well, after Waterworld he ought to be prohibited from picking his own projects, that's for sure.

Why this one?  Susan Sarandon plays Annie Savoy, that's why.  She's brilliant.  She picks a player every year to be her "boyfriend" and through sex and metaphysics she coaches the player to be better than he thought he ever could be.  Weird thing is, it works.  Well, this is Hollywood after all.

This year she offers "try outs" for the position to two players, Crash Davis (Costner) and Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins).  Crash walks out, however, acknowledging that he's too old to be tried out for anything.  That's what the movie's all about - the inevitability of Crash and Annie and the immediacy of Nuke and Annie.  A classic triangle filled with excitement, jealousy and problems.

And the baseball parts are okay too.

Director:
Ron Shelton

Writer:
Ron Shelton

 

8. When Harrry Met Sally ... - 1989

After one horrendous car ride together back in the college days Sally (Meg Ryan) and Harry (Billy Crystal) part with the understanding that they will never be friends and there is no love lost between these two people with very different view points.

Fate bumps them into each other throughout their lives and in between their loves and they create a wonderful friendship that they both come to depend on.  After one night of comforting turns into sex the friendship gets a little rocky.

This movie is full of funny lines and scenes, the most famous of which being Meg Ryan faking and orgasm in the diner. (Rick loves that part) A friendship that comes and goes finally comes to love all to the crooning of Harry Connick, Jr.

Note from CV Rick.  Rick doesn't love that part.  This movie exists for one purpose and one purpose only.  To prove to men that women have been faking it and they hid that fact for 400,000 years (5,981 years for you nutty creationists).  It's a "see what we can do?" movie to rub our nose in the fake orgasms.

Edit by Sugar - Get it right the first time and we won't need to fake it you lazy selfish men.

Director:
Rob Reiner

Writer:
Nora Ephron

7. City Lights - 1931

Charlie Chaplin in character as his famous Tramp, meets a blind girl selling flowers on the street. When she hears the sound of a car door shut she mistakenly thinks it is his and believes the tramp to be wealthy. When the Tramp learns there is an operation that may restore her sight, he sets out to raise the funds.  The Tramp succeeds in his normal bumbling fashion and Chaplin’s comedic genius is showcased.  The surgery is a success and the now seeing flower girl wants to meet her rich benefactor only to discover he’s just the Tramp.

One of the most fantastic things about Charlie Chaplin (besides the fact that he was artistically brilliant) is his ability to convey so much in silence. This movie is equal parts hilarious, heart breaking, heartwarming and romantic.

Note from CV Rick.  Don't hate on Charlie Chaplin.  He's the man.  Don't even!  I mean it.  Lay off.  He's beyond cynicism which makes him one of only three people to ever live - along with my mom and Muhammad Ali.  Okay, the twitch is a little funny.  We can riff on Ali sometimes.

Director:
Charles Chaplin

Writers
Charles Chaplin

 

6. It Happened One Night - 1934

When Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) wealthy and controlling father has her new marriage annulled she runs away from home, by jumping off daddy’s yacht in Miami, no less. Catching a bus she plans on heading back to New York to her husband when she meets reporter Peter Warner (Clark Gable). He’s hoping for a hot story and swindles her into being his travel companion with the threat that he’ll blow the whistle to daddy. She needs his help to get back home.

A series of cross country antics bring have these two opposites reluctantly falling in love while we laugh along the way. The comedy and the chemistry between these two are excellent. And please… who can forget the sight of Claudette Colbert “hitchhiking” on the side of the road by lifting her skirt to show her gorgeous legs?

Note from CV Rick.  Claudette Colbert?  Who the hell is that?  I haven't seen this movie, but I feel obligated to say something snide.  Let's see . . . the poster's cheesy . . . Cherise's description is good.  I think they showed this movie to the people at Jonestown right before they handed out the kool-aid, just to get people in the mood.

Director:
Frank Capra

Writers:
Samuel Hopkins Adams (story)
Robert Riskin (screenplay)

 

5. The Apartment - 1960

This is the story of an Apartment on the  Upper West side in New York City.  It's at the perfect location for CC Baxter (Jack Lemmon) and all of his company's managers.  Four of these men use Baxter's apartment for their extramarital affairs and as a result they write him glowing reviews and recommend him for a promotion.

Keeping track of the various schedules of all these men and his own life drives him nearly batty.  It gives him little time for his own crush, Fran (Shirley MacLaine).

It's a great movie with a really good twist and some moral realism refreshing from a film of its era.

Director:
Billy Wilder

Writers:
Billy Wilder
I.A.L. Diamond

 

4. His Girl Friday - 1940

Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) was once married to newspaper man Walter Burns (Cary Grant). She has moved on in a new life that no longer includes him or being editor of Walter’s paper and she is about to marry Bruce Baldwin. Walter is not about to lose his ex-wife and favorite reporter and is trying hard to lure her in and get her to report one last time on a murderer about to be put to death. He throws a series of obstacles in their way that eventually lands Bruce in jail, involves the murderer and his girlfriend and gets crazier by the second.

The best part of this film is the undeniable and palpable chemistry between Cary and Rosalind. Their comedic timing and the way they play off each other is flawless. There are quite a few ad-libbed lines and actions that are all Cary and Rosalind. The one liners alone are worth the time spent watching, truly a wonderful film.

Note from CV Rick.  I've actually seen this one and I highly recommend it.  When it's on the old-movie network on a Saturday afternoon get comfortable on the couch.  You think that Turkey and football will put you to sleep on Thanksgiving?  That's got nothing on this film.  Out like a light, sleeping for hours uninterrupted - until the infomercial comes on.

Director:
Howard Hawks

Writers:
Ben Hecht (play "The Front Page")
Charles MacArthur (play "The Front Page")
Charles Lederer (screenplay)

3. The 40 Year-Old Virgin - 2005

If you haven't already seen this one, you're going to love it. Andy is a stockboy in an electronics store and his coworkers vow to help him lose his virginity.

Now, Andy is a true nerd.  He has an enormous collection of action figures, he watches Survivor with his elderly neighbors, and he has no ambitions to have a relationship.  This is something being pushed on him and the antics are pretty funny.

But the person Andy is really attracted to is Trish who works in a nearby store.  She has three kids of her own and as a viewer, you know that she's the right girl for him, but getting from here to there is the whole point of the film.

When you watch it on dvd, you have to go to the special features and watch the outtakes, especially the one where Andy's coworkers are insulting each other while playing video games.  No dialogue has ever been funnier.

Director:
Judd Apatow

Writers
Judd Apatow
Steve Carell

2. As Good As It Gets - 1997

Fellows, this one is my favorite.  I lobbied to put it number one, let me tell you.  It's a movie you can watch again and again.  What it's about is Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) whose a novelist with severe Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.  He's nasty, rude and mean, but he's not really trying to be.  It's the way his condition makes him.  He develops an attachment to Carol (Helen Hunt), a waitress with a sick child.  His attachment is selfish as all his relationships are, but the lengths in which he goes to repair this relationship stretch his limits and cause him to change who he is.

The best exhange in the movie:

Melvin Udall: Don't be pessimistic, it's not your style. Okay, here I go: Clearly, a mistake. I've got this, what - ailment? My doctor, a shrink that I used to go to all the time, he says that in fifty or sixty percent of the cases, a pill really helps. I *hate* pills, very dangerous thing, pills. Hate. I'm using the word "hate" here, about pills. Hate. My compliment is, that night when you came over and told me that you would never... well, you were there, you know what you said. Well, my compliment to you is, the next morning, I started taking the pills.
Carol: I don't quite get how that's a compliment for me.
Melvin Udall: You make me want to be a better man.
Carol: ...That's maybe the best compliment of my life.
Melvin Udall: Well, maybe I overshot a little, because I was aiming at just enough to keep you from walking out.

And then there's this explanation of his ability to write romance novels.

Receptionist: How do you write women so well?
Melvin Udall: I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.

This is truly a romantic comedy that won't make you ill.

Director:
James L. Brooks

Writer:
Mark Andrus (story & screenplay)
James L. Brooks (screenplay)

1. Bringing Up Baby - 1938

Paleontologist Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant) is after a bone for his museum. Serious minded and work oriented he somehow captures the unwanted attention of flighty and accident prone heiress Susan Vance (Katherine Hepburn). They end up endeavoring to help one another, David for the good of the museum, Susan for the good of her heart. A series of misadventures, mishaps and hilarity ensues, mostly revolving around a leopard named baby.

This is one of those movies you can watch over and over, again and again (and I have) and it never fails to lose its riotous humor. Mingled in with all the laughs is just the right amount of romance that makes this a timeless classic.

Note from CV Rick - I haven't watched it over and over again.  Not even once.  I have no idea what Cherise is talking about.  A bone?  Sounds like an entendre - aren't we all looking for the big bone?  It's on here as number one so I could keep Moonstruck all the way at #10.

Director:
Howard Hawks

Writers:
Hagar Wilde (story & screenplay)
Dudley Nichols (screenplay)

Comments

[a rose is a rose]

10) LOVED it and i do NOT in any way shape or form think it too grrrly. unfortunately, i get hungry every time i see it
9)hey, not only was costner great in this he was great in field of dreams as well. i liked HIM just as much as her (in this)
8) HATED IT HATED IT HATED IT
7) haven't seen it since i was 18 or 20 and that was LONG ago. i know i liked it, but i don't quite remember it
6) THIS is who she was: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudette_Colbert (liked her, i think clark is a bit of a ham though)
5) liked it
4) never saw it
3) only saw about 30 minutes of it. i like carell a lot though
2) you ARE kidding, right?
1) i think kate is highly overrated

-missing in action (but SHOULD make someone's list somewhere)
-benny & joon
-ever after
-THE PRINCESS BRIDE (come ON that SO is better than more than 1/2 of the above list)
-50 first dates (not a fan of adam sandlers but this was a good movie, for a romantic comedy that is)
-HAROLD AND MAUDE - (this one is in my top ten of ALL TIME GREAT MOVIES
-amelie
-chasing amy
-say anything
i'll stop now

[Cherise]

Rose, sorry to say but Harold and Maude was one of the first to go on our list. Rick and I have totally different views on Romance in movies, but one thing we both whole heartidly agreed on was the CREEPY and GROSS factor on H&M was through the roof. Ick! :)

[Success Warrior]

I think I've seen 8,9, and 10 but don't remember anything about them. Haven't seen any of the others. I try not to be careless with my testosterone.

I agree with Rose on Princess Bride though. Come on. It's about True Love. How could it not make the list? Inconceivable.

[Cele]

Ohmigawd, our taste are about 180 different.

My top chick flick.... Love Actually
Sense and Sensibility
While You Were Sleeping
The Truth About Cats and Dogs
The Mirror Has Two Faces
Sleepless in Seattle
Harold and Maude
Bringing Up Baby
Princess Bride
The Way We Were

[a rose is a rose]

i must stick up for harold and maude. harold and maude wasn't creepy or GROSS in the least. odd, sure. there's something wrong with an older woman and younger man? i'm not the one to say that to.........

i love unusual. i love out of the ordinary. i love both bud cort and ruth gordon. i love black humor. i love sticking it to the establishment. i love making fun of the status quo. i really DO love that movie.

[Sideon]

We must all have different definitions of romance.

What happened to: Titanic, Fried Green Tomatoes, Shakespeare in Love, Pretty Woman, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Casablanca, Grease (musical), Somewhere in Time, An Officer and a Gentleman, Roxanne, Beaches, Steel Magnolias?

[Jane]

Moonstruck: yuck. Not that I've seen it. I heard the sex scene is s situation where he's basically forcing her and then Oh my! he is so wonderful and she succumbs and it's wonderful. On the off chance what I heard is correct, fuck no, I'm not seeing it.

That Cary Grant/Claudette Colbert film is not that bad or boring, and the lighting and cinematography are surprisingly good!

When Harry Met Sally sucked.

The others were either pretty good/very good, or I haven't seen.

I love Harold and Maude very much, but wouldn't call it a chick flick.

[Cherise]

Hey Rose,
I don't think there is anything wrong with an older woman/younger man... Or the other way around. I just hated that movie and that couple. I realize I am in the minority on that, but nothing appealed to me about that movie at all. I'm glad you like it. :) But I didn't. To each his own and all that.

Sideon- These were romantic Comedys. Somewhere in time is one of my all time favorite movies (i'm a michigan girl) but it's not very funny. ;)

[kuri]

No "Breakfast at Tiffany's"?

BTW, have you ever looked the message boards on the IMDB "40-year-old Virgin" page? There's some great stuff there -- funny and sad and just plain weird all at the same time.

[a rose is a rose]

cherise i know the each to their own. i was just busting on you (AND of course defending one of my favorite movies)

[CV Rick]

Okay everyone. I'm finally able to sit up long enough to respond. So if anyone's still reading the thread - -

Princess Bride is one of the best movies of all time. But it's not going in Chick Movies - - you'll see it later when we do The Top Ten Epic Movies.

Cele, you are prohibited from ever putting a dvd into my player.

Sideon??? Titanic will never make any list that I ever publish - other than a worst-of. As to the rest of the ones on your list, only An Officer and a Gentleman doesn't make my throw up in my mouth. You also are prohibited from putting dvds into my player.

I'm on my way to the message boards as we speak, Kuri.

Rose, H&M got dumped on the first pass . . . sorry.

[Cele]

Oh mi god how did I ever forget Somewhere in Time? Brilliant movie.

Never Rick? Even if I bring over the Departed or Four Brothers?