Not bad for a film I didn't want to go to

Rating: 8/10 (17 June 1999)

I must say that like most guys with a wife or girlfriend, I live in the fear of the dreaded chick flick. Some women find this distinction of a film insulting, but it's actually something they should be proud of. Some filmmakers have gone to the trouble to make films just for women that will be of no interest whatsoever to men, and therefore providing an appropriate penance to subject their man to if he is in need of discipline or punishment.
How does one identify a chick flick on sight? It's very simple for a man to peg one. Perhaps it's an innate ability given to most men at birth. Not unlike the kind that bestows the sole responsibility of killing small insects in the home and lighting the barbecue. A man doesn't need to have it classified for him, and he knows to avoid it at all costs. But a man must also learn to develop something of an immunity to tolerate them in small dosages. One day he may be required to view one, being unable to summon the veto power required to get him out of it. Or perhaps it's simply to negate any comment such as "We NEVER pick what I want to watch!"
Some women gravitate to the chick flick like a boat to a lighthouse beacon in a tempest. "Oh, that looks good," she might exclaim. While the man thinks, "That bloody well sounds like a chick flick, better make myself scarce." Case in point, a preview for "Step Mom" manages to pass one minute and thirty seconds without uttering a single word as to what the story is about, and still women flock to it on the strength of the title and actresses alone. Now that's a chick flick if I ever avoided one.
The main reason guys avoid chick flicks is it seems that the melodrama is specifically intended to make people cry, which ten times out of ten doesn't work on the fellas. At the very start of the melodrama, we are alerted to a high level reading on the sob-o-meter and tune out immediately. We are wise to their transparent little ploy and none too impressed at their pathetic attempt to win us over.
Now why all this grandstanding about chick flicks? Is "Notting Hill" a chick flick? Sort of. Is it like most films starring Julia Roberts? No, not really. Do we have a full fledged "Beaches-Alert" warning in effect? Certainly not. The fact is, if you're a man and looking for a date movie with some male appeal, you'll be hard pressed to find a better one that this. It has strong writing, good acting and was executed quite well. The film's female star, Julia Roberts, didn't really have much acting to do as I recall, and now that I think of it, there was absolutely no female nudity or 'splosions of any kind. Can't figure out why I liked it, on second thought.