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Girls of summer ride wave of movie popularity submitted by: Lisa D. source: USA Today Date: July 26, 2001 By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY Wake up, already - funny, feisty and fashion-conscious femmes are moviegoers' midsummer dream. Although the plots don't bear much resemblance, the lead characters in the PG-13 Legally Blonde, the R-rated Ghost World and next Friday's G-rated The Princess Diaries share a common bond, a kind of spirited sisterhood. The brainy and tough-minded young heroines are easy on the eyes, but glamour and sex appeal are not what they trade on. "These movies portray strong women in a way that's not exploitative, and it's so refreshing," says Anne Hathaway, who plays Princess Diaries' Mia Thermopolis, the rock-climbing, bright but shy teen who discovers she's next in line to rule a small Mediterranean country. "You can have movies about strong women, but the women are half-naked through the entire film," she says. "We're relying on smarts and talent and strength. It's not rooted in sexuality." So even though Lara Croft: Tomb Raider brought an assertive adventuress to the big screen, the emphasis now is more on giggles, less on jiggle. And stories centering on plucky heroines with moxie provide a welcome relief from the summer's usual spate of testosterone-drenched action flicks. "It's a wonderful sign that now you don't need a strong male star to sell a movie," Hathaway says. "(Legally Blonde's) Reese Witherspoon just beat out Robert De Niro (in The Score). How huge is that?" Pretty huge, says Garry Marshall, director of Princess Diaries. "There will always be explosions, there will always be somebody bleeding, but maybe it's time to have a little balance," he says. "This is a good trend. American Pie and There's Something About Mary were good movies about boys growing up. But we need to see girls growing up." And these spunky sisters also are highly principled. "They live by their own rules, in their own way, and they're very uncompromising," says Marc Platt, producer of Legally Blonde, which opened at No. 1 and has grossed $43.5 million. Elle Woods, the heroine of Legally Blonde, must battle dumb blonde stereotypes. Dismissed as a bimbo party girl, she goes to Harvard and proves there's a brain lurking underneath her light-haired locks. The least conventional of the trio is Enid, the razor-tongued bohemian of Ghost World, played by Thora Birch (American Beauty), which made a solid $100,000 on its first weekend in five theaters. Yet she still struggles with similar issues. "It's a period (after high school) when Enid is meeting the woman that she absolutely has to become," Birch says. "She's experiencing the world, instead of just existing in it." With more female execs green-lighting projects, as well as a heightened consciousness by male filmmakers, expect more empowered women films. Says Marshall, who made a star of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman: "We're trying to say in these pictures, 'It's not about your hair. It's what's going on in your mind.'" Site design by: Dolphin Webpage Designs © 1996-2001