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Top 10 Chick Flicks With A Dash Of Manliness

20 July 2008 9 Comments

Chick flicks are not manly.  No sense in trying to even debate this widely accepted principle.

We men have all been there, though.  The time comes when we need to satisfy our woman’s craving for the softer things in life and watching a sensitive, caring, loving movie is a great way to score major points.

There always is a handsome fella that is usually so freaking caring and considerate, it completely makes our lives impossible.  The love story does its best to point out where we men fall short and allows our women to fantasize how they would love us to be.

Do the right thing fellas and don’t just sit through the movie and kill off 2 hours.  Make your woman proud and look for the areas where you can improve.  Also, look for any manly lessons you can pull from the movie.  They all have good ideas for sharpening up your manliness skills.

My top 10 chick flicks (in no particular order) with at least a little manliness included

Titanic

Released in 1997, unless you live in a cave in Torra Bora, you know about this movie.  Jack and Rose fall in love, but really shouldn’t since they come from different worlds.  Since we all know the fate of the Titanic, we know there must be heartbreak in the end.  Nobody even knew Jack existed, so we knew his fate was sealed.

What makes this one have a dash of manliness is the shear magnitude of the movie.  The special effects are world class and Jack has that panache about him that exhibits consistent manly behavior throughout.

When Harry Met Sally

In 1989, the world’s imagination was intrigued with Harry’s comment “men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.”  I remember having all kinds of debates with “friends” over this.  Doesn’t really matter where you stand on this issue, just the discussion presents plenty of entertainment.

The movie was incredible and gave us men the realization that women are pretty darn good at faking it when they want to.  For this scene alone, it is worth the time spent.

Thelma and Louise

Dubbed as a “chick flick” but it borders on being a manly film.  Intriguing and always entertaining.  Also, any film with Harvey Keitel is manly, period.  The Brad Pitt appearance is also worth the discussion.

The Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid type ending is yet another example of where they wanted to take this movie.  Worth the watch.

50 First Dates

Adam Sandler?  I know, this one is a stretch, but an incredible movie nonetheless.  Finding new and imaginative ways to win her over every single day puts this romantic comedy in the list.  Dr. Allan over at The Simple Marriage Project has to love this movie for this reason and so do I.

These two have INCREDIBLE chemistry in my book.  They were amazing in The Wedding Singer as well.

Ghost

I must have seen this movie a dozen times with my wife.  Each time she cries, so I know it is a chick flick classic.  What intrigues me is the thought of afterlife.

The other manliness stuff comes in the form of putting things right when Sam, (dead guy played by Swayze), figures out a way to whack Willie and Carl.  They deserved it and took the elevator down because of it.

Pretty Woman

Nobody dies or there is no dark tragedy here to make you bawl at the end.  Just good old pure romantic comedy that chick flicks are born from.  It is the oldest story around:  prostitute meets rich guy; rich guy falls for prostitute; rich guy “rescues” prostitute from her life and makes her a princess.

The manly portion here is a reach, but whenever there is a ruthless corporate raider involved, it makes sense.  Also, when Jason Alexander (George in Seinfeld) plays a scumbag, it makes the cut….nice…

Dirty Dancing

This movie is corny and has moments of bad acting sprinkled throughout.  But again, as I watch it for the 100th time, I can’t help but find myself intrigued in how it all plays out.

I have to stretch to find anything manly about this movie, but here it goes…”Nobody puts my Baby in the corner.”  There is also The Fountainhead reference by the rich punk kid.  Has to be included in the mix.

Knocked Up

Seth Rogan as Ben is a classic early 20’s underachiever.  Nothing terribly manly about this guy, but in the end, finds out how to become a man and do the right thing.

His tirade voice mail he leaves for the doctor who went on vacation and stiffed Katherine Heigl’s character, Allison, was epic.  It breaks all the voice mail rules of manliness, but who cares?…classic…

You’ve Got Mail

Was this a sequel to Sleepless In Seattle?  Nobody could ever tell me.  Of course it wasn’t, but it’s almost the exact same story with slightly different details. Doesn’t matter, it works.  They have that Sandler/Barrymore thing on screen that makes us all pull for them getting together.

Manliness?  He lives on a boat in the harbor and has a really cool dog.  Good enough…

What Women Want

Mel Gibson has manliness all about him in pretty much all of his flicks.  We just see all his warts as well in today’s 24/7/365 news cycles.  This movie is well put together, well acted, and Helen Hunt plays the perfect balance to Mel’s womanizing character, Nick Marshall.

The manly factor of this flick is essentially all the way until the turning point.  As a classic womanizer, he uses his new found skills of being able to hear what women are thinking for what he does best – land hot chicks in bed.  This is every guy’s fantasy, but of course this loses its luster.  He does the right thing in the end and finds out what kind of man he really is.

Honorable mentions

Stranger Than Fiction.  Awesome movie.  When he admits that he needs to die to save the incredible tragedy book’s plot, it absolutely crushed me.  During the flick, he learns to play the guitar, goes after a woman that really could be his soul mate, and saves a kid’s life.  This should have made the list more I think about it.

Gone With The Wind.  Not much else needed to say other than look at the title.  Everyone knows the line and knows the movie.  A pure classic romance.  Anything this classic is manly.

The Bridges of Madison County.Good movie and has Clint Eastwood in it.  Anything with Eastwood is manly.  I am not even going to entertain the argument that it is not.

Stepmom.My wife cries every time she even thinks about this movie.  It gets mentioned for this fact alone, but still a decent flick nonetheless.

Which movies would you have included on this list?  My wife (and I) would love to know.

9 Comments »

  • Hayden Tompkins said:

    I made an ex-boyfriend watch “When Harry Met Sally”, if only for the “Roy Rogers wagon wheel coffee table” scene!

  • Mike Bates said:

    Fun list. But it brought up two issues:

    1) Thelma and Louise is in no way a manly movie. There is not a single portrayal of a good man in that film. Rapists, sexists, controlers, abusers. Keitel may be sympathetic with them, but in the end, he chases the heroines off a cliff. Brad Pitt is in that movie purely as beefcake (back before he was BRAD PITT), and is a felon who violated his parole on top of it.

    2) Stranger Than Fiction isn’t a chick flick, is it? I see it as more of an existentialist comedy. But it is awesome.

  • Kevin (author) said:

    Good points on both. I just left a comment on your site with T&L as the topic. Maybe I need to see it again…

    STF was so amazing…It certainly doesn’t fit the mold of the typical chick flick…like that pants movie you mentioned or that one with Britney Spears in it…both of which should never be shown again, ever…

  • Dave said:

    I found your site via google reader – a suggested feed since I subscribe to a couple other blogs with “manliness” in the title. So here’s my challenge to you – and the result will determine whether I add your blog to my subscription list:

    “Jerry Maguire” – the manliest chick-flick of all time? Agree or disagree? Discuss!

    My take:
    > Pro football as a backdrop.
    > It’s not just a chick-flick, it’s also a buddy movie.
    > One of only three Tom Cruise performances that I can even tolerate (the other 2 are Risky Business and Magnolia.).
    > Great soundtrack (but we expect that from a Cameron Crowe film.
    > Renee Zelweger in her breakout role, pre-botox, before she hit the wall and became butterface #1.
    > Catchphrases. I won’t even quote them, 2 of them have become a part of the zeitgeist. But the one I always quote that nobody gets (or recognizes but can’t place) is “I got a commitment to the troof!” (or, truth, for all you white people.)
    > Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s Oscar acceptance.
    > Memorable suuporting character performances by Jay Mohr, Todd Louiso, John Trovolta’s wife and a few others whose names I can’t actually remember.

    Need I go on?

  • Dave said:

    Aww, geez, see I just thought of a couple other reasons:

    > That’s one of FOUR Tom Cruise movies I cna tolerate. The fourth is “Far & Away,” not a chick flick, per se, but extremely Manly!
    > Other great bit parts: Beau Bridges, the fat kid from Stand By Me, Glenn Frey — all very Manly.

    How’m I doin’?

  • Kevin (author) said:

    Dave,
    All great points!

    Is it a chick-flick? Not a traditional one, but could pass the tests. The football, money, other manly items, were all a backdrop for the boy gets girl, boy loses girl, “you had me at hello” line. This was an incredible movie because they had us all fooled that it wasn’t a traditional chick-flick.

    Other TC movie I know you overlooked has to be A Few Good Men. Nicholson again performs like a killa, anything with Bacon is good, and Cruise actually didn’t seem gay to me in this flick. Mix it all together with an awesome screenplay and you have a modern day classic.

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  • Lurlene Mantle said:

    Keep up the excellent job fellas!

  • Kevin@How To Get My Ex Back said:

    Nice list of chick flicks. I haven’t seen all of them but I might try them when I feel like it. I love that scene from “When Harry Met Sally”.

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