Everyone knows about Valentine’s Day, but have you heard about Galentine’s Day? The unofficial holiday was first introduced in a 2010 episode of the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation to celebrate the special bond between female friends.
Watch With Us is a big fan of the unofficial holiday, and to celebrate, we’ve curated a selection of some of the best female friendship movies streaming right now.
You can’t go wrong with Netflix’s Wine Country, starring SNL legend Maya Rudolph, the 1995 comedy drama Waiting to Exhale with Whitney Houston or Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar on Hulu.
‘Wine Country’ (2019) — Netflix
It would be criminal to exclude Amy Poehler from this list, since she helped make Galentine’s Day happen. And her 2019 film Wine Country seems born out of the same ethos — to shine a spotlight on female friendships, especially later in life.
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She stars as Abby, a micromanager who organizes a weekend getaway in the Napa Valley with her lifelong friends Catherine (Ana Gasteyer), Naomi (Rudolph) and Val (Paula Pell) to celebrate their buddy Rebecca’s (Rachel Dratch) 50th birthday. As you can expect, things don’t go according to Anny’s meticulous plan and soon, these friends are getting into all sorts of trouble. Will they be as close after the trip as they were before it?
With its gorgeous on-location setting and joke-a-minute script, Wine Country goes down like a nice 1969 Carmen Merlot. (I’m not a wine drinker, so I’m assuming that’s good.) Poehler and the rest of the leads are so good at portraying devoted friends, you’ll want to hang out with these women even after the movie is over. Look for Tina Fey in a brief role as a lonely Napa resident who wants to be a part of Poehler’s lady group. Can you blame her?
‘Waiting to Exhale’ (1995) — Hulu
Come for the female bonding, but stay for Angela Bassett setting her no-good, two-timing husband’s car on fire. Yes, it’s Waiting to Exhale, which just celebrated its 30th (!) anniversary late last year. Good movies, like good clothes, never go out of style.
When Bernadine finds out her husband is cheating on her, she destroys all of his belongings — including that aforementioned car — and decides to get a divorce. She’s supported by her three best friends: Savannah (Houston), a successful TV producer who has less success finding lasting love; Robin (Lela Rochon), a business executive who has had it with being the mistress of her callous married lover; and Gloria (Loretta Devine), a single mom who thinks she’s too busy for a second chance at romance.
These women laugh, bicker and drink wine — they practically invented Galentine’s Day before it even existed. In addition to the fine performances from the four leads, the movie boasts a stellar Babyface-produced soundtrack, with hits like “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” by Houston, “Not Gon’ Cry” by Mary J. Blige and “Sitting Up in My Room” by Brandy that will get your feet moving and your booty shaking. As Whitney sings at one point, “sometimes you’ll laugh, sometimes you’ll cry,” and you’ll probably do both in watching Waiting to Exhale.
‘Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar’ (2020) — Hulu
If we all had a best friend like Barb and Star, the two enormously entertaining lead characters in the aptly titled Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, life would be a little bit more fun.
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SNL alum Kristen Wiig and her Bridesmaids cowriter Annie Mumolo play Star and Barb, two middle-aged Nebraska women looking desperate to leave their boring Nebraska hometown for some fun and sun at Vista Del Mar. Yet the two ladies inadvertently stumble upon a nefarious plot from the evil Sharon Fisherman (also Wiig) to destroy the beach resort town. Barb, Star and vacationing hunk Edgar (Jamie Dornan) are the only ones who can save it, but first, they’ll have to survive something even more ominous — hotel buffet food.
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar puts the “wack” in “wacky” — expect multiple musical numbers, life-saving culottes, killer mosquitos and an encounter with a mystical mermaid, played by country music legend Reba McEntire. (Because, why the hell not?) This movie doesn’t care about logic or common sense — it just wants you to have fun with these two square ladies whose friendship is as impregnable as their 1980s hairdos.
