Girls on Film: A Summer Guide to the X Chromosome

Talking about the girls of summer usually means one thing (even if some toughies like Marion Ravenwood popped up in summer blockbusters): hot female flesh. Yes, these women are attractive, but with the increased summer heat, movies will do anything to add some moisture: the sweat in the desert, the undeniable need to swim in a pool ... you get the drift. It's surprising that there's even an anti-perspirant industry with all these sexy moisture images popping up year after year.

For 2009 however, while we might have a sadly plentiful dose of sadly typical romcoms, and our second helping of The Fox v. The Robots, there are some women to look out for while the sun is high in the sky.

MAY

We might see Alison Lohman fighting her way free of Sam Raimi's hell, and some women fighting off the future's machines, but this month is reserved for the character and woman that takes the manic pixie into a new world and life -- Rachel Weisz's Penelope in The Brothers Bloom. On the surface, she seems like your typical floofy, airheaded heiress, crashing her fancy car wherever she drives it, and living outside of public scrutiny. But it quickly becomes apparent that she's a lot more than meets the eye -- spending her rich isolation not daydreaming, not going crazy, but rather absorbing all the knowledge she can -- both impressive and trivial. She's ridiculously multifaceted, carefree but rational, and much like her female partner in crime Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi), a lot more than meets the eye -- enough that she should get time to shine front and center on the screen.

Plus, keep an eye out for Julia, Summer Hours, and Jessica Biel doing something a little different with Easy Virtue.



JUNE

This month, two women battle it out: One takes on the clasically "female" world, while the other delights in "manly" action. First comes Nia Vardalos. For her next attempt at voiding one hit wonder comparisons, Vardalos gets as Greek as she can by focusing on the country in My Life in Ruins. And just in case it doesn't work, she'll try again in July with I Hate Valentine's Day. Not exactly new material, but I do hope she finds her kefi and then moves on to other comedic worlds. Meanwhile, Kathryn Bigelow will show us pain with The Hurt Locker. Safely behind the camera, she whips up "an assured, confident, swaggering piece of moviemaking."

But if Greek love and bomb disposal aren't enough, there's Cameron Diaz getting serious for My Sister's Keeper, as well as Away We Go and Fireflies in the Garden. (Yes, I'm purposefully staying away from courtesan stories and classic May-December Allen.)

JULY

If there's a month where you might want to turn to the DVDs, this would be it. I Love You, Beth Cooper looks cute, but classically typical. The Ugly Truth is, well, just plain ugly. There is a little Leslie Mann in Funny People, but it's definitely a test-fest. 500 Days of Summer will be a welcome breath of fresh air with the Zooey we all know and love, we might finally see All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, and there's finally more Hermione and the other wonderful girls of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but certainly not enough.

AUGUST

There's a little Charlyne Yi with Paper Heart, Alexis Bledel drops the traveling pants for Post Grad, and we can finally see Rachel McAdams deal with unstable happiness with The Time Traveler's Wife, but August is the month of Julia. As the Julie and Julia trailer showed us, Meryl Streep kicks ass as Julia Child -- so much so that we don't even need the Julie part. Streep's gig is not only fresh, it's also the story of a pretty amazing and strong woman begging for her own biopic overflowing with food, sassyness, and an extra helping of wine.

Is there a film you're counting down the days for? Do you think I should've given more love to the girls of Terminator, Transformers, Star Trek, GI Joe, and the rest? Do you hate it all and hope next year will be better? Weigh in below!