My Own Personal Chick Flick Night - Might Contain Spoilers!

In one of my more sappier, hormonal moments, I had a weepy evening at home instigated by taking my favorite chick flicks from my shelf and watching the last 10 or 15 minutes of each.  I had wanted to do this at a girl's evening but it never came to pass, so I had my own personal girly evening.  My husband thought I was crazy.

I started with the ultimate weepy movie Beaches.  Just thinking about it makes my eyes water.  Any time that movie is mentioned in conversation among women, the reaction is always the same:  "I love that movie!  It's so sad!  It always makes my cry."  So the moment I put it in and found the spot where Bette Midler's character brings Barbra Hershey to the beach, the tears started falling.  Hearing Bette sing "Wind Beneath My Wings" kept them coming (that song always gets me choked up because I dedicated that one to my dying mother 9 years ago).  Tears are so cleansing.  Even when they're artificially induced.

Next on my list was the Lakehouse, with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves.  I love that movie.  I love movies that are narrated, and I love looking at Keanu Reeves, even wooden that he may seem.  I find him very handsome, or maybe it's just his dark eyes and dark hair...I don't know.  And his voice.  My husband is convinced that he smoked too much stuff as a teenager.  But the point is, I love the ending cuz they meet each other, finally, and he is so purposeful in seeing her.  

I then went to Ever After, the Cinderella story with Drew Barrymore.  She had loved him, he loved her, he publically humiliated and dumped her, she felt horrible and worthless, and he comes back to rescue her and sees her for who she really is, though just a peasant.  I love when he slips her mother's beautiful slipper on her foot, after pulling off her tattered one, and asks her to be his wife.  All her dreams have come true because her true self has been found.  (And I also love how the evil stepmother and stepsister get theirs too.  Very satisfying.)

With a smile on my face (and my husband shaking his head), I put in Shall We Dance? with Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon.  She is misunderstanding his thing for dancing and is feeling left out and distant from him, and he is feeling guilty because even though his life is good and he loves his wife and children, he's apologetic that he feels bored with the mundaneness of it all and therefore loves to go to his dancing lessons.  Though not at the end of the movie, the heart-stopping, breath-holding moment of him dressed up in his tuxedo, holding a rose, coming up on an escalator, looking for his wife, does it for me every time.  When my sister and I saw it in the theatre, we both audibly gasped when we saw him in that scene.  He's not just physically attractive (note: dark hair, dark eyes), but he's handsome (can I say sexy?) because he's coming for his wife, the woman he has been "dancing" with for 15 years.  

I then popped in "Sense and Sensibility" a movie I have watched many times (though all these movies I've watched over and over again).  I started it in the place where Edward (Hugh Grant) comes over and all the Dashwood women run around in a panic.  Thinking he's married, he gets around to telling them that he's not.  Elinor Dashwood, who has loved him from the beginning and held in her feelings and pain because he was engaged to someone else, finally lets all come out.  She hysterically cries, sobs, and gasps, realizing all at once that he's available and he's there for her.  I love that.  It all comes together and her long silenced suffering is rewarded.  My other favorite part is earlier, when Colonel Brandon, also a long time sufferer in love with Marian Dashwood, is finally recognized and acknowledged by her.  His face tells it all, though he stays a lot more composed than Elinor did.

Which brings me to my last movie, Emma, with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam (again, dark).  When she finally realizes that she loves Mr. Knightly and thinks he loves someone else, she is devastated.  When he turns an awkward conversation into one she's been waiting for and asks her to marry him, she can hardly believe her ears.  I love his expression right before he kisses her.  She is shy and awkward, and he's ready to gobble her up.   The music throughout this movie is one of my favorites as well.  It's a beautiful orchestral swirl that I have often listened to over and over again.

I'm not sure where this brings me.  I was once concerned and over-analyzing of myself after watching all these chick flicks, thinking that maybe I wasn't happy enough at home.  I have the most wonderful husband, and although he's not dark haired or dark eyed (love his blue eyes though), I wouldn't trade him for anyone.  He is so devoted to his family (which, BTW I find very attractive) and is the most faithful of men.  So I was relieved to find within myself that my heart is where it belongs and is happy.

When I look at these particular movies, there is a common thread of good, honest people who are long-suffering who finally get their hearts' desires, or of loving friends who look after each other, or of people who see that love has always been at home and it's worth fighting for.  And so I think that's what I like and that's what I believe in. Love.  True love is patient and it is kind and it bears all things.  It protects, trusts, always hopes and always perseveres.  And true love never fails.  So for this reason I will always love chick flicks.  Bring on the sappiness and the tears and I'll unashamedly cry and watch them over and over again.

So if you love chick flicks, what are some of your favs?  And if you don't like them, why not?  What is it about them that girls (and some guys out there somewhere) love?

Let's Talk Movies and don't forget the popcorn!