So, my question is this:
How…
many…
of…
these…
movies…
must…
we…
see?
many…
of…
these…
movies…
must…
we…
see?
I know the dorky guy/hot girl genre has been all the cinematic rage for a while now. Look how revolutionary, men don’t have to be hunks anymore to land impossibly beautiful women. Isn’t that great? Whooo dorks! Well, it would be if we saw a similar number of dorky girls/hot guys movies in return. But until the day you show me a girl who looks like Seth Rogen paired with a guy as hot as Katherine Heigl (or a girl as hot as Katherine Heigl, or just Katherine Heigl), I’ll keep my whooo to myself, thank you very much.
p.s. Yes, youngsters, there was a time when Patrick Dempsey was a dork. It was called the 80s.
32 comments:
THANK YOU! Seriously, why are these movies popular? Personally, I cannot bring myself to watch them (well, other than Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but, hello, Kristen Bell). And, yes, I would love to see an average looking girl get with a hot guy (or girl... especially girl. Kinda my dream...). When they make that movie, I will go see it. Until then, count me out.
... End rant.
There was one film with the 'dorky girl'/'hot guy' arrangement, in one of the subplots in 'Love Actually' ... I can't recall names here (am really bad with names) but it was the office woman who had been in love with the hot guy working there for years and the whole office knew of it. Thing was, she didn't even get him in the end, instead being there for her mentally disturbed brother over xmas.
Personally I'm hanging out for the movie when the dorky girl gets the hot girl ... THAT will be the moment I pay attention ... I mean, I know the gender dynamics and issues surrounding dorky-girl/hot-guy and I totally agree, but dammit, those straights get everything, I'd just like once for things to change for us, THEN I'll sit up a tad.
And this doesn't even address the movies about OLD dudes getting hot young women. Let's see - As Good As It Gets, or any movie with Michael Douglas in it...
I firmly believe this is the reason why awkward guys snap and go around shooting up gymnasiums - they've been sold this bill of goods by Hollywood, and when the pretty girl doesn't drop in their lap by virtue of them being a mouth-breathing stalker, they start blowing stuff up.
It would be nice if some dorky girls got the girl.
Too many movies aren't really cute or romantic.
Michael Cera isn't out of anyone's league. Just sayin'.
And by that, I obvioiusly meant to say that nobody is out of Michael Cera's league. Obvs.
This isn't anything new: it's all a sort of rehash of "woman of the year" with katherine hepburn and spencer tracy, which I'm sure was a remake of something else. And yeah, it's a trend but the late nineties gave us a mirror has two faces", "my big fat greek wedding" and "she's all that" which were all about dorky girls getting the hot guy. Of course, the dorky girl often gets a makeover ("never been kissed") and the dorky guy doesn't... but I don't think that discounts the existence of dorky girl/hot guy movies. They're out there - just out of style.
Straight women don't expect that much, appearance-wise, from straight men. I knew this one couple, Sandy and Mike, and she was drop dead gorgeous and he looked like a failed genetic experiment. She loved him, and I couldn't look at him without my soul running and hiding.
Dorky girl, hot guy is unrealistic. Men are too shallow, (hence, the premise of Shallow Hal).
I know there are exceptions to that rule, but that is the rule.
I always thought Molly Ringwald was that girl -- not a bland beauty, but dorky and cool. We have to look back to the '80s for it though. Thanks John Hughes.
This is probably pretty obvious to us all, but most movies are made by doofy looking men, so these are THEIR fantasies.
I'm with Steph though, that the yuckiest thing are those old grandfather former leading men that get paired with a young woman.
Bridget Jones Diary was supposed to be regular girl gets hot guy, but really how fat and plain was Renee? All that press about how plain and fat she "let" herself be in the movie was so idiotic.
Bravo Snarker.
I wouldn't call her dorky more like fucking awesome, but Watts from Some Kind of Wonderful gets the guy. Also Shallow Hal is an example of the dorky guy going for the dorky girl. Yeah her soul looks like thin Gwyneth P. but her face and body did not.
Let us not forget the terrible "The Truth About Cats & Dogs" with Janeane Garofolo.
Re: Woman of the Year
I'm a fan of Katherine Hepburn, but she was not a classical beauty by any stretch of the imagination. They were equally yolked looks wise, IMO.
Well, I guess it's good at least one of them is dorky, as opposed to movies where both characters are so incredibly beautiful (read: botoxed) it hurts to watch them. It'd like to see a romantic comedy where they are both equally average. I really don't need much revenge.
Besides - Emile Hirsch is now considered a hottie, and although Miri was way hotter than Zac, they were both total losers and nerds, so I considered their story quite reliable.
Besides two - at least usually nerds are the nice guys...
On a related note, I loved the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movie for turning a similar trope completely on its head.
There have been so many movies I've seen which have a geeky female protagonist who ends up, by the end of the film, being made over to look more traditionally beautiful.
But in Meatballs, a traditionally beautiful weather reporter, inspired by the male protagonist (and love interest), who's your stereotypical mad scientist, lets out her inner geek-- putting her hair in a ponytail and donning glasses.
Dorothy:
How you forgotten all those movies (okay, we've talking ancient history here) where Barbara Streisand won the hearts of handsome leading men like Omar Sharif and Robert Redford?
Circle of Friends, is the only movie I've ever heard of where the plain girl gets the hot guy without a makeover; by virtue of her personality. And, of course, the whole point of the movie is that nobody can believe it.
Patrick Dempsey is still a dork, and the latest dork is Robert Pattinson. Unbelievable the bad taste young girls have these days.
Also -- Every. Single. One. Of those girls. Is blonde.
In the one movie I can think of where a supposedly "dorky" girl gets the hot guy (I forget what it's called now, but the girl is an artsy outcast type and they guy is a jock), the actress they used was in fact gorgeous and they merely slapped a pair of oversized glasses on her.
How many of these movies must we see?
I haven't seen a one yet, and feel no need to in future.
I know... Is it too much to ask to get a Dorky-girl gets Nerdy-girl movie from Diablo Cody?
Thank you! Oh my gosh, this has been annoying me so much. Although I was surprised at the extreme bluntness of the newest one. Not sure if more blunt means we can eventually get over it or not, though...
The Girl Next Door is a surprisingly amazing movie. Emile Hirsch is yet to disappoint me as an actor and in his career choices. Also, it was one of the 1st movies of this particular genre, so it shouldn't count. =P And when I say 1st movies, I mean in modern 2000s when the dorky guy/hot girl became hot again.
MJNuts
P.S.- Forgetting Sarah Marshall also has its merits. Jason Segel is love!
That said, come forward hot girl/dorky girl! :D
Ditto Anonymous, "They're out there - just out of style."
Unfortunately I haven't seen it yet, but Paper Heart with Michael Sera and Charlyne Yi is about a pair of dorks falling in love.
All the movies with "dorky" girls and hot guys are really, hot girls made to look dorky and then bam she gets a make over and is hot. I did totally love "Can't Buy Me Love"
First of all, TOTALLY agree with Roark. Yes!
Second, speaking as a child of the 80s I have to say that Can't Buy Me Love was the shizz and Patrick Dempsey wasn't really a dork, more like the hot girl with the geeky glasses. The rest of those movies, phht.
My erudite opinion for the evening...
While I have watched my fair share of this type of movie, I rarely feel the need to do so more than once. The one exception might be Keeping the Faith just because Ed Norton is awesome as the lovelorn and occasionally drunken priest.
Also, I have never understood the appeal of Patrick Dempsey. So very not my preferred type. When I reluctantly watched Made of Honor with my roommate -- hey, it was Sunday afternoon and we were bored -- we were both screaming at the screen for the girl to stay with Kevin McKidd. (We were also screaming at the screen for several other reasons, but the point still stands.) I mean, he's Kevin Freaking McKidd!
How about movies such as Better Off Dead, where John Cusack's decidedly uncool character gets the rather offbeat French girl played by Diane Franklin? Or Real Genius, in which the painfully geeky Mitch gets the adorably geeky Jordan? (I suppose it's always easier for the geeky guy to get the geeky girl... or was that just an '80s thing? Ah, the '80s. Showing my age. :( )
Sign me up for anything involving the geeky girls.
Oh this is annoying.
I was recently watching House Arrest, and in the end - even though it was completely unnecessary to the plot - dorky kid gets with (older?) hot girl.
Fucking Åmål - dorky girl gets hot GIRL, bingo! yep, and it's not an American movie, of course.
Hey!
You raise an excellent point! However I have to say me and my current boyfriend look a lot like Seth Rogen/Elizabeth Banks, and I as a ridiculous hot girl am still loving it! I've seen several ugly girl/hot guy couples in real life, but very few in the movies. Ugly guy/hot girl real life couples can definitely be a great way to go!
I do remember one version of the hot guy/plain girl movie - "She's All That." Which was utterly ridiculous because Rachel Leigh Cook was not fug. According to Hollywood, putting her hair in a bun and throwing glasses on her transformed her into a hobo.
These types of movies are a serious pet peeve. I forced myself to watch Shallow Hal, because much like a car crash, I had to look. I could barely get through it without getting violent in the movie theater.
In short, fuck Hollywood.
Ducky shoulda got the girl.
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