Chick Flicks typically involve traditional, heterosexual relationships between two people who experience some sort of duress, yet they persevere, usually through reliance on the relationship. There are several themes that permeate the Chick Film industry, and we will be exploring a few of these while considering the clear and convincing evidence that Sommersby is Prima Facie a Chick Flick.

Please take a moment to consider these images taken from the film. Take note not only of what you see in the photographs, but also what you do not see. No guns, no appreciable violence, no bar scenes, no dancing girls or leather pants.... None of the standard themes typically depicted by boy films.

Richard Gere, a scoundrel, philanderer, theif, murderer and major tortfeasor finds his redemption in an unlikely place...

The arms of a woman who loves him in spite of his past AND in spite of the fact that he lied to her and knocked her up under fraudulent pretenses. Note the cheezy, fairytale-esque, emotional underpinnings.

Does this sound like anything that could ever happen
outside the boundries of a Chick Flick? :
...oh, honey, it's o.k. that you've been lying about who you really are, and that you are really a stranger who just moved into my house, and made me think you were my husband, and that you knocked me up...

Oh yes, and let us not forget that Richard Gere shows up in the nick of time to save Jodi from having to marry a non-cute ranch hand with the personality of Ed Calado. Convenient? I think not!

Richard Gere finds his moral and spiritual redemption in his committment and in what he is able to build with Jodi Foster. Note: all the sustenance and redemption flows from the relationship.

Partial transcript from an objective third party:

Orin becomes suspicious of Sommersby when an itinerant laborer identifies him as one Horace Townsend. But his qualms are swept aside by a successful tobacco harvest and an even more dramatic turn of events: Sommersby is arrested and brought to trial for the murder, many years before, of a local gambler. As Sommersby's trial proceeds, Orin becomes convinced the accused is an impostor, being tried for a crime of which the "real" Sommersby is guilty. He persuades Laurel into attempting to save the defendant by exposing him as a fraud, an action that would also ruin the man's name and nullify his claim to his "wife."

-Film Description Source Page.

Above we have an objective, third party claiming that Gere allowed himself to be killed rather than to disavow his 'claim to his wife'. This is not a man who has a problem with committment.

Rather than going out drinking with the guys, Richard stays home with Jodi's son, whom he is busily reading a book to on the importence of emotional availability.

Let us not forget that the Queen Mother of all Chick Flicks,
PRETTY WOMAN
Also starred Richard Geere, only in PW he already had money,
rather than coming up with the successful idea to make money, as he did in Sommersby.
Both films depicted:
the same cute guy
with money
rescuing the main character
from guys who were not cute.

Four Coincidences? I think not!

This fairy tale takes place on a lush cotton plantation in the deep south, which also happens to be the background of a disturbingly large number of cheezy romance novels. Coinsciedence? I think not!

Reviewer: [email protected] Brian La Fountain from Hot Springs, Virginia September 27, 1999

To see Sommersby is to understand what eternal and all-encompassing love is. The Sommersby home and land have been ravaged by The Civil War. Laurel's life with Jack had been a war in itself. Fate has taken Jack away to the war for several years and she has had time to recoup and raise their son quietly. Suddenly, Jack returns. Handsome and honorable, war-ravaged townsfolk uphold this returned "hero" and Jack hopes his wife will do the same. But wait. This Jack Sommersby is a changed man. Time away has softened the normally calloused man into a man passionate about reviving his marriage and the prosperity of his village in Vine Hill, Tennessee. Everyone, including Laurel are taken back by his vigor and charm. Time and hard work strengthen the economy and the Sommersby couple are more in love than ever before. This dramatic change causes not only Laurel, but townsfolk to question the identity of this reformed Jack. Tell-tale signs of a forgery of identity soon unravel the clever stitching around Jack's personna. When the law gets involved, inquisitive Laurel switches gears and defends the honor of her well-providing husband. His past soon haunts him and the surrounding lies threaten. Murder charges come into play. If this man is Jack Sommersby, he will hang. If he is the imposter, he faces the shame of his community and the loss of the now-revived land and marriage. Love and Honor collide, forcing the heart to find it's place. "Sommersby" is a desperate, compelling and passionate drama that leaves you with one question: "Where does your heart lie?" Brian La Fountain.

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