Boys As Side Dishes

While not a stupid movie, per se, Boys On the Side is every cliche that is the chick flick. There's the lesbian element (not that there's anything wrong with that), the woman friendly soundtrack, the mythical "instant friendship" between women who barely know each other, the inevitable male influence that pops up to tear those friendships apart, the loving gazes between said friends, and then someone dies. Almost every typical chick flick follows this formula, as does the typical guy movie, which is why I'm not sure why this movie irritates me enough to watch the whole thing in order to review it. I think its because Drew Barrymore's character is so fucking typical: "Oh, by boyfriend is a drug dealer and beats me, but I love him so much and miss him...oh, wait, that guy's cute!" Or maybe it's because Whoopie Goldberg's lesbian character has to reassure Mary-Louise Parker that she's not after her honey pot after she's outed . Maybe it's the fact that when Drew is on trial and ML testifies on her behalf, she utters "There's something that happens between women," in order to justify their friendship. Women so "complicated" that they're simple. These are the types of movies that make me weep for the future of female friendly cinema. Women are either over-simplified caricatures of themselves or an over-idealized vision of what men think we should be (neurotic, mythical, maternal, virginal, or crazy). This is also why I kind of chuckle at over-the-top action flicks for men. Just once I'd like to watch a film for women that doesn't involve over-wrought women mooning over their failed hopes and dreams, while somehow landing the ever-patient man waiting in the wings.