Let me say it for the record: a good 70% of romantic comedies are worthless. They're straight formula pictures: a glamorous young suburbanite woman, impoosibly good looking, outgoing and popular, just cannot get a man. She meets Mr. Right, but for some reason she just doesn't like him. He's a professional rival, or he's just too darn laid-back for our high-strung heroine.

So the only thing that changes is the situation, leading to some of the most asinine, even insulting and degrading situations to men (see "Failure to Launch," "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days")

Same goes with bad action films. A down-on-his-luck cop, probably divorced and drinks a lot, has to take down a drug cartel or mob boss or whatever, and does the most inexplicably unlikely things, all the while cracking jokes as he dispatches another thug. More often than not his wife/child/best friend is caught in the crossfire and he has to rescue that person close to him in the process.

These movies, then, fall under that category of guilty pleasures. We all have them, those movies we have to drag the TV to the closet to watch, or turn the channel when someone walks in the room.

For me I'd say "Steel Magnolias" is the quintessential chick flick that I like. It's impossibly maudlin, blatantly sassy and decidedly estrogen-fueled, but it's still funny and touching.

Another is "One Fine Day." I love George Clooney, and that's one that just pulls me in every time I watch it.

Among action films, there are plenty. "Tango & Cash" and "Road House" are two that immediately spring to mind.

What's yours?