I have a confession to make: I love chick lit and chick flicks! I suppose that beneath the hardened exterior of the busy Internet entrepreneur, I am a big softy on the inside and easily fall for cheesy, unbelievable stories of romance.

In terms of movies LOVED Serendipity, As Good as it Gets, Something’s Gotta Give, How to lose a guy in 10 days, Wedding Crashers, An Ideal Husband, Definitely, Maybe, The Devil Wears Prada, Ghost, Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry met Sally, Notting Hill, Love Actually, Shakespeare in Love, Jerry Maguire, You’ve Got Mail, The American President… I even liked more mediocre movies like The Holiday, A Knight’s Tale, It’s Complicated, Made of Honor, 27 Dresses, P.S. I Love You, Must Love Dogs, In Her Shoes, Under the Tuscan Sun…

In terms of books, I loved the original The Nanny Diaries (I did not see the movies, the reviews were just too awful), Bridget Jones Diary (including the sequel), Sex and the City (I love the TV show even more: saw every episode in order and went to the movie’s opening night!) and countless others.

As such, I was really looking forward to revisiting the The Nanny Diaries characters: Nan, the Harvard Hottie and the crazy dysfunctional Xs. The story had potential: it’s set 12 years after the original and I was looking forward to seeing how the characters have grown up and what new challenges they are facing. Unfortunately, Grayer, the little kid I adored in the original is distant and aloof, Nan has no backbone and is willing to stand and watch as bad things happen to good people and makes a dislikable heroine. Worse, the book is so poorly written that it gets in the way of enjoying the parts of the story that could resonate with me. It’s possible that the original was also poorly written (I don’t remember as it was a long time ago), but for some reason it did not bother me.

Such a disappointment. Pass!

The movie is great. It’s a movie about a fictional character in a fictional job, and yet it’s probably the most realistic movie I have ever seen. The movie is completely predictable, dark, gloomy and bleak, yet I loved it. It’s incredibly well acted and the characters’ soul searching felt tangible and real.

I loved the movie’s treatment of the “runner syndrome” where someone single mindedly chases a goal for years without thinking why. In the real world, individuals often chase down the societal expectations of the rat race. In this case, George Clooney seems to be running away from life. It’s not clear even to him why he chose the goals he chose, but the words he uses could apply to many as he’s chasing “the number he has in his mind”.

Up in the Air is probably the first post modern chick flick. Many of my female friends argued it’s not a chick flick at all because it’s not romantic and it does not have a happy ending, but I beg to differ. Being married and having a family sucks. Even when you are married you end up dying alone (if only because your significant other dies at a different point). However, it’s better than the alternative! The movie’s conclusion is clearly an adaptation of Churchill’s quote on democracy adapted to having a significant other: it’s the worst of all forms of living except for all others!

Girls: take your boyfriends because the conclusion is ineluctable: he better marry you because the alternative is much worse! No one wants to end up like the Clooney character!