Chick Lit (the appropriately named but much analyzed genre appealing to women between the ages of 18-40 that typically focuses on single women looking for love) is extremely popular…but not just in books. Chick Flicks are the film version of Chick Lit and are equally scrutinized and looked down upon by film snobs. These chick flicks, also called romantic comedies, are often accused of giving women unrealistic ideas of love and romance. Critics feel these films set women up for disappointment because no man is ever going to measure up to the men we see on screen. In essence, chick flicks set the bar too high. But honestly, what woman doesn’t enjoy a trip to the theater (or DVD player) to watch a carefree tale about a down-on-her-luck woman who doesn’t seem to have anything going for her when the movie starts and then all of a sudden…enter Mr. Romance. We know how it’s going to end…happily ever after…and we know the comedy is going to be hokey and slapstick…but we like it. It’s an escape. We don’t want a woman to pine for a man and then not get him, or wish for a baby/job/vacation/pet and never have it work out. We are faced with that reality in life, we don’t need it in our entertainment. It’s why we read light, fluffy tales of women looking for love…and finding it!
So occasionally we will be discussing “Chick Flicks”. (Eat, Pray, Love is due in theaters in August, so expect a mention here at BookFinds next month. We were big fans of the book and can’t wait to see Julia Roberts portrayal of the uber-cool Elizabeth Gilbert.
In the meantime, this weekend I finally got around to watching WHEN IN ROME with Kristen Bell. For anyone who missed this movie when it hit the theaters in January, let me give you a quick summary.
An ambitious young New Yorker (KRISTEN BELL), disillusioned with romance, takes a whirlwind trip to Rome where she defiantly plucks magic coins from a “foolish” fountain of love, inexplicably igniting the passion of an odd group of suitors: a sausage magnate (DANNY DEVITO), a street magician (JON HEDER), an adoring painter (WILL ARNETT) and a self-admiring model (DAX SHEPARD). But when a charming reporter (JOSH DUHAMEL) pursues her with equal zest, how will she know if his love is the real thing
I read one review of the film that said it was hard to believe a girl as cute and likable as Kristen Bell would have any trouble meeting Mr. Right. Obviously this person hasn’t frequented any bars lately…single girls like Kristen Bell are all over the place! If WHEN IN ROME were a book it would be considered “high concept” because it involves a rather large plot element that dictates most of the story. The fact that Kristen Bell steals coins from a fountain in Italy and then ends up having the original owner’s of those particular coins fall in love with her is high concept. When she then learns that the man she is falling in love with was one of the owner’s of the coins she stole, she begins to doubt his love for her…thinking he is simply under her “spell” and not truly interested in her. The movie was enjoyable and entertaining. If it had been a book, I would have read it on the beach and enjoyed every unbelievable moment of it. Check it out on DVD if you are looking for a sweet escape.
