Rosalind Russell portrays a sharp, stylish reporter in the classic screwball romantic comedy "His Girl Friday." (Photo courtesy of New York Post)
A buxom blonde sits in her pink bedroom with her cute lopsided bunny ears on her head. Her effeminate male friend hands her an envelope notifying her that she’s been kicked out of the Playboy Mansion. When she asks why, her friend tells her it’s probably because she’s too old.
“But I’m 27!” she pouts in a high- pitched voice.
“That’s like, 59 in bunny years,” her friend replies.
The movie “The House Bunny” is about a playboy bunny, played by Anna Farris, who, after being rejected by Hugh Hefner, returns to college, where she decides to give make-overs to a sorority consisting of unpopular, homely smart women.
Farris trips, falls on her face, finds love, struts around in skimpy pink clothing and gets a burst of hot steam up her skirt in this ridiculous comedy.
Quirky character actresses, good-looking leading men, gorgeous women with impossibly perfect hair, and beautiful dresses in the latest fashion.
Where can you find these people?
Drive to the nearest movie theatre, sit back in the cushy chair, and watch a polished, sappy, feel-good chick flick.
Chick flicks have long been a guilty pleasure for women, who have shelled out their hard earned money to see these films since Hollywood started making them over half a century ago.
Personally, I love chick flicks. I love the glamour, romance, and humor that only female-centric filmmakers seem to get.
Over the years, though, my sweet old standbys have been disappointing me. Where did all the complex women with a past go? Why is the female protagonist allowed to act tough or sexy only around men? Why are the leading ladies always afraid to be themselves?
Where are all the Annie Halls?
Some films try to make the same kind of impact on women as “When Harry met Sally” or “His Girl Friday,” but the efforts seem contrived, overly polished, and lacking any real depth.
“How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days” is one such example of a movie that tried to depict the spirit of a woman with power falling in love. The formula is solid enough, but the characters are mostly one dimensional.
Depth may not be considered synonymous with “chick flick,” but if a story doesn’t have a good solid plot with three dimensional characters it isn’t worth watching.
In “How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days,” Kate Hudson’s character is soft and accessible, even when she is supposed to be mean or assertive, which makes her portrayal of a tough, successful journalist almost laughable.
The writers seem to be apologizing for Hudson’s supposed heartlessness by prematurely showing her vulnerability, making it even more confusing when Hudson fake courts a dopey Matthew McConaughey.
The problem isn’t with the absurdity of the situation, but the lack of strength or variety of emotion from the female lead.
More and more, women’s roles seem apologetic for being successful, not because the story is about a successful woman who yearns for an average life, but because the film’s dialogue and direction forces the actress to depict herself that way.
What’s worse, women and girls may look up to the Hollywood version of the modern woman, and emulate what they see.
The films of the eighties and nineties showed women with a greater power, achieving success without apology, and without losing their femininity.
In 1980 the movie “Nine to Five,” starring Lilli Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Jane Fonda, was set in an office, where three women, who are fed up with their boss’s sexism and arrogance, talk about how they’d kill him.
The boss ends up falling and knocking himself unconscious, and Violet, played by Tomlin, thinks she killed him with rat poison she accidently put into his coffee.
Mistaking him for dead, the three women go on an adventure, trying to cover up the “murder” in hilarious and absurd ways.
The plot is pretty screwball, and the characters fight, cry, and attempt to clean up their mess convincingly, without having to play victims or rely on low cut dresses, Parton excluded.
Even though Parton and Fonda are attractive, they don’t rely on their looks and sex appeal to lead their actions, and the no less attractive Tomlin who plays a spunky, homely, funny character, doesn’t fall into the stereotypical angry little ugly girl mode.
Even earlier in film history, actresses like Greta Garbo, Bette Davis, and Rosalind Russell stood tall.
They may not have been given the most feminist-friendly dialogue, but they delivered their lines with more than enough poise and ferocity to be respected.
In “His Girl Friday” Rosalind Russell plays a tough reporter whose ex-boss and husband, played by Cary Grant, goes to extremes to win her back before she marries another man.
Russell runs, shouts, and moves with authority about the newsroom, all the while looking elegant with her dark hair nicely coifed and clothes sharp and pressed.
The film gives Russell’s character Hildy some clout because not only does her ex want his wife back, he wants her back to work and not in the kitchen.
Hudson could take a lesson from Russell’s elegant assertiveness, as Farris could learn to use her sexuality without reverting to the vulnerability of a dumb blonde.
It’s much more interesting to see real women coping with unrealistic situations, rather than these boring, polished, docile dolls.
