Toronto Fringe Review: Six Chick Flicks . . .

Photo by Shoott featuring KK Apple and Kerry Ipema

Just to be clear, the full title for the show is Six Chick Flicks or a Legally Blonde Pretty Woman Dirty Danced on the Beaches While Writing a Notebook on the Titanic, written and directed by Kerry Ipema and TJ Dawe. That should provide an idea of the movies on the chopping block to be parodied by Kerry Ipema and KK Apple.

The duo here retell and poke ample well timed, and well placed jokes and satirical commentary at a few much embraced “chick flicks” or romantic comedies/romantic dramas aimed towards a predominantly female audience…all written and directed by cis white heterosexual men who, naturally, are a prime authority on a woman’s experience in love, sex, and relationships. 

Let it be stated that rom coms or other standard “chick flicks” are definitely not my thing and are never my preferred movie choice. With that said, out of the movies being parodied I have only seen Titanic. I still managed to enjoy the entirety of the show even if I only slightly or tangentially knew what was involved in the other movies being parodied. Knowing Titanic meant I was able to clue in when the ladies temporarily paused the parodying to point out a “Rose Effect” - where Rose in Titanic drops all her inhibitions, embraces her sexuality, and manages to orgasm during the first time she has sex all within 36 hours of meeting the new man of her dreams - something that, assuredly, never happens to real women. Turns out all these “chick flicks” do not actually represent the lives of real everyday women, not surprisingly. 

Ipema and Apple have certainly outdone themselves in the preparation for this performance. The jokes, the physical comedy, the many timely references, the audience participation (including a sing along to Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings”) are all over the top, physically exhausting, and very fast paced. This is a lightning quick performance but it still manages to be delivered to the audience in a way that people have time to absorb the joke and get a good chuckle in. The ladies are Americans, hailing from New York, which means the issues of women’s autonomy and abortion rights, in particular when exploring Dirty Dancing, is an especially timely subject and point of much outrage considering the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade.

I wondered if, after seeing this performance, that I would be tempted to start a “chick flick-a-thon” and catch up on the other movies. Thankfully, I still don’t have any desire to do so, but am happy that I was able to live out the humour and the cringe while watching Apple and Ipema leave it all on the stage. 

Six Chick Flicks or a Legally Blonde Pretty Woman Dirty Danced on the Beaches While Writing a Notebook on the Titanic is on now until July 17. Find show times and tickets here.