A Chick Flick for the Brave of Heart

For Chuck, chick flicks come in all shapes and sizes.

By Chuck Nice

During the Cinematherapy interviews I occasionally ask women for their favorite chick flick, so I figured it was time for me to reveal my own. So what's my favorite chick flick? Brave Heart starring Mel Gibson. Now I know what you're thinking: How typically male of me to choose a violent, gory, and blood drenched war movie as chick flick.

I understand that telling your wife that you want to sit down and watch a good chick flick with her and then putting on Brave Heart is like giving her an iron for her birthday. But when you look past all of the fighting, killing, decapitations and male bravado, Brave Heart is really a love story. I know you think that I'm grasping at barbed wire straws but truly that's what the movie is about. William Wallace secretly marries the woman he loves to spare her form the practice of Prima Nocta (the right of an English noble to deflower a Scottish bride on her wedding night before she engages her new husband). Despite his attempts to live a peaceful life with his new wife, she is murdered by the occupying English forces. To avenge the death of his beloved he leads an uprising against the tyrannical King Edward of England, which ultimately becomes a full fledged revolutionary war.

How much more romance could you ask for in a movie?! Sure you've got your romantic comedies where the couple meets at the top of the Empire State building, or your romantic drama where the guy tries to win back the love of his woman by making a heartbreaking speech in front of everyone on the plane, but these gestures are nothing when compared to those of a man who starts a war in the name of love. C'mon ladies, you've got to admit -- that's pretty damned romantic. Think about the most romantic thing a guy has done for you - maybe he cooked you a gourmet dinner, or stopped the car on the side of the road and asked you to slow dance to your favorite song, or taken you up in a hot air balloon and told you he wished he could offer you the world but all he has to give is his heart.  But would he lead a nation to independence motivated only by his lust for vengeance in your name? I don't think so. I often hear women complain that men aren't romantic anymore and they're probably right, but I think a man who is willing to start a war for you goes above and beyond the call of duty.

Now I'm not just making this argument to convince you to watch one of the bloodiest battle movies ever made, nor am I defending my testosterone laden taste in love stories. I am simply saying that chick flicks, just like the chicks who watch them (myself included), come in all shapes and sizes. So the next time someone asks you to watch a chick flick like Brave Heart, Gladiator, The Godfather  or even Showgirls, don't judge too harshly -- you might be surprised at how much you like it... well maybe not Showgirls.