Couch Potato Pickings
On Five this afternoon at 2.15pm
If you read my post yesterday you probably figured out that I’m not a big fan of Valentine’s Day. In fact, I find it a very unhealthy day. If a person needs to be prompted by the calendar to demonstrate their love, then it’s just not really love. That’s what I think anyway.
And, there’s another example of so-called love that I also find unhealthy, and that’s the Cinderella story. Not only are there countless film versions of this fairytale, including this musical one today starring Richard Chamberlain as the prince and Gemma Craven as Cinders, but the story is also the root of so many romcoms – certainly most of the ones we featured in our top 10 romantic films on Movie Talk yesterday.
But how realistic is the Cinderella story? A pretty young girl (who loves shoes) is rescued from hardship, misery and oppression by a rich and handsome prince. It happens all the time doesn’t it?
People often comment that the Cinderella happy ever after ending is what all women aspire to, but I would argue that such a statement is rubbish. In fact, there are plenty of women out there who’d much rather get to know the fairy godmother better than be rescued by the prince. And, for this film today, it’s probably just as well because while he might be playing the part of a handsome prince eagerly searching for the pretty owner of an impractical slipper, in reality the only slippers Richard Chamberlain would be searching for would be the ruby ones that would lead him to fellow friends of Dorothy.
So, with that in mind, and since our top 10 romantic films were all about boy loves girl and girl loves boy, I’ve compiled an alternative list of romantic movies (one list for the girls and another for the boys), which can be appreciated every day of the year, and not just on February 14th.
GIRLS
A neurotic New Yorker decides to give a date with a woman a go in this playful romcom.
Cute bride Piper Perabo’s world is sent into a spin when she locks eyes with pretty florist Lena Headey on her wedding day.
An unhappy teenager has a secret crush on her pretty classmate in this sweet Swedish coming-of-age story.
The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love
Two young women from different social and racial backgrounds begin a passionate love affair in this poignant romantic comedy.
Sexy plumber Gina Gershon gets it on with gangster’s moll Jennifer Tilly in this steamy and erotic thriller.
In this steamy classic from the 1980s, a timid teacher arrives in Nevada to arrange her divorce and finds herself falling in love with another woman.
In this sweet coming-out comedy, the lovely Heather Graham plays an ad exec who is finally forced to face up to her sexuality when she falls for her brother’s fiancée.
BOYS
In this jolly romance first love blossoms between two teenage boys on a south London council estate over one long hot summer.
Two men decide to tell their traditional Italian families about their relationship in this lively Canadian romcom
After deciding to go celibate because of the threat of Aids, New Yorker Jeffery meets a handsome guy at the gym…
Love abounds in pre-war England in this moving Merchant-Ivory drama.
They fall in love up on the mountain but attempt to bow to the conventions of marriage and fatherhood. This powerful tale of ranch hand and a rodeo cowboy, played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal is guaranteed to get the tears flowing.
A sweet movie about the pains of being a 16-year-old closet gay at secondary school
An aspiring young British Asian entrepreneur and his former school friend, a white working-class thug, transform a rundown launderette into a glittering success.
