March 8th is officially International Women’s Day, which means for most of the month, we appreciate female empowerment in real life and pop culture. Last year, I spent Int. Women’s Day at the movie theater for a double feature of Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (2019) and Autumn de Wilde’s Emma (2020). Little did I know it would be my last legitimate, normal theater visit for the next year.
This month feels like it might be a good time to just revisit some of the better female-centered films already available at home. Of course when it comes to some fun, feel-good girl power flicks, it would be easy to just take out Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own (1992), Peyton Reed’s Bring It On (2000) or Jason Moore’s Pitch Perfect (2012). Or more recently, Philippa Lowthorpe’s Misbehaviour and Julie Taymor’s The Glorias, both from just last year. But I’m going to reach a little deeper and recommend some quality comedies and dramedies with less exposure.
Before Kirsten Dunst helped jump-start the cheerleader movie trend with Bring It On, she already led another light-hearted teen girl romp with Sarah Kernochan’s All I Wanna Do (1998). One of my favorite movies from my childhood and unfortunately tossed aside by Miramax upon initial release, most probably don’t even realize this retro comedy exists. For those of us who were middle school kids in the early 2000s and just happened to come across the VHS at a local video store, this might have been a staple for various sleepovers. Also starring Gaby Hoffmann, Rachael Leigh Cook, Merritt Wever and Lynn Redgrave, All I Wanna Do is set in an early 1960s East Coast boarding school where its all-girls students are reluctant to consider the administration’s ideas of going co-ed.
Another all-girls boarding school set teen comedy often overlooked in modern times is Ida Lupino’s The Trouble with Angels (1966), starring Hayley Mills right after she left Walt Disney Studios. Mills plays the school troublemaker who takes in new girl Rachel Devery (June Harding), and becomes the bane of Rosalind Russell’s existence as Mother Superior. I remember my grandmother introducing this delightful flick when I was little, and think The Trouble with Angels would go along well with Greta Gerwig’s critically acclaimed Lady Bird (2017).
One more old school dramedy with a troupe of precocious female misfits is Ronald F. Maxwell’s Little Darlings (1980), led by iconic teen stars Tatum O’Neal and Kristy McNichol. Though not as popular as O’Neal’s previous hit, Michael Ritchie’s Bad News Bears (1976), Little Darlings is more in the guilty-pleasure category. O’Neal and McNichol attend a girls summer camp right after hitting puberty and noticing the opposite sex. The same year of release, fellow teen star Jodie Foster and Runaways frontwoman Cherie Currie starred in their own hip teen movie with Adrian Lyne’s Foxes (1980). Like Little Darlings, Foxes is a fun time probably most appreciated by film viewers who are fans of 1980s pop culture.
In the middle of my college days, Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, Whip It (2009), was a modest hit with both critics and audiences that continues to gradually find more fans with time. Led by a cast of familiar faces, including Alia Shawkat, Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis and Barrymore herself; Whip It tells the tale of a small town high school senior (Elliot Page) who would rather play roller derby than sign up for beauty pageants like her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) wishes. This is one of those nice, simple viewing experiences to put on during a lazy night or weekend; and for those who enjoy laxer comic relief compared to Barrymore’s famous reboot of McG’s Charlie’s Angels (2000).
So if you’re feeling nostalgic and in the mood for International Women’s Day, you’ve got a few more options than you might have thought!
Did any of our favorite feminist movies make your list? What other girl power movies would you add? Let us know in the comments below!
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