What is a Chick Flick — Definition, Tropes & Best Examples

Chick flick meaning

Defining the chick flick

You may have heard the term “chick flick,” but what exactly does it mean? Understanding what the label is meant to describe may elucidate why it can be seen as controversial.

The term “chick flick” comes with some common associations and tropes.

What makes chick flick movies chick flicks?

Chick flick tropes

Whether a movie is or isn’t a chick flick is in the eye of the beholder. It’s not a specific genre. But typically, when you hear a film labelled as such, there are certain tropes you can expect.

Female lead

This is pretty much a given. Most movies labelled as chick flicks have a woman protagonist. She can take many forms, and take many different journeys, but typically she’s someone female audiences can relate to in one way or another.

Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. We’re looking at you, Hugh Grant.

Romance

For some reason, romance genres have historically been seen as feminine (we’ll let the Fraudians dissect that). And so you can expect love to be a common theme across chick flicks. They may be romcoms or romantic dramas.

Relationship-centric

You might think this is redundant with romance, but some chick flicks are about female friendship rather than love. Take The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, for example, which has been labelled as a chick flick. Romance doesn’t drive the plot, it’s the relationship between the friends.

Emotional ending

Bring a box of tissues. Regardless of genre, movies dubbed as chick flicks typically have climaxes which pack an emotional wallop. This doesn’t mean they’re sad, necessarily, but rather simply affecting. You may laugh and cry at the same time.

Is chick flick offensive?

Chick flick criticisms

As we’ve alluded to, the term “chick flick” has come under fire since its inception. For a long time, the label was used dismissively. Describing something as a “chick flick” typically meant you were calling it unserious.

The misogyny in this use of the term is pretty naked. It is implying that movies aimed at women are simpler and less challenging than their more masculine counterparts. 

Take a look at some of the classics that have been dubbed “chick flicks” and you can see how blatantly wrong this assumption is. Mean Girls, 10 Things I Hate About You, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Titanic— these are all incredible films that stand up to other genres and then some.

But there is also criticism of the term from an industry standpoint. Why is it that movies marketed towards women often follow heterosexual romantic plotlines? It doesn’t take a feminist scholar to see that there is sexism prevalent in the studios which make so-called “chick flicks,” where executives (who are predominantly male) assume that women want stories about getting the guy.

Luckily, how chick flicks are made, and how they are regarded, is changing. Today, many women have reclaimed the term “chick flick,” using it in a tongue-in-cheek way to describe beloved comfort movies. Meanwhile, films marketed towards female audiences are looking beyond just the romance genres. Still, however, there’s a lot of work to do.

Chick flick examples

Best chick flicks

Now that we’ve established that being a chick flick isn’t a bad thing, we can look at some of the most celebrated chick flicks out there. These are great movies that will appeal to anyone, regardless of gender.

Notting Hill

You can’t mention Hugh Grant too many times in an article about chick flicks. By the early aughts, the man was the king of the romcom, starring in dozens of inarguable classics marketed toward women. Notting Hill is one of his strongest entries, and sees him matched with the queen of the romcom at the time: Julia Roberts, bringing her A-game.

Clueless

An unfortunate reality is that there have historically been very few women directors, even with movies ostensibly made for women. In this and many other regards, Amy Heckerling’s Clueless is a breath of fresh air. It is perhaps one of the funniest movies to be dubbed a chick flick, and it continues to hold up today.

Something’s Gotta Give

You also can’t mention chick flicks without mentioning Nancy Meyers, whose roster of romcoms is unparalleled. For our money, Something’s Gotta Give is the writer/director’s best, with fantastic performances from Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson as the will-they-won’t-they couple.

The Notebook

The Notebook has become synonymous with the term “chick flick.” The iconic romance boasts some of the finest on-screen chemistry ever, following two star-crossed lovers played by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams.

Up Next

Best romantic comedies

Not all chick flicks are romantic comedies, and vice versa, but there’s significant overlap in the Venn diagram. We go through some of the best movies ever made in the genre.

Romcom list →