Galentine’s Day: Watch These Movies With Your Besties

If you’re not sure what Galentine’s Day is, I’m going to need you to go sit down and watch season 2 episode 16 of Parks and Rec (streamable via Netflix, Hulu, Prime, etc.)

But if you’re short on time… I’ll spare the suspense. Galentine’s Day, the unofficial holiday celebrated every February 13th, is the one day of the year set aside to celebrate your female friendships. Valentine’s day can be tough for single ladies, but even those that do have a date this year can still make time for their friends.

If you’re planning a low-key night in with the gals, here are some of our favorite films that feature female friendships.

Fried Green Tomatoes
Type: Drama, Comedy
Release Date: 1991
Director: John Avnet
Starring: Kathy Bates, Mary-Louise Parker, Jessica Tandy
Rating: 74% RT, 7.7/10 IMDb

What says friendship more than helping to bury the body? In this 1991 adaptation of Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, a middle-aged housewife befriends an elderly woman in a nursing home who shares with her the stories of her youth.

Clueless
Type: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Release Date: 1995
Director: Amy Heckerling
Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy
Rating: 80% RT, 6.8/10 IMDb

On its surface, Clueless (a loose adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma) is about a vapid teenager attempting to play matchmaker with a new classmate. But if you dig deep enough you’ll find the story of a big-hearted girl and her relationships with her friends. Plus, you can’t go wrong with Paul Rudd. Like, ever!

How to Make an American Quilt
Type: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Release Date: 1995
Director: Jocelyn Moorhouse
Starring: Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn
Rating: 61%, 6.2/10 IMDb

After her boyfriend proposes, a young woman goes home to her grandmother’s house for the summer. Here she finds advice and friendship from the quilting group that gathers at the home. I can’t say enough about this movie and its cast which includes, and I can’t stress this enough, Maya freakin’ Angelou.

The Craft
Type: Horror, Drama
Release Date: 1996
Director: Andrew Fleming
Starring: Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell
Rating: 54% RT, 6.3/10 IMDb

Dabbling in witchcraft and misfit teenage girls, not exactly a stretch. This movie will probably bring back some fond memories: maybe gathered with all of your girlfriends around the Ouija board during a sleepover, playing light as a feather stiff as a board, or even just huddled around the television watching The Craft.

Beaches
Type: Drama, Comedy, Musical
Release Date: 1988
Director: Gary Marshall
Starring: Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey, John Heard
Rating: 77% RT, 7.3/10 IMDb

Bette Midler has been the face of quite a few of our favorite female friendship movies, including The First Wives Club. But no film quite tops Beaches in its ability to make us feel the full weight of what our friends mean to us, and what we would do for them if they were ever in need. Bring the tissues.

Ladybird
Type: Drama, Comedy
Release Date: 2017
Director: Greta Gerwig
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Beanie Feldstein
Rating: 99% RT, 7.4/10 IMDb

Ladybird gets so much of what it means to be a girl and a teenager right, and one of the strongest components of the film is the up-and-down relationship between Lady Bird and her best friend Julie. Theirs is one of the most real and relatable on-screen friendships that I’ve seen in years.

Frances Ha
Type: Drama, Comedy
Release Date: 2013
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Michael Esper
Rating: 92% RT, 7.4/10 IMDb

Here we have another Greta Gerwig picture, except this time she’s in the starring role instead of the director’s seat. This film about an aspiring dancer navigating life in a new city and new friends is underscored by the poignant relationship she has with her long-time best friend, Sophie. This film proves that some things are just irreplaceable.