Six Chick Flicks…

Yellow Flamingo—John Hirsch Mainstage

Given that it received a standing ovation, this show is clearly doing something right. But I must say that response took me by surprise. It had its moments, especially the closing send-up of an iconic scene from Dirty Dancing. But like much of its source material, I found it reasonably entertaining as long as I was actually watching it, yet walked away unimpressed.

I’m at a bit of a disadvantage here, and not just due to my gender. I’d only seen four of the six movies being sent up here. I liked them well enough at the time but none made a lasting impression. The only one I’d be at all enthusiastic about watching again is Legally Blonde. The ideal audience for this show should either love these films or hate them, with none of my in-between BS.

The show basically takes turns mocking (it’s not really deft enough to call “parody”) each of the six movies mentioned in the program description. Some of the humour struck me as cheap and mean-spirited, and all of the analysis as shallow. In particular, the political criticisms are very basic Feminism 101 talking points with a generous side helping of cynicism. If you’re on social media at all you know the sort of thing I mean. My response is no doubt coloured by how exhausted I am with being expected to treat messages I’ve been bombarded with daily for years like they were fresh, stunning insights.

It’s not that they’re wrong, exactly. But if you’ve ever been around a remotely feminist discussion where Titanic or Pretty Woman came up, the only thing this show has to say about either that you haven’t heard before is the dimensions of Titanic’s doors. Heaven knows there are valid criticisms, feminist and otherwise, of the picture of romance some of these movies paint. If there really are people who treat these films as a guide to what to expect from real-life romance, they are setting themselves up for disappointment. (I don’t know why you’d do that any more than you’d treat Star Wars as a realistic depiction of the space program, but supposedly it happens.) But those criticisms have been made so many times I’d never have guessed you could get such a positive audience response just by retreading them again. All I could think was that I’ve bloody well heard them. And anyway, on almost any topic but especially romance, I’ll take wide-eyed naivete any day if the only alternative on offer is joyless cynicism.

That said, cliches are cliches because they genuinely resonate with people in some way. Judging by the standing O, these ones resonated just fine with most of the audience.

Jeff Heikkinen