Nancy Meyers

Nancy Meyers is a female writer, director, and producer who has been making movies for over two decades. She is most famous for the comedies Something’s Gotta Give (2003), The Holiday (2006) and What Women Want (2000) which was the most successful film ever directed by a woman.

Ms. Meyers first came onto the film scene in 1980 with the film Private Benjamin. Starring Goldie Hawn this film tells the story of a high-society woman (Hawn) who enlists in the Army after her husband dies on their wedding night. The movie earned Ms. Meyers an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and earned Ms. Hawn an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Ms. Meyers would go on to co-write and produce such movie hits as Irreconcilable Differences (1984), Baby Boom (1987), and Father of the Bride Parts I and II (1991) and (1995) respectively.

Ms. Meyers made her directorial debut in 1998 with a remake of the classic comedy The Parent Trap. Starring Dennis Quaid and the late Natasha Richardson this movie was a huge hit and introduced the world to a young actress named Lindsay Lohan. Since 1998 Ms. Meyers has written and directed What Women Want starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt, Something’s Gotta Give starring Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Keanu Reeves, and The Holiday starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black.

What I most admire and enjoy about Ms. Meyers’s work is her ability to make “chick flicks” that lie outside the classic chick flick mold. In What Women Want Mel Gibson obtains the power to read women’s minds. Here the main character is a man, even though the entire concept of the movie is centered around women. Helen Hunt plays an advertising executive that we see struggle with the stereotypes of women in the corporate world. A witty and enjoyable film it showed Ms. Meyer’s ability to not only make a good movie but make a successful movie, as it was the highest grossing film ever directed by a woman.

In Something’s Gotta Give Ms. Meyers adds her charm again to an unconventional love story between Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson. I call it unconventional because even though it perhaps falls within the category of a chick flick, it is about two people of an older generation with a very modern twist. The film shows us that love is not only for young people, and that wittiness and charm are very desirable qualities in women of any age. Something’s Gotta Give earned Diane Keaton a Golden Globe Award and Jack Nicholson a Golden Globe nomination.

In 2006, Ms. Meyers was back again with The Holiday, another love story involving four main characters, two women and two men. While all the actors give wonderful performances, I remember being struck by the casting of Jack Black in the movie. He’s always been the goofy, funny guy and I couldn’t imagine him playing anything but that. I was pleasantly surprised by his tender performance opposite Kate Winslet. I later learned that Ms. Meyers wrote the screenplay for those four actors, meaning she had Mr. Black in her mind the entire time and therefore was confident he could play a role that was outside his normal zone. If it hasn’t already become apparent, I’m a huge fan of Ms. Meyers work and The Holiday continues to be one of my favorite movies.

All of Ms. Meyers’s movies have strong female characters, even What Women Want which has a male main character. The idea of gynocriticism can be applied to this movie as it opens up Mel Gibson’s character to “the interests and desires of women” (95). Although it’s a lighthearted and unrealistic comedy, there is still an underlying notion that women are silenced by men and that women are inferior to men. We see Helen Hunt’s character struggle with being a high-powered and driven woman in the advertising firm that she and Mel Gibson’s character work at. It is safe to say that all of Ms. Meyers characters are successful women and not bimbos who are simply looking to fall in love with Mr. Right. Diane Keaton’s character in Something’s Gotta Give is a successful playwright, and Cameron Diaz’s character in The Holiday is a successful movie trailer producer. The style of Ms. Meyers’s films is unmistakable, she imbues her stories with strong characters, witty banter and happy endings without being cliché and tacky. This style speaks to Ms. Meyers’s ability as an auteur to put a personal stamp on her films that makes them memorable and enjoyable to watch.