Chick Lit is not Rom Com

Today, I got a stroke of luck in getting to read chick lit, which I always enjoy, no matter if it is good. Chick lit is mostly beach reading for women, usually about harried mothers, or a frumpy woman who wants to marry a prince, or a sexy woman having money troubles because she is flighty. They are often written by magazine editors or contributors, so they know how to engage their readers quickly. The covers are always colorful, featuring disembodied cartoon body parts, diamonds, high heels, skinny jeans, or martini glasses, and there tend to be jokes inside about how the characters’ lives are just like “The Hills”, except not at all – no kidding, that cliché is used A LOT in chick lit, usually in the first chapter, as an ice breaker and mood-setter; I’m not complaining.

Obviously, the tone is very light, which is pleasant for a reader, and the font is usually big or generously spaced. Ahhhhh. Maybe the reason so many of them are adapted to film is because execs and readers don’t mind reading them. Oddly, I read almost none of these kinds of stories that originated in script form. I guess chick lit's closest genre would be Romantic Comedy, but chick lit is generally more about lifestyle than romance, and they are free from the truly exhausting formula that has, virtually without exception, taken over the Rom Com genre.

SEX & THE CITY 2 comes to mind as a chick lit movie. Say what you will about it – I’m gonna say plenty at some point (dying to see it) – it’ll probably be a huge hit. But it was based on a TV show, which was based on a chick lit book. Why is no one writing original “chick lit” screenplays? I know plenty go to Lifetime and ABC Family, but PRIVATE BENJAMIN, OVERBOARD, and ROMANCING THE STONE could have worked as earthy chick lit, and audiences loved them so much theatrically that they’re all headed for remakes. Still, where are the original chick lit movies? Why doesn’t Hollywood make original, theatrical, not primarily romantic comedy films about women, for women?