Big Hollywood summer popcorn flicks and lesbian-themed cinema don't typically collide, although there's an argument to be made that Angela Robinson's sexy spy story D.E.B.S and Jamie Babbit's teen angst / mini camp masterpiece But I'm a Cheerleader came pretty darned close.
Still, when it comes to lesbians -- or women in general for that matter -- seeking representation on the big screen, the summer blockbuster season is fairly slim pickings for the ladies next to the testosterone laden superhero scenario on endless redux and the paean to the poor marginalized shlubby guy who gets the hot girl comedies that continue to proliferate.
So what's a girl to do on an impossibly humid 90-degree summer day when she's craving popcorn and arctic temps in a darkened theater? With the help of the New York Times Summer Movies section we've compiled a list of summer movies with appeal to girls who like girls.
This is not to say that movies can't cross gender and sexuality to unite us all under one sarcastic, Iron-clad superhero with Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johannson at his side, but the following flicks definitely offer up some lez appeal for one reason or another, which may just be great storylines, stellar acting or plain old eye candy. And lo and behold, with Lisa Cholodenko's star-studded The Kids are All Right and the second film in the Lisbeth Salander movies, The Girl Who Played with Fire handing us the baddest ass bisexual character ever adapted for the screen, there are actually some really nice surprises! So butter your bucket, dig into your Swedish Fish and plan your summer at the multiplex.
Look for a rundown of films making the LGBT film festival rounds in a separate piece.
May 27
Sex and the City 2
Even the most hardened cinephiles who were fans of the successful HBO series can't deny the unmitigated pleasure of watching Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte sport unreasonably priced fashion and toss back vodka-based cocktails together. No matter how many men have come and gone in this quartet's lives the girls are still the most pleasurable foursome around, and they are their own self-confessed soul mates. It doesn't hurt that Cynthia Nixon (Miranda), is an outspoken LGBT activist in love with another woman.
May 28th
Agora
Oscar winner and British beauty Rachel Weisz plays a toga-wearing female astronomer in this period piece, who's working to save her city's legendary library from destruction, combining brains, beauty and activism. What more could a girl ask for? The film is helmed by The Others' director Alejandro Amenabar.
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June 11
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Say what you will about Joan Rivers' acerbic reign on the red carpet and her addiction to plastic surgery, but she busted down barriers for female comics in a male-dominated arena with her foul-mouthed, self-effacing and filthy humor. Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg's documentary follows a year (her 76th), in the life of the irascible, pioneer Ms. Rivers.
Winter's Bone
This indie flick arrives at the summer art house with a Sundance screenwriting award in its back pocket. The director of the 2004 Vera Farmiga starrer Down to the Bone, returns with a gritty study of a young woman (Jennifer Lawrence) setting off into the Ozarks to hunt down her bail-bond jumping father.
June 18
8:The Mormon Proposition
Nothing says summer popcorn movie than a political documentary about gay rights, but Reed Cowan's film, narrated by Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, is a must-see for anyone who cares to know how the Church of Latter Day Saints used money and influence to derail marriage rights in the Golden State.
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I am Love
Four syllables: Tilda Swinton! The impossibly elegant and often androgynous Swinton is reason enough to spend an afternoon at the movies. Here she stars as wealthy Milanese woman who falls in love with her son's business partner. Swinton also co-produced the film directed by Luca Guadagnino.
June 30
Love Ranch
Always worth the price of admission -- Dame Helen Mirren stars with Joe Pesci as the husband and wife duo to open the first legal bordello in Nevada. Mirren's husband Taylor Hackford is at the helm of the film that features Gina Gershon, Taryn Manning and Will and Grace's Leslie Jordan.
Salt
Just about everyone's favorite female action star Angelina Jolie is back in action on the run when she's accused of being a Russian Spy. Cue Angelina punching, kicking, shooting and pouting her way into our collective hearts. Rabbit Proof Fence director Philip Noyce helms the much-anticipated spy thriller that also stars Live Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
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July 2
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The second film in the series based on Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy has Noomi Rapace's Lisbeth Salander on the run under suspicion of murder. Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) digs deep to find evidence to exonerate her while uncovering thick webs of intrigue and corruption. Now, if we could only get Lisbeth Salander in the same room with any of Jolie's action heroines!
July 7
The Kids are All Right
High Art and Laurel Canyon director Lisa Cholodenko delivers a full-blown family dramedy starring heavy hitters Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as a lesbian couple whose teen children (Alice in Wonderland's Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson), decide to seek out their sperm donor dad (Mark Ruffalo). The film is already screaming Oscar bait with excellent reviews at Sundance and with Bening and Moore in the leads.
Grease Sing-a-long
Whether you wanted to be Olivia Newton John's goody two-shoes Sandy, Stockard Channing's bad girl Rizzo or John Travolta's Danny Zuko so you could date Sandy, there's no denying that Grease was the word for many a budding lesbo. Grab the pedal pushers, Pink Ladies faux satin jacket or the Dippity-Do and head out to an irresistibly gay Grease sing-a-long.
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July 16
Inception
The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan's thriller stars Leo DiCaprio as and industrial spy. The real rub here is support from Academy Award winner for La Vie en Rose Marion Cotillard and the adorable Ellen Page in her first darker role since Hard Candy.
July 23
Life During Wartime
The sardonic mastermind behind indie classics like Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness, Todd Solondz, revisits a few of his Happiness characters played by new actors including the ever-watchable Allison Janney, French film icon Charlotte Rampling and brat packer and High Art star Ally Sheedy.
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August 6
Chain Letter
What would summer be without a good horror flick based in the fear of technology? Breakout Thirteen star and Twilight series regular Nikki Reed stars in a good old fashioned horror movie in which a chain text message sets of a reign of terror for a group of six friends.
August 13
Eat Pray Love
Okay. It's Julia Roberts in a Ryan Murphy directed chick flick based on Elizabeth Gilbert's best selling novel. It has cheesy written all over it but Julia is tough to resist. Viola Davis, James Franco and Javier Bardem lend support.
Read more of Tracy's entertainment stories here.
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