I’ve been a Chick Flick Tragic since the day my mother gave me the world’s greatest gift - the Anne of Green Gables movies. I must have watched those films hundreds upon hundreds of times, the benefits of which has always managed to confound my very masculine husband. Those movies are LONG. Something like seven full hours until the point where Gilbert and Anne meet on the bridge after Gil’s bout with scarlet fever. Don’t tell anyone, but I memorized the clock counter point where this happens and often fast-forwarded right to the good stuff! When a gal is on a romantic curve, drawn-out schoolroom scenes serve no purpose!
If there was a romantic comedy released in the past fifteen years, I’ve probably seen it. Along with my penchant for disaster flicks (Deep Impact, Titanic (two birds with one stone on that one), Armageddon and their brethren)they make up 99% of my film-watching habits. What follows is inspired by Scribbit, who, if her list is anything to go by, is clearly my identical twin (I will have to respectfully disagree with no. 8 on her ‘romantic movies that weren’t’ list however - you’ll see why in a sec. Perhaps not identical twins then. Maybe first cousins? Yeah, that’s better…LOL) Oh, and I know my choices are obvious! I like my films predictable, okay? LOL.
I give you Lizzie’s Most Swoonable Films of Recent Times:
Love Actually
Probably my favourite movie of all time. So some of the people don’t end up together, a marriage breaks up and the very unrealistic situation of an unmarried British Prime Minister (seriously…has that ever happened?) is one of the underlying currents but I LOVE how the vignettes all kind of tie into each other so brilliantly. And what’s not to like about a film that uses just about every British actor currently alive? I usually watch this on Christmas Eve while wrapping last minute gifts. Love it.
Sweet Home Alabama
It’s ‘I have to make something of myself first’ Josh Lucas who totally makes this film one of my faves. Reese Witherspoon, as Scribbit points out, is kind of nasty but the way it all plays out in the end is gorgeous. I know, I know - very unrealistic (giving up Patrick Dempsey and a Tiffany ring?) and way too neatly-wrapped up but I still love it.
A Walk To Remember
*Sniff!* I’ve not yet read the book, but if Nicholas Sparks’ other adaptation The Notebook is anything to go by, the book must be fantastic. I just love how simple this movie is. Bad boy comes good, girl stays true to her sweet nature (that’s one thing that I hated about Grease - what was wrong with the way Sandy looked before? Why go - uh - ‘more worldly’ to win a man?) It’s just sweet all round. Reminds me of Untamed Heart - similar ending. That was one of my favourites ten or so years ago but after many years of putting up with Marisa Tomei’s grating performance I had to give up. Maybe I have an underdog thing going here?
While You Were Sleeping
I completely adore this movie, have done since it first came out, and I had a massive crush on Bill Pullman for years…scary. And who’d have known? Another underdog. Cracked up at Scribbit’s reminder of the ‘leaning’. Like Anne of Green Gables, I would often fast foward and watch from the wedding scene at the hospital onward. And bashfull Jack dropping a diamond engagement ring through her train token chute? Oh my heart! That’s the moment right there folks. I have watched this one so many times I can virtually quote it word for word. I should do a quiz really - I’d win money.
The Notebook
And I wonder what we find in this film? Another underdog trying to prove himself to the woman he loves. Awwww. Some might argue that this movie had a sad ending, others that it had a lovely, sweet ending. I hover between the two camps. On one hand I hate the fact that Old Allie is the way she is, and that it took them so long to sort out how they felt about each other. On the other hand, I think it’s just gorgeous that they obviously went on to have a long and happy life together, raised a family and eventually…. on the off chance that there might be one or two women out there who haven’t yet seen the movie I won’t spoil it. But stock up on tissues.
Notting Hill
I think I’ve nailed why I like this movie. There seems to be a reoccuring theme in my film choices which revolves around rooting for someone who doesn’t initially look like they’re going to ‘get the girl/guy’. This particular example of not-famous guy ending up with very-famous girl is MAJORLY unrealistic of course, but suspending belief is part of the charm :) Funniest scene (apart from the ‘yoghurt’ incident Scribbit references, LOL) was when William took Anna to his sister’s birthday party Honey (the sister) just about has a coronary, it’s priceless. Also, did anyone pick Mischa Barton in this flick?
Pride & Prejudice
No chick flick list is complete without a Jane Austen adaptation or two. BUT I am picky about which adaptation. For example, there will never, ever be any other Mr Darcy for me than Colin Firth. I didn’t even bother renting the Keira Knightly version of Pride & Prejudice because it is just wrong, wrong, wrong, LOL. I have really fond memories of my mother and I sitting down to watch this on the ABC (Aussie version of the ABC that is - gets much of its programming from the BBC) on Sunday nights. It was screened as 6 one-hour episodes and I eventually bought her the double VHS (no DVDs back then, LOL)for Mother’s Day one year. I still have those same tapes and watch them every few months. Why don’t they make films like this anymore? Romances these days are all about the sex. This one was all about the wit. I find it just lovely to watch Darcy’s mood change toward Elizabeth and the ’so there!’s he shoots off to Miss Bingley in her defence. Ahhh, Darcy…. to have been born a couple of hundred years ago…and you know, for you not to have been a figment of some English lady’s imagination….sigh.
Sense & Sensibility
You might think I’d prefer the BBC version of this as well - not so. Emma Thompson’s effort is far more awesome. Did you know that all four principle characters in Sense & Sensibility were also in Love Actually? Emma Thompson (Karen), Hugh Grant (the Prime Minister) , Alan Rickman (Harry) and Kate Winslet (twenty points to the first person who can tell me where she pops up in Love Actually). Again, an underdog (Colonel Brandon) and eventual happy ending for all involved :) After our success with Pride & Prejudice my mother and I went to see this one in the cinema and again, I bought her the VHS tape as a gift which I also have here at home now. We named (in part)one of our children for a character in this film - and no, it wasn’t Willoughby!
And there you have it. Predicable? Absolutely. But oh, how my heart scrunches up!
If there was a romantic comedy released in the past fifteen years, I’ve probably seen it. Along with my penchant for disaster flicks (Deep Impact, Titanic (two birds with one stone on that one), Armageddon and their brethren)they make up 99% of my film-watching habits. What follows is inspired by Scribbit, who, if her list is anything to go by, is clearly my identical twin (I will have to respectfully disagree with no. 8 on her ‘romantic movies that weren’t’ list however - you’ll see why in a sec. Perhaps not identical twins then. Maybe first cousins? Yeah, that’s better…LOL) Oh, and I know my choices are obvious! I like my films predictable, okay? LOL.
I give you Lizzie’s Most Swoonable Films of Recent Times:
Love Actually
Probably my favourite movie of all time. So some of the people don’t end up together, a marriage breaks up and the very unrealistic situation of an unmarried British Prime Minister (seriously…has that ever happened?) is one of the underlying currents but I LOVE how the vignettes all kind of tie into each other so brilliantly. And what’s not to like about a film that uses just about every British actor currently alive? I usually watch this on Christmas Eve while wrapping last minute gifts. Love it.
Sweet Home Alabama
It’s ‘I have to make something of myself first’ Josh Lucas who totally makes this film one of my faves. Reese Witherspoon, as Scribbit points out, is kind of nasty but the way it all plays out in the end is gorgeous. I know, I know - very unrealistic (giving up Patrick Dempsey and a Tiffany ring?) and way too neatly-wrapped up but I still love it.
A Walk To Remember
*Sniff!* I’ve not yet read the book, but if Nicholas Sparks’ other adaptation The Notebook is anything to go by, the book must be fantastic. I just love how simple this movie is. Bad boy comes good, girl stays true to her sweet nature (that’s one thing that I hated about Grease - what was wrong with the way Sandy looked before? Why go - uh - ‘more worldly’ to win a man?) It’s just sweet all round. Reminds me of Untamed Heart - similar ending. That was one of my favourites ten or so years ago but after many years of putting up with Marisa Tomei’s grating performance I had to give up. Maybe I have an underdog thing going here?
While You Were Sleeping
I completely adore this movie, have done since it first came out, and I had a massive crush on Bill Pullman for years…scary. And who’d have known? Another underdog. Cracked up at Scribbit’s reminder of the ‘leaning’. Like Anne of Green Gables, I would often fast foward and watch from the wedding scene at the hospital onward. And bashfull Jack dropping a diamond engagement ring through her train token chute? Oh my heart! That’s the moment right there folks. I have watched this one so many times I can virtually quote it word for word. I should do a quiz really - I’d win money.
The Notebook
And I wonder what we find in this film? Another underdog trying to prove himself to the woman he loves. Awwww. Some might argue that this movie had a sad ending, others that it had a lovely, sweet ending. I hover between the two camps. On one hand I hate the fact that Old Allie is the way she is, and that it took them so long to sort out how they felt about each other. On the other hand, I think it’s just gorgeous that they obviously went on to have a long and happy life together, raised a family and eventually…. on the off chance that there might be one or two women out there who haven’t yet seen the movie I won’t spoil it. But stock up on tissues.
Notting Hill
I think I’ve nailed why I like this movie. There seems to be a reoccuring theme in my film choices which revolves around rooting for someone who doesn’t initially look like they’re going to ‘get the girl/guy’. This particular example of not-famous guy ending up with very-famous girl is MAJORLY unrealistic of course, but suspending belief is part of the charm :) Funniest scene (apart from the ‘yoghurt’ incident Scribbit references, LOL) was when William took Anna to his sister’s birthday party Honey (the sister) just about has a coronary, it’s priceless. Also, did anyone pick Mischa Barton in this flick?
Pride & Prejudice
No chick flick list is complete without a Jane Austen adaptation or two. BUT I am picky about which adaptation. For example, there will never, ever be any other Mr Darcy for me than Colin Firth. I didn’t even bother renting the Keira Knightly version of Pride & Prejudice because it is just wrong, wrong, wrong, LOL. I have really fond memories of my mother and I sitting down to watch this on the ABC (Aussie version of the ABC that is - gets much of its programming from the BBC) on Sunday nights. It was screened as 6 one-hour episodes and I eventually bought her the double VHS (no DVDs back then, LOL)for Mother’s Day one year. I still have those same tapes and watch them every few months. Why don’t they make films like this anymore? Romances these days are all about the sex. This one was all about the wit. I find it just lovely to watch Darcy’s mood change toward Elizabeth and the ’so there!’s he shoots off to Miss Bingley in her defence. Ahhh, Darcy…. to have been born a couple of hundred years ago…and you know, for you not to have been a figment of some English lady’s imagination….sigh.
Sense & Sensibility
You might think I’d prefer the BBC version of this as well - not so. Emma Thompson’s effort is far more awesome. Did you know that all four principle characters in Sense & Sensibility were also in Love Actually? Emma Thompson (Karen), Hugh Grant (the Prime Minister) , Alan Rickman (Harry) and Kate Winslet (twenty points to the first person who can tell me where she pops up in Love Actually). Again, an underdog (Colonel Brandon) and eventual happy ending for all involved :) After our success with Pride & Prejudice my mother and I went to see this one in the cinema and again, I bought her the VHS tape as a gift which I also have here at home now. We named (in part)one of our children for a character in this film - and no, it wasn’t Willoughby!
And there you have it. Predicable? Absolutely. But oh, how my heart scrunches up!
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