What are the best date movies?
Depends on who you ask. It does hinge on your definition. There's no clear-cut official definition, so I'm going to have to make one up. The perfect date movie is one which is appreciated by both men and women. If you accept my definition - "a good date movie is one which both people like, and I don't mean a date between male homosexuals" - then Dirty Dancing is off the list. On the other hand, another possible definition is "a movie which results in sex". In this case, Dirty Dancing is WAY in unless the man throws up during the movie.

Here is a scorecard of "films women like". Each category is ranked from "most male-oriented" to "most female-oriented".

Meg Ryan movies male score female score differential
When Harry Met Sally 7.6 7.9 .3
City of Angels 6.1 6.6 .5
Sleepless in Seattle 6.6 7.2 .6
You've Got Mail 6.2 6.9 .7
French Kiss 6.1 6.9 .8
Kate & Leopold 6.4 7.3 .9
John Cusack movies male score female score differential
Bullets over Broadway 7.5 7.3 -.2
High Fidelity 7.7 7.6 -.1
Being John Malkovich 8.1 8.1  
Bob Roberts 7.1 7.1  
Grosse Point Blank 7.4 7.6 .2
Say Anything 7.6 8.0 .4
Stand by Me 7.9 8.3 .4
Better off Dead 7.1 7.5 .4
America's Sweethearts 6.0 6.4 .4
Serendipity 6.7 7.2 .5
other "date" movies male score female score differential
The Tao of Steve 7.2 7.1 -.1
Jerry Maguire 7.3 7.2 -.1
Almost Famous 8.1 8.2 .1
The Natural 7.3 7.4 .1
Amelie 8.9 9.1 .2
Shakespeare In Love 7.6 7.9 .3
The English Patient 6.9 7.3 .4
Titanic 6.8 7.2 .4
Ghost 6.6 7.3 .7
Moonstruck 6.9 7.7 .8
romantic classics male score female score differential
Manhattan 8.3 7.7 -.6
Annie Hall 8.4 7.9 -.5
City Lights 8.6 8.3 -.3
Casablanca 8.8 8.5 -.3
Dr Zhivago 7.8 7.8  
West Side Story 7.7 8.0 .3
Roman Holiday 7.9 8.4 .5
Gone with the Wind 7.9 8.6 .7
estrogen films male score female score differential
Fried Green Tomatoes 7.1 8.0 .9
The Way We Were 6.7 7.6 .9
Legally Blonde 6.6 7.6 1.0
The Joy Luck Club 7.0 8.0 1.0
Pretty Woman 6.5 7.5 1.0
Like Water for Chocolate 7.1 8.1 1.0
An Affair to Remember 6.9 7.9 1.0
Steel Magnolias 6.6 7.7 1.1
Ya-Ya Sisterhood 6.0 7.5 1.5
Beaches 5.6 7.2 1.6
Dirty Dancing 5.5 7.5 2.0

The answers:

  • Amelie is the perfect date flick, loved across the board. Runners up: Almost Famous and Being John Malkovich.

  • Note that Cameron Crowe's movies, Jerry Maguire, Say Anything and Almost Famous, are great date movies because they are almost completely unisex in appeal. (Being about sports and rock really helps the male watchability factor.)

  • Meg Ryan's latest, Kate & Leopold, with a differential of .9, meets the minimal qualifications for an estrogen film. Moonstruck comes close.

Among the romantic classics, some are actually more popular with men, especially Woody Allen's films.

A disturbing trend:

  • Meg Ryan's most recent movie gets the highest estrogen rating on her chart.

  • John Cusack's latest two movies are his least masculine. Not to mention the fact that they both suck.

That new Ya-Ya Sisterhood film is battling for the all-time estrogen title, but is a "granny" movie.  It is most popular with women aged 45+. (Males under 18 rate it 5.1. Females over 44 rate it 8.4. I suppose the 3.3 differential is the highest "granny score" in existence.). Among the "youthful" films, the most egregious chick-flick, with a 2.0 differential overall, is Dirty Dancing. Although it is almost universally reviled by men, women love this thing more than Sleepless in Seattle or Titanic!

Sidebar for men only:

I have found that the most sure-fire movie-related way to get laid is this. Invite a woman to your house. If you know how to cook, cook for her. If not, order out. Not pizza, but real food. After the meal, pop Dirty Dancing into the VCR. When the movie is over, put on some music and dance with her. This is the stairway to hummer heaven. I have to warn you, however, that puking during the film will scotch your chances, so you might want to skip the popcorn and go for dramamine instead, because the film is a complete suckfest.

Return to the Movie House home page