Saw this tweet from The Daily Northwestern newspaper and was pleasantly surprised by the cultural critique offered by one of its writers, who had just seen the new female-centric comedy, BRIDEMAIDS.

@thedailynu said "#OPINION - An appeal to female comics: Bro thyself: http://bit.ly/mJayUI

Ali Elkin says:

It seems that when someone, often a woman, writes a successful comedy about other women, like "Bridesmaids" or Tina Fey's "Mean Girls," the film's main source of conflict is the flaws of the characters themselves. Even when successful, smart female comics are the architects of the stories, they wind up being stories about what's wrong with girls.

Whereas the bro-mantic comedy allows men to revel in the awesomeness that is them and their friendships, the female equivalent involves a whole lot of wallowing in jealous self-pity and being afraid to commit to the magical relationship that will clearly be the protagonist's ultimate salvation.

I have to admit, this had never occurred to me before, and now I'm wracking my brain trying to come up with a) female-centric comedies and b) review their plots. Does the "comedy" of such films rely on the main character's angst over the perceived good fortune of another female and/or the main character's lack of a desired male companion? My god, are we females that pathetic or are these the only plots that studio execs have greenlit, historically, both from a screenplay perspective and a production perspective?

MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING (1997) comes to mind. A classic, hilarious film, with superb performances by Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Dermot Mulroney, and Rupert Everett. The plot revolves around the sudden jealousy and panic that the female main character feels upon hearing that her male best friend is engaged and her subsequent efforts to break up the engagement and win the heart of her best friend. Damn, that kind of sounds like it fits into Elkin's hypothesis pretty well.

Note: Have to run to a bunch of meetings, but will update this list as I remember more female-centric comedies.