The 2003 movie “Something’s Gotta Give” is a story of middle age love and the difference of dating rules for men and women who are in the peak of their lives. Diane Keaton (Erica) is the mother of a 20-something daughter (Merrin) who brings home a much older man. This premise turns into the trials and tribulations of men dating younger women, and older women being bitter, old maids. The intended audience for this film is middle-aged males and females. This group can relate to some of the situations portrayed in the movie. However, the imagined audience is anyone from teenagers to middle aged people. Teenagers could possibly relate because there are a handful of younger characters in which they deal with dating as young people. Thus, a broad spectrum of audiences could viably be reached due to characters, situations, and life cycle positions. There is cornucopia of portrayals of women in this film. Merrin, the 20-something daughter, is a career-oriented, self- determined young woman. She dates who she pleases and has no qualms about having 2 week flings. Her mother, Erica, is a 50 year old writer who has had her own success within her career. She is divorced and takes pride in being independent. However, later in the movie, she does feel the need for companionship. Erica’s sister Zoe, a women’s studies professor, is a feminist who sees the blatant stereotypes of women over 40. The portrayals of these women work well together because they are all confident womenwho are proud to be what they are. All three have a strong work ethic as well as strong opinions. They also contrast with one another. Zoe is a strong feminist who does not date, while Merrin is a vibrant young woman who dates around and has fun doing it. Erica, on the other hand, is completely content staying in “night after night after night” alone, working on her scripts. They all have a good chemistry together, even though the are portrayed differently.

Panic Room: Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart star as Meg and Sarah Altman, two women who find themselves in a new house and in capable director David Fincher’s hands. Their new house brings them some trouble, the previous owners having left a large fortune in it. When 3 men try to get that fortune, Meg and Sarah have to work together to stay alive. It’s a thriller and a popcorn movie, but a smart one, with 3 dimensional characters and mainly 2 awesome women leading the charge.

Morvern Callar: Lynne Ramsay’s story of a young woman (Samantha Morton) who wakes up to find her boyfriend has committed suicide and proceeds to pass his novel off as her own, leading to a journey with her best friend, is an amazing film. You’ll have to trust me when I say it gets everything right - I’ve never indirectly related to a movie more. Also, the director is one of the best female filmmakers around.



2003 - I’m writing movie reviews for my school paper - seeing movies for free and interviewing awesome movie folks
X2: A super-hero movie? I know, the women are all wearing tight outfits and blah blah blah. The X-Men are a little different though (and yes I know MEN is the word in the title). The fact is that comic book/super hero movies are here to stay and this franchise does a pretty good job of having complicated and strong female characters. Dr. Grey, Rogue, Storm etc.. they’re all smart, yet all struggling with their identity a bit and figuring out how to navigate their “careers” along with desires for love. Plus, if your going to sit through a movie where the men lead the good guys and the bad guys, it might as well be one where those leaders are Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart - two guys who I would bet my last dollar on being completely anti-misogynistic.