LA, Dec 18: Mention the phrase "chick flick" to Julia Roberts or any member of the largely female cast of her newest film, "Mona Lisa Smile," which is set in a girl's school and you are more likely to get a frozen frown rather than an enigmatic smile. "I don't think we made a chick flick. We just made a movie," quipped Roberts, 36, during a recent news conference to promote the film about an independent-minded art history teacher who joins the faculty of elite Wellesley College, steeped in the conformity in the 1950s.

Roberts, who co-produced the drama that opens nationally on Friday, said she was fascinated by the period because it "was right on the cusp of the revolution of the woman's voice in society."

But even without seeing the movie, some people have already poked fun at it, dubbing it the "Dead Housewives' Society," likening it unflatteringly to the 1989 Oscar-nominated "Dead Poets Society," starring Robin Williams as a professor who also encourages his male students to go against the status quo.
In a year when more women than ever are running Hollywood studios and there has been a plethora of well-received movies directed by females about females, like "Thirteen," "Lost in Translation," "Sylvia," and "Under the Tuscan Sun," the label "chick flick" still haunts films about women, provoking shudders among serious-minded actresses.
"What is a chick flick?" asked Julia Stiles, another star of "Mona Lisa Smile." "It's weird, because 'Master and Commander' is not 'a guy flick,' is it?," she said, referring to Russell Crowe's latest film about bravery on the high seas.
Stiles is one of four up-and-coming actresses in the film who play students struggling to define themselves at a time when an engagement ring is considered a bigger accomplishment than a bachelor's degree. The other students are played by Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Ginnifer Goodwin.

Bureau Report