(Films discussed in this post: Young Adult, Bad Teacher, Tabloid, The Roommate, The Help, Bridesmaids.)

It’d be nice to think that we’re in a day and age where women headlining a film doesn’t matter. But it does. Unless the film is geared specifically toward a female audience, you won’t often see a Thelma & Louise-type story driven by and centered on women in your multiplex. Your local arthouse theater, maybe. (If you’re lucky enough to even have one.) Usually, any movie with a female protagonist tends to be all about her romantic strife, pining after a guy when she’s not pratfalling. (Or, more likely, pining and pratfalling simultaneously.) The Devil Wears Prada, Mean Girls, Romy And Michele’s High School Reunion… the list of female-centric comedies that don’t revolve around the womens’ love lives (and are actually funny) is pretty slim.

Continue reading →