The lesson entertainment writer Kimberly Potts garnered from the 1990 movie Stanley and Iris was “A new friendship is a sweet surprise at any age, or stage, of life.” From the 1945 movie Mildred Pierce starring Joan Crawford, the lesson was “Sparing your child from dealing with the consequences of their actions is not always doing them a favor.”

In writing Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Chick Flick, the author hopes to share what she’s learned and enjoyed while watching “chick flicks” - movies about mothers, friendships, and makeovers. The action movies Aliens, Run Lola Run, and Speed are included, as are the dramatic movies Heathers, Fatal Attraction, and Misery.

For those familiar with the movies listed, the write-ups will send you back in time as moments from the films rush by you in your mind. The author includes quotes and trivia pertaining to the movies as well. Each movie choice contains two to three pages of information, but there are many lists in this book of compiled movies that contain only a sentence or two of information. There is a list of movies with some of the best kissing scenes and a list that contains great father-daughter movies. Although the book’s focus is on movies, there is a list of fifteen recommended television shows that are “female-centric”. Additionally, included in the back of the book is a one hundred-question quiz to test your movie knowledge, and a suggested movie-a-day schedule.

I must admit, I was looking for my favorite movies in this book, and happily, I found some of them listed. Everything I Need to Know… is fun to read for the background trivia and the movie lists; it also comes in handy as a movie recommender and memory inducer. Recommended for its easy-to-read format and its ability to immerse us temporarily in a movie.