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30 Memorable Movies About Women Friendship
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The women friendship movie is a totally different animal than the romantic comedy, and yet they often get lumped together under one big “chick flick” banner. While Hollywood goes heavy on the bromances, it’s the movies about girlfriends (girl-mances? lady-mances?) that we return to again and again. Here are our favorite movies about women friendship.
– Additional reporting by Lauren Harano, Kate Emswiler, and Kimra McPherson
Related: 31 TV Shows You Can Watch on Netflix With Badass Women Front and Center
Booksmart
If Amy and Molly aren’t BFF goals, we don’t know who is. These two always back each other up, support each other, and are willing to do whatever it takes to stay close, even if the highs and lows of going off to college challenge those very notions.
Hustlers
In between robbing men and draining them of their money, Hustlers tells the story of a newly-formed friendship between two women who are just looking to help each other through the ups and downs of life. Romana and Destiny are the dynamic duo who prove the bond of friendship really can trump the rest.
Bridesmaids
If you and your BFF haven’t watched Bridesmaids together, are you really BFFs? Annie and Lillian’s comical friendship sheds light on how hard it is to share your bestie with someone else, but ultimately how important it is to make room for new friends, no matter how different you all might be.
Little Women
A story about perseverance, love, and the female bond, Little Women will make you laugh, cry, and do it all over again throughout the whole film. Even though Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth are sisters, their bond turns into a friendship that’s deeper than anything else.
The Other Woman
Finding out your husband is cheating on you can never be easy, but when the woman he’s cheating on you with decides to team up with you and bring him down, things could be worse. This funny flick proves that no matter what you’ve been through, having friends by your side makes it that much better.
New York Minute
Having a twin sister who’s the complete opposite of you might make you believe siblings being friends is nowhere near possible. That seemed to be the case for Jane and Roxy until they called a ceasefire to their sibling rivalry and found out that being friends isn’t as impossible as it so seemed.
I Feel Pretty
Everyone has bad days and faces times when they have low self-esteem, but when you have friends like Jane and Vivian, they can turn that around. With a little help from her friends, Renee realized that she was beautiful from the inside out, and that’s what true friendship is all about.
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michele (Lisa Kudrow) are proof that even after years of being friends, the shenanigans never really end. When the two go to their 10-year high school reunion, things get out of hand (like they tend to do when you’re with your best friend . . .).
The Princess Diaries
Would your best friend stand by you after she found out you’re a princess and not just a normal high schooler like she previously thought? We hope so! Mia and Lilly defied the odds and we love them for it.
The Parent Trap
Although this movie revolves around Hallie and Annie trying to get their parents back together, the moral of the movie lies in just how strong sisterhood really is. From enemies to best friends, the two grew together like only true BFFs could.
Someone Great
Getting dumped is tough, but when you’re surrounded by your best friends, it’s sometimes hard to complain. Before Jenny moves across the country to pursue her career, she and her closest friends embark in a wild night out on the town – one that might remind you of similar times with your good friends.
Sleepover
If you haven’t seen this iconic early 2000s flick, you’re missing out. When Hannah is forced to move to a new city right before high school starts, she and her three best friends decide to take part in a scavenger hunt to win the lusted-after lunch spot. The only thing that can help them win is a solid friendship (and snagging Steve Philips’s boxers, of course).
Uptown Girls
They say that age is just a number, and Uptown Girls proves that to be true. When Molly, who has never worked a day in her life, must pick up a job as a nanny for the sassy little Ray, their relationship turns from frenemies to friends in a New York minute.
Book Club
Friendships that can stand the test of time, the range of distance, and the weathering of age are the friendships that can be found in Book Club. When a group of four women decide to read Fifty Shades of Grey, they discover things about each other and themselves that only makes them stronger.
Clueless
Cher (Alicia Silverstone) may be looking for love, but from the film’s opening minutes, it’s clear that her loyalties lie squarely with her friends, including best friend Dionne (Stacey Dash).
The Heat
Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock star in what is essential a women-focused buddy cop movie and, in my opinion, one of the best buddy cop movies ever made. The scene where they get trashed together at the bar feels like an exaggerated version of some of my nights out with my BFF.
Mean Girls
While many parts of Mean Girls represent what not to do in friendship, the storyline involving Cady (Lindsay Lohan) and Janis (Lizzy Caplan) serves as an example of how even after chasing popularity, you come back to who your real friends are.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
In this underrated movie from 2016, Kim (Tina Fey) and Tanya (Margot Robbie) dominate the screen as smart, strong women reporters who support each other despite their journalistic competition. Plus, they get to engage in casual sex and debauchery in ways normally reserved for men in the movies.
Ghostbusters
Paul Feig does it again with a hilarious movie that’s also a lighthearted look at women friendships. At the center of the plot is the long-dormant relationship between Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig’s characters, and when they reunite, it’s highly entertaining.
A League of Their Own
No matter how many times I see this movie, I will collapse into a ball of emotion by the end. Watching all those women from different backgrounds come together to live their dreams and play baseball to serve their country, while slowly growing to love one another, it’s just . . . sorry, BRB, crying.
Pitch Perfect
Much like A League of Their Own, Pitch Perfect brings together many different kinds of women around a share passion. But this time, it’s a cappella instead of baseball.
Spy
Another Paul Feig movie, but this guy is great at telling stories of women friendship. While ostensibly a spy comedy, in the end, it’s really a story about two friends who miss each other when they’re apart.
Crazy Rich Asians
Crazy Rich Asians may have been mostly about Rachel securing her relationship with the gorgeously wealthy Nicholas, but what viewers really fell in love with was her crazy adorable friendship with Peik Lin! Would Rachel have found her happily ever after without her brazen bestie by her side? Maybe – but either way, we’re glad she didn’t have to.
Girls Trip
Not only was Girls Trip one of the funniest movies ever, but it also gave us serious friendship goals. The Flossy Posse may have lost touch over the years, but once they got back together, they were tighter than ever. No one will ever zip line in New Orleans again without first thinking about the adventures of these four women.
Legally Blonde
Not only did Legally Blonde give us the bend and snap, but it also gave us precious women friendships that will live forever more! From the sisters of Delta Nu sorority helping Elle get into Harvard to Paulette’s ride-or-die fast friendship and the way Elle and Vivian come together after the latter dumps Warner, everything about the comedy shows that women can do anything when they stick together.
Mamma Mia!
Of course, this ABBA-themed musical is about Sophie finding her three dads, but there’s no denying that the true romance here is between three life-long friends: Donna, Tanya, and Rosie. They’re Donna and the Dynamos for goodness sake! After all, we all know only a real friendship could survive forming a music group and deciding to name it after one person.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
Somehow, the younger versions of Donna and the Dynamos manage to be just as vivaciously endearing as their older counterparts. And they willingly traveling half across the world for another, several times over. The true love was between these three women and nothing will change my mind!
Widows
No spoilers on how this movie ends, but if we love anything more than women friendships, it’s women coming together to kick some serious ass. Widows gives us all that, with a stellar cast and a heartbreaking story about four women who come together to handle what needs to be done – no matter what.
Sister Act
I never thought I would love the story of a Las Vegas showgirl becoming friends with a group of nuns, but here we are! The women of Sister Act are a shining example that opposites do attract and can create a bond that nothing can sever – even radically different lifestyles and being chased by mafia goons.
Waiting to Exhale
If you’re looking for a movie that will have you bawling by the end and clinging to your best friend in the hopes that she’ll never let you go, Waiting to Exhale is for you. The ’90s classic centers around four women battling the hardships of love and life who come together for solace against a world that seems to want to keep them down. Not only does the film tug at the heartstrings, it also contains one of the most satisfying scenes for women scorned in the history of movies (and features queen Angela Bassett no less).