I was looking through a list of movies out this summer and only two movies have female lead characters - Monster-in-Law (J Lo. and J Fo.) and Dark Water (the talented Jennifer Connolly). With so many great actresses, I think it is so strange that women are so under-represented by this summer's movies...why do you think this is?

First of all, I think as far as "big budget films" go, they realize that any time they put a woman on lead it usually becomes a chick flick. Because we as Americans have been used to seeing men be the strong able leads in films, its hard for us to swallow when we see a woman overcoming a feat. Now this is going to sound completely sexist, but in movies, the only female leads you are likely to see are sexy, and dealing with emotional problems. It sounds rough, but it all goes back to the "physical" thing. Look at Resident Evil! That girl was so scantily dressed, its just when they DO make a female do something in movies, shes a sexy babe that you would rather watch with the sound turned down. Sad but true.

What about the name-above-the-title role Angelina Jolie has in Mr. and Mrs. Smith?

what's ironic is that argueably one of the greatest action flicks in the past quarter century has a female lead: sigourney weaver in the alien series.

the first film is a sci-fi classic but the second, 'aliens', is more an action than a sci-fi film which few if any male leads have ever topped. in fact, for sheer adrenaline burn, from the first minute to the last, i cannot think of a film with a male lead that i would place above 'aliens'.

the only 'down' side to aliens, vis-a-vis casting women in lead summer event action roles, is that ridley's motivation and energy derive from her latent maternal instincts. she fights to protect this child. the child implies ridley's own childless state and you feel that she is trying to save a child that could be her own or may symbolize one that she lost or - worse - she's operating off biological imperatives.

I completely agree about alien. Those were great movies, everyone one of them, except Resurection. But even then, she was the lead and the hero in all of them.

I don't feel the same way that you do about the cild though. That thought had actually never crossed my mind until you brought it up. I had always thought of it as a singular, kind of selfish way. Although the end with the loading machine hints at what you said, I think that honestly, the Queen wasn't terrorizing only the girl, Ripley still kicked ass the whole time. She was trying to save herself too.

Interesting comments all around. Philosopher Eric, I would not include AJ's role in Mr. and Mrs. Smith because she shares the above-the-title status with Brad Pitt. I was looking at movies that are placing their bets squarely on a woman's shoulders. Reading Nickel-Z's comments about how having a female as the lead character automatically makes a movie a chick flick concerns me (not his comment but that it seems true). Could we see a woman in a role similar to Tom Cruise's in War of the Worlds or would that then become more of a chick flick?

I'd like to see more variation in movies, where woman can play the lead without the movie becoming overly dependent on that fact. I'm definitely planning on seeing Dark Water to support movies like that...I think women deserve more than they are typically getting role-wise.

This could be for many different reasons, although, to link it in with my personal pet peeve, I think studios just are clueless at how to give a female a strong part. In the past, in many films, females aren't so much seen as 'strong and liberated', but rather emotionless. An actual strong, feminine character hasn’t been around in a long time – just attempts to cloud stereotypes that the studio believes exist.

I thought long and hard the other day on another issue very close to this one. That'd be how in Hollywood movies, most relationships are between two very beautiful people. That automatically kills the purpose of most movies based on relationship: true love. If they expect us to believe that these people are truly in love, give us a good looking man dating an ugly woman.

I say this, because I rented Hitch, it sparked my though process. One could argue that Albert, the fat man that "falls in love" with the rich woman...Allegra?.. was attracted by her beauty. TRUE she had no sexual reason to be attracted to him, but the male character is only usually emotionally attached to the female by way of sexual attraction.

Okay, in short, the relationships in movies seem fake because the people are pretty, at least on of them.

Joe, that's a pet peeve of mine as well. "Strong" women in movies today often come off as being too tough or unlikeable. Makes me long for Katherine Hepburn roles...she knew how to play strong and appealing at the same time.

Interesting point, Nickel-Z! It sometimes can be very distracting in movies when both leads are so attractive. I think that the better actors and actresses are able to overcome their attractiveness to make us believe in their onscreen relationships, while the lessor depend more on the "aren't we so pretty together" chemistry.