As a little girl, when my parents wanted a little quiet time, instead of popping in a Wee-Sing video they put on Dirty Dancing or Grease. By the time I was eight I could recite every line. And while the abortion references escaped me, the whole good girl can change a bad boy idea did not.

I got older and my favorites gravitated towards Pretty Woman, Cruel Intentions, 10 Things I Hate About You, and as a result, I have suffered a life-long affliction with bad boys.

Not the bad boy in the sense that they served jail time, smacked me around or started bar fights. No, they were bad boys in the sense that they were bad for me, and I stuck around like a barnacle on a humpback trying my best to fix him (you know, just like I learned from Julia, and the rest of the girls..)

It is a classic formula, the one I equate to my relationships: one bad boy with a fatal flaw (every ex I’ve ever had) + one good girl (me) + an undeserving amount of love, support and patience that will change them into the perfect man (the problem) = reality.

Case and point: The cheater, a repeat offender. The boyfriend, did not believe in romance – an obvious problem for a girl who believes the premise of The Notebook is not asking too much. The real bad-boy, with regular altercations with the law and other bad-boys. And, the self-proclaimed “laid back” boyfriend, too laid back for a job or to be counted on. Read More »

I absolutely love chick flicks. There, I said it. Usually in other aspects of my life, I am not an extremely girly or emotional chick. But, when it comes to movies, there is nothing like a good sob story about star crossed lovers who somehow beat the system and ended up together to really get me going.

And yes, unlike Jess, I consider Dirty Dancing one of my all time favorite movies and am so excited to see it return to the big screen this week.

Needless to say, when I read an article in the NY Times about the possible downfall of chick flicks, I was devastated. Supposedly there is a disappearance of many of the movie world’s most visible female power brokers and because of this, more male-oriented movies such as 300 will appear and not be balanced out with another female-oriented option.

For someone that cannot stand watching movies full of guts, guns, or any type of violence, this is not okay.

“You don’t see companies saying, ‘More than half of this population is women, we should design a slate to come up with movies like ‘The Break-Up,’ and ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ ” said an independent producer. No more chick flicks out in theaters will mean much less theater going for me. Read More »

Dirty Dancing

It’s true. I hate it.

I’ve hated that stupid film since the first time I saw it on a TV, stuck in my weird babysitter’s mother’s house for a reason I can’t remember now, sitting in a living room that smelled like old couch and cigarettes, desperately trying to find something to whittle away the time. At first, I thought I had hit the jackpot. It looked totally indecent, something my mom would have never let me watch, and there was a cool soundtrack (I was 10 years old…what did I know about music?). Thirty minutes into the thing, however, my young brain knew I was watching something absolutely sucktastic. Even then, I could tell the dialogue was phony and forced. Even then, I could tell Jennifer Grey would never make another movie because she was totally annoying. And even then, even as a child, I knew Patrick Swayze was weird looking.

As I’ve grown older, my hatred for this movie has only increased, and every time another cool person declares their love for it, I feel a tiny pang of anger in the pit of my stomach and force them to list the reasons why. Strangely enough, most people can’t define why they like it so much. I think it has something to do with that lake scene; wet nipples, romantic music, ‘try try again’ mentality…a little something for everyone. Other than that, I have no idea why this movie ever made it anywhere.

The Matrix

Please. I fell asleep after the first ten minutes and woke up just in time to see people wearing sunglasses and barking half-worn Bible verses at each other. Snorefest. My brother and his friends tell me I’m just too stupid to understand it. Maybe. Or maybe they’re the stupid ones for unwittingly sitting through high octane Sunday School.

Any Monty Python Film

I have sat in a roomful of people watching one of these and been the only one not laughing. I just don’t get it. I couldn’t find it funny if I tried. Maybe if I played Risk and had an online boyfriend, I’d find it more hilarious. Read More »