Chick flicks can be the best remedy for a broken heart, the perfect solution for a girl’s weekend away or an excuse to curl up on the couch and bond with your girlfriends. Here are five feel-good, timeless and classic movies that will make you laugh and cry.
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a classic chick flick set in the 1800s. The tale of the haughty and stubborn Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy and the feisty and strong-willed Elizabeth Bennett was based on a book of the same name written by Jane Austen. The strong appeal of this movie is the classic love/hate theme where Mr Darcy’s integrity is questioned at the start of the movie. His true character is revealed over the course of the film and we fall in love with him as Elizabeth Bennett does.
When Harry Met Sally
This is a romantic comedy set in the 1980s that asks the eternal question – can men and women really be friends? Fast forward 30 years later and we are no closer to answering that question. The movie stars Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal and features the infamous scene where Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm at a restaurant. The movie ends in a series of interviews with Harry and Sally admitting that they are married and no longer denying the initial chemistry between them the first time Harry met Sally.
Bridget Jones
Renée Zellweger stars as Bridget Jones, and Colin Firth and Hugh Grant as the men in her life, Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver. Bridget Jones was based on Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary column in The Independent in 1995, chronicling the life of Bridget Jones as a 30-something single woman in London. The movie starts off with the classic scene where Bridget Jones is alone in her apartment singing forlornly ‘All By Myself’. The chick flick hit a nerve with women in their 30s facing singledom, smug married couples and an unclear career path while still hoping for a white picket fence, 2.5 children and a happily ever after.
Dirty Dancing
The tragic death of Patrick Swayze at only age 57 of cancer has further immortalised this movie as one of the greatest dance movies and chick flicks of all time. Patrick Swayze was cast as Johnny Castle who is the older and wiser dance teacher who gives ‘Baby’, Jennifer Grey, dance lessons at an expensive holiday resort. It’s a classic turning of age film where the younger, naive girl falls for the cynical and experienced older man and the love affair transforms her from a girl into a woman. As they say in Dirty Dancing no one puts ‘Baby’ into a corner!
The Sex and the City Movie
The movie follows on four years after the television series ended which was based on a column Candace Bushnell wrote for the New York Observer. The movie is about the strong friendships of four 40-something women as their friendship and relationships are all tested in their pursuit of love and happiness.
A chick flick may make you laugh and even cry but you’re bound to be feel good afterwards. Grab the tissue box, stock up on snacks, change into a comfy tracksuit and settle on the couch for some fun, light-hearted entertainment.