The Anti-Heroine Media Galentine’s Day Watch List
The Bechdel-Wallace test was created by queer cartoonist Alison Bechdel and friend Liz Wallace in 1985. The media metric was designed to assess women’s representation on screen as kind of a bare minimum: 1) there must be at least two characters of a marginalized gender, 2) they must talk to each other about something other than a man, and 3) they must both have names. It is shocking (and honestly, not so shocking) how many films fail to do just that.
For so long women and femmes were not allowed to be friends in movies. Which is a huge travesty! But don’t worry, despite the odds there are still many gems that focus on women’s friendships. We made a watch list full of them to help you celebrate Galentine’s Day (probably remotely) with your friends this year.
Birds of Prey
Ditch your toxic clown boyfriend and trade him in for a group of badass women criminals and vigilantes to share burritos and margaritas with. This far superior spin-off of the gross male gaze-y Suicide Squad follows Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) as she tries to carve out an identity for herself separate from the Joker—defeating a gangster and forming a super sweet bond with a young pick-pocket in the process. Bonus, there are no Jared Letos in this film. Fantabulous emancipation indeed!
Bend it like Beckham
18-year-old Jesminder (Parminder Nagra) just really wants to play soccer. But her conservative family does not approve. After she meets Jules (Keira Knightley) one day in the park, Jess tries out for the local women’s soccer team and shines. Jess and Jules become fast friends, supporting each other’s athletic dreams, and pushing each other to become better players. This movie is really funny, full of heart, and director Gurinder Chadha is a well-known genius. Just ignore the part where coach Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) tries to equate his experience as a white Irish man to the discimination Jess faces as a young Indian woman in Britain—it has not aged well!
The Breaker Upperers
Best friends Jen (Jackie van Beek) and Mel (Madeleine Sami) run a small business in which they do the dirty work of breaking up with your significant other for you—for a fee. Needless to say things quickly go awry when Mel starts to have second thoughts about their line of work. Will their friendship survive? You’ll have to watch to find out! Need more incentive? There may or may not be a grand gesture involving the classic K-Ci & Jojo song “All My Life”. Enjoy.
Bridesmaids
Remember when Bridesmaids came out and there were all those articles about how, wow, women can be funny too? Typical 2011. If you’re not familiar with this comedy classic, unemployed baker Annie (Kristen Wiig, who also co-wrote the script) is asked by her best friend Lilian (Maya Rudoph) to be the maid of honour at her wedding. Their friendship is tested when Lilian’s new friend Helen upstages Annie at every opportunity. Stand out supporting performances from Melissa Mccarthy and Rose Byrne. The airplane scene will never not be funny!
Booksmart
Best friends Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) are TYPE A. They have dedicated their whole high school careers to academics and extracurriculars in the hopes of getting into their dream schools. But when they find out that everyone got into their dream schools, regardless of partying, they decide to spend the night before graduation making up for it. So many hijinks, an incredible cast of supporting characters, and one stop motion hallucinogenic drug sequence.
Girls Trip
Four lifelong friends Ryan (Regina Hall), Sasha (Queen Latifah), Lisa (Jada Pinkett-Smith) and Dina (Tiffany Haddish)—that cast!—reunite to attend Essence Festival together, reconnect and have a generally legendary trip to New Orleans. Old issues arise as the women, known as the “Flossy Posse” in school, struggle with the fact that they have grown apart in recent years. Girls Trip is so fun. A huge commercial success, it marks the first time a film written by an African-American woman screenwriter crossed the $100 million mark at the box office.
Hustlers
Friends who drug and steal from rich men together—well they don’t ultimately stay together it turns out. Based on a 2015 New York magazine article "The Hustlers at Scores", a group of exotic dancers orchestrate a scheme to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients. Things do not go well, but it’s the friendships you make along the way, right? Jennifer Lopez was ROBBED of an Oscar nomination for her thoughtful and empathetic portrayal of veteran dancer Ramona, in 2019.
Jennifer’s Body
The botched marketing for cult classic Jennifer’s Body sexualized the hell out of Megan Fox in an attempt to appeal to teen boys. In actuality, this is a film about a complicated friendship between the titular Jennifer, and her best friend, aptly named, Needy (Amanda Seyfried). Jennifer is literally sacrificed to the devil by a sad indie boy band in an attempt to get famous. Things go horribly wrong. It is up to Needy to deal with the fallout and ultimately avenge her best friend.
Josie and the Pussycats
Is Josie and the Pussycats an anti-capitalist classic? Actually, kind of, yes. After playing another disappointing gig at the local bowling alley, the band just so happens to be in the right place at the right time to sign a huge dream-making record deal. But if it seems too good to be true, it probably is—to the tune of implanting subliminal marketing messages into the Pussycats’ very catchy pop songs. The young women must come together to take down the record company and end capitalism once and for all (or something like that).
Lady Bird
While the central relationship of Greta Gerwig’s perfect film (I am blind to all criticism!) is between Christine “Ladybird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) and her mom, Marion (Laurie Metcalf)—the friendship between Ladybird and best friend Julie (Beanie Feldstein) ranks number two. When shitty cool boy Kyle (Timothee Chalamet) decides to ditch prom after Ladybird has spent hours with her mom stretching their single-income-home earnings to find and alter the perfect dress, there is only one person to call. And they have a great time regardless!
Lady Vengeance
After Lee Geum-ja (Lee Young-ae)—an iconic anti-heroine—serves 13 years in prison for a horrific crime she didn’t actually commit, who do you think stands by her to seek vigilante justice on the true culprit? The friends she made in prison, that’s who. Trigger warning, this is a brutal revenge story and definitely not a heartwarming friendship tale like most of the films on this list. But if you have the mental capacity, it’s worth your time.
Now and Then
Stand by Me is touted as one of the most iconic films about friendship ever made. And don’t get me wrong, a movie which thoughtfully explores the dynamics of friendship for a group of young boys is important. But girls don’t often get these sort of narratives. Now and Then follows a group of pre-teen girls having adventures and growing up. It’s pretty simple—and made in 1995 it definitely could have been a lot more diverse—but it still takes these girls’ stories seriously and gives their relationships the attention they deserve. Total comfort watch.
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
Post-it notes. Never have two people feigned such great success with such a perfectly specific lie. Best friends Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michele (Lisa Kudrow) have been happily living the slacker life in Los Angeles. But when they decide to attend their 10-year high school reunion, they find themselves increasingly self-conscious about where their lives have ended up. So many iconic lines, performances (Alan Cummings! Janeane Garofalo!), and of course, the outfits.
Tangerine
The plot of Tangerine follows transgender sex worker Sin-Dee Rella (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) after she is released from a short stint in prison and discovers that her boyfriend has been cheating on her with a cisgender woman. But the heart of this story is really the beautiful relationship between Sin-Dee and her best friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor). The two leads are talented, funny and charming as hell. Much of this film was inspired by their real experiences, and fuck yes they should have got a writing credit.
Wolfwalkers
The only animated entry on this list, Wolfwalkers follows Robyn Goodfellow (Honor Kneafsey), who has moved to Ireland with her hunter father, Bill (Sean Bean). He’s been tasked by the king to wipe out the last wolf pack in the area to make way for deforestation and urban sprawl (seriously). But then Robyn meets the free-spirited Mebh (Eva Whittaker), a magical wolfwalker with the ability to transform into a wolf at night. They become fast friends, and Robyn must help Mebh to save the pack. Just—this movie is so beautiful. One of the best of 2020. Watch it.
Widows
Okay, hear me out. Widows follows a group of women whose husbands were killed during a heist. In order to pay their debts, the women team up to execute their husbands’ final job. But the heart of the story is how these women bond and come together after being royally fucked over by the men in their lives. Led by the legendary Viola Davis, with an incredible supporting cast including Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo, and Elizabeth Debicki—Widows is really about forging friendship in the face of adversity. And I stand by that claim!
Honourable mentions:
A League of Their Own
A Simple Favour
Beaches
Blockers
Book Club
Clueless
The Craft
Divines
Girlhood
Let Them All Talk
Muriel’s Wedding
Thelma and Louise
The To Do List
Unpregnant
Whip It