The Top 7 Chick Flicks of the 2000's -or- How Us Guys Learned to Stop Stressing and Just Watch The Chick Flick And Possibly Learn Something

If I've learned anything from watching all of these chick flicks it's that (Surprise!) some of them really aren't that bad. And, that some of them are really, really bad. Guys have been subjected to all kinds of horrible chick flick torture, and I know that secretly many of them ended up enjoying the movies that they were forcefully subjected to. So, in honor of 2010, I've compiled the Top 7 Chick Flicks of the 2000's and included a couple things us guys (and girls) may have learned from watching them.

7. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)- This was a sleeper hit that no guy in his right mind would have ever wanted to see but when we did it actually wasn’t that bad. Like, Bridget Jones's Diary (see no. 5), hopefully, you women realized that guys perceive you differently than you might see yourselves. But, this movie was necessarily about the couple’s relationship with each other as much as it was about their relationship with her family. And, what a big, fat, greek family it was. This movie had a big heart which I think is necessary to any successful chick flick. See my review here.

6. Devil Wears Prada (2006)- The reason this movie is so good is because by the end of it we forget that its Meryl Streep acting. She’s that good. Maybe, us guys learned that you gotta let a girl go out there and do her own thing. Maybe you girls learned that you can’t please everyone all of the time. Hopefully, all of us learned to stand up for ourselves a little bit. Personally, I think the devil really does wear Prada.

5. Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)- If there is anything us guys learned from Bridget Jone’s Diary it was how cute and fun a girl with a “little extra meat on her bones” could be. Hopefully, if it taught you girls anything it’s that guys aren’t as picky and finicky about your body as you think we are (not most of us anyway). This movie was all about personality and it had a lot of it. It spawned a not-so-great sequel and we’ve been wishing Renee would go ahead and eat something ever since.

4. How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days (2003)- If anything can be said about Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson its that they can be really hit-or-miss (for bad Kate Hudson see “Bride Wars”; for bad Mr. Matt see, “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”). But, whatever the case, the planets must have aligned and brought them together for HTLAG10D because they are both at their absolute best. Maybe both sexes learned that games aren’t funny. Or, maybe we didn’t learn anything. Doesn’t really matter, this movie is pure entertainment.

3. Legally Blonde (2001)-This movie was a cute comedy with a heart of gold (cheesy, I know…I thought of that myself) and made Reece Witherspoon a superstar. It schooled us guys to not judge a book by its cover and really taught everyone that blondes really do have more fun. Two horrible sequels have followed (the most recent called “Legally Blondes”) but we’ll just all try to remember Elle Woods as she was in this original chick flick. You go girl.

2. Love Actually (2003)- While this was an extremely well written movie with an amazing ensemble cast I think it was the underlying message, “Love actually is all around,” that made it such a great film. There were many lessons to be learned from this film (for both sexes). Maybe it was to appreciate the love your already have in your life. Or, for us guys, maybe it was just to verify that if we go to a different country we become exotic, immediately meet 3 amazingly hot roommates, and get to have the best sex of our lives. Whatever it was, I think the scenes of couples embracing at the airport, that bookend the film, really show what this film was all about.

1. The Notebook (2004)- This chick flick is great for so many reasons (see my review). One, the trailer looked horrible and made me throw up in my mouth. It looked like overly sentimental trash. And, maybe it was overly sentimental. But, in all the right ways. What did we guys learn from this? Maybe it’s to never give up on our dreams. Or, possibly, we don’t have to fight the fiance to get back the girl. He’ll be gracious about it and give her up without a fight. I’m really not going to go into why this movie is so great. If you don’t know why it’s great then you haven’t watched it…I mean really watched it. See my review here.


Runners Up (and why they didn't make it);

Sweet Home Alabama (2002)- because I hate movies with bad southern stereotypes

Mamma Mia (2008)- because not everyone loved it as much as I did...and that's understandable. See my review here.

Sex and The City: The Movie (2008) because I didn't learn anything from it...because I couldn't make it past the first 20 minutes. See my review here.

The Sweetest Thing (2002)- because while it is the first female "gross out" comedy. Well, I just didn't like it enough. See my review here.

Notting Hill (1999)- because it's actually from the 90's.

The Holiday (2006)- because...well, actually...I'm not sure because I really like this movie so maybe I should have included it. My bad.

Mamma Mia! (2008)

Starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Amanda Seyfried
Directed by Phyllida Llloyd

Let me start by saying, I loved this movie! Now, with that being said…

When I first saw the trailer for “Mamma Mia!” I thought, “Wait a minute? Is this a musical about a woman who can’t determine who the father of her daughter is? WTF? Wait, let me rephrase that. So they made a musical about a woman who had so much sex she doesn’t know who the Dad is between three different guys? And, it’s based on a Broadway musical? And, Meryl Streep is playing the Mom? And, Pierce Brosnan is dancing? And, its based on the songs of ABBA? I'm not judging but...Again, I say, WTF?

This is not the type of chick flick that I would ever have any interest in watching by myself or forced by a female...Girlfriend, Wife, Cousin, Sister, Mom, or otherwise…I would rather watch 14 hours of a Creed/ Limp Bizkit reunion tour than watch this. I would rather listen to Gilbert Godfrey read me passages from the bibles than watch this. And, I hate to admit it, I would rather watch “The Sex and The City” movie before watching this. Actually, No, I take that back…I would not rather watch SATC (apparently its longer than the Lord of the Rings Trilogy). And, I saw the "Mamma Mia!" trailer before I watched the George Clooney/ Renee Zellweger dud, “Leatherheads”, which proves I will watch just about anything. So, what did I do? I watched it. Not just for the sake of my blog but because, as I said, I will watch just about anything including Gilbert Godfrey read passages from the Bible. The movie opens in a small seaside town along the Mediterranean as a girl quietly mails three envelopes in the middle on the night. Mysterious. We quickly learn, in song if I’m remembering correctly, that this girl is getting married and these three invites are secret wedding invitations. She has lived her whole life fatherless and after recently discovering her Mother’s old diary she learns that it could possibly be three different men. One of these men is played by Pierce Brosnan…and he sings. Yes, that is right, I said it… James Bond sings and it is very weird and melodramatic…but still very entertaining. Another one is played by Colin Firth, who is in every British chick flick ever made. He sings and then turns out to be gay…I think…well, he dances off with a hunky Greek guy. And the third is played by this Swedish dude that you’ve seen in like 800 other movies as the intense/ stubborn guy. What else was he in? Oh yeah, he was the intense/ stubborn Professor that discovers Matt Damon in “Good Will Hunting”. He also plays an intense/stubborn security guard in “Angels and Demons” which I saw last weekend…not bad. Enter Meryl Streep….Oooooh….need I say more? Anyways, the daughter wants to figure out which one her father is so he can walk her down the aisle. And they sing;

Mamma Mia! Here we go again. My, My How can I resist you?

Remember these lyrics because they will get stuck in your head!

The music is what made it for me. First of all it is ABBA so you have songs like “Dancing Queen” which is probably the most familiar. I’m not really a fan of ABBA and I have to admit I actually thought one of these songs was by Fleetwood Mac. What the hell does ABBA stand for anyways. (Ok, so I just wiki’d ABBA and apparently it is an acronym of all the band members names). I like the name Bjorn. What is that? Japanese?

The beer I chose to accompany “Mamma Mia!” was Weihenstephaner: Heff Weissbier (pronounced “Wei-hen-step-han-er”) and I think it’s German. The label claims it is from the World’s Oldest Brewery. I poured it into a frosty pint glass and it looked deliciously golden. It was fairly strong and since I have the tolerance of an 8-year old Geisha in training I was quickly buzzed. I think the buzz helped me get into the mood and into the musical. So, did the wine that followed the beer. I felt like Pirouetting around my apartment singing "Dancing Queen". Great song.

All in all, this was a great film. In fact, I was hesitant to mail it back to Netflix. I had resist the urge to run back and throw it back into the DVD player. Wait, I just added it back to my queue maybe next time I use the Sing-Along DVD feature…Mamma Mia! Here I go again.

FORCE THE BOYFRIEND:  4 out of 10 (You'll like it, but he probably won't)

Beer Pairing Recommendation

It's hard to pronounce but tastes pretty good.  It will get you
buzzed enough to sing along