I have argued about whether or not I enjoy “Chick Flicks”. Some claim that I simply don’t like them. I argue that I do, but I hold them to the same criteria for quality that I hold any other movie - they don’t get a buy simply because of their genre.

Last night, I watchedAll About My Mother which I define as a chick flick (and I loved it). But perhaps I simply have some misconceptions about what defines a chick flick.

Throwing out a definition, I came up with “a movie describing human relationships (often romantic) from a woman’s perspective.” With this definition in mind, I came up with the following movies immediately:

• Amelie
• All About My Mother
• Volver
• Like Water for Chocolate

A friend disagreed with the entire list - saying that having to read the movie (subtitled) ruins the effect.

Over lunch today,Greg Lange, Edward Mao and I were talking about this. I described the plots of the above movies and they disagreed with my designation of the movies in question as chick flicks also. Stymied, I asked for a definition from Greg. He came up with:

Chick Flicks have a simple plot, and are about a woman and one or two guys.

I’ve seen some movies like this, but I’m not sure most people would describe them as chick flicks.

Just to avoid being called a foreign film snob, I came up with some American or at least English language chick flick movies:

• When Harry Met Sally
• Sleepless in Seattle
• Bridget Jones’s Diary
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding
• Whale Rider
• Four Weddings and a Funeral
• The African Queen
• Bringing Up Baby
• Franco Zeffirelli’sRomeo and Juliet
• Casablanca
• Lost in Translation (from Ed)

I later found a few links about the topic which triggered positive memories about the following:

• The Truth About Cats and Dogs
• Bend It Like Beckham
• Shall We Dansu? (I’m picking the original Japanese version here)
• Romeo + Juliet
• Legally Blonde
• It Could Happen To You

Also, these lists had some seriously weird choices for “chick flicks”. For example:

• Bound
• Jawbreaker
• Heathers
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
• Aliens
• Girlfight
• Bull Durham

Hmm.

Greg came up with the following:

• Something to Talk About (Mark: Missed it - adding to Netflix)
• Romeo + Juliet (Mark: yup - I liked it too)
• Chocolat (Mark: which I couldn’t finish watching)
• You’ve Got Mail (Mark: wasn’t this an AOL commercial? Aww)

Edmo came up with:

• Love Actually (Mark: Adding to Netflix)
• Garden State (Edmo adds: “maybe, but it’s very borderline chick flick”)
• Lost In Translation (Mark: Loved it)

And the number one - suggested by a friend isThe Notebook - which I’ve got in my queue already!

So what do y’all think? I declare myself not a chick flick hater!