Actresses around the world have expressed a range of frustration from dismay to outrage when it comes to the ageist/sexist binary pairing of waning roles for older actresses, whereas their counterpart males are almost rewarded for getting on. Where women become grey, haggard and flung to the far corners of cinema to play coddling grans or middle-aged mothers, men become Clooney-esque silver Foxes to be taken more seriously as crafted actors. However, does the bias start much earlier and cover much more films than you would think? Take the buddy film, and in particular the buddy comedy. This has been around since the early days of cinemas but only in the more recent past have female buddy comedies been popularised. This month, Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy pair up in The Heat as two socially inept, mismatched FBI agents. Even though it doesn't really match the criteria of a chick flick, bar the fact the two leads are female, it's already been categorised by many as one. Is every female buddy film bound to be misnomered and disregarded as 'just a chick flick'?
Before the introduction of sound, there was Laurel and Hardy, and following that major hit films such as Some Like It Hot earned buddy comedies the status they still hold today. Every genre you can imagine has a buddy comedy, from sci-fi Men in Black to the stoner comedies of Seth Rogen and co. such as Pineapple Express, and the more teen-aimed coming of age Superbad. Erring on the more arthouse eccentric side stands films like cult favourite Withnail and I. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are the most loved Brit market variation, while international films such as the Mexican comedy/drama Y Tu Mama Tambien also achieved worldwide success. Some of them are described as 'lad films', but it's more of a sidenote. Everyone loves a buddy comedy, not just the Americans.
It would be plain stupid to suggest that there aren't buddy comedies starring female leads out there, it's more that they just aren't recognised as such, but often belittled as something not as strong as your given, straight-up comedy like the others. These are softer, puppy and tampon-talk filled features with some comedy thrown in, so many critics and audiences alike will guff. They're scoffed at just like the drama counterparts are too, given the Thelma and Louise style treatment by audiences; this is a film made for women, not just starring them. Yeah they are, but can't guys enjoy them just as much for the most part, just like plenty of women love a Pegg and Frost duo? Sex and the City may not be the most man-friendly film (the movie at least, which seemed abound with much more simplistic girliness). It practically seeps with femininity and latent homosexual perspectives - the latter of which is due to it not only being created largely by gay men and frequently described as a show where the main characters are gay men dressed in drag as women.
Aside from SATC though, films like First Wives Club, the more recent Baby Mama and Bridesmaids herald the way for female comedy duos and buddy flicks. Problem is they can sometimes be marketed with so much reference to gender that it can be read as exclusive. Did as many men see it as women did The Hangover? Doubtful. In fact, even the director of Bridesmaids, the same maker as The Heat, is finding it hard to get scripts that aren't all 'for women'. In an interview recently with The Huffington Post, the director Paul Feig complained that too many scripts he receives focus on relationships, or alternatively pose the female leads as women that act like men. Since when are real women not worthy of a general audience? Melissa McCarthy, sort 'em out ASAP.