It’s a common fact of life that groups of girls have much drama and groups of boys don’t, which easily explains why young women often enjoy having male friends and could find themselves with more male friends than female friends.

But female friends — however many you have — are vastly important. They understand you much better than you think. I cannot count the times my roommate and I have asked each other an odd question only to have the other yell “YOU DO THAT TOO?!” And they’re always there for you with a hug, hot tea, and a well-placed compliment. Once when I was having issues in a class, my roommate made me hot tea and fixed it up for me. I’ve had boyfriend issues and she’s watched me cry and patted my back for an hour.

Another thing that is just as important — if not more important — are chick flick movies: movies where young women have a battle royale, makeover new girls and make it their business to rule. There have been many different chick flicks over the years, and I am proud to say that I have seen quite a few of them. Below, I have gathered some of my favorites. Because if I were to list off all of them, it might be something like this:

1. "Legally Blonde."

Let’s ignore that Reese Witherspoon is amazing in real life and just focus on Elle. She’s fashionable, popular and smart. And—while most people are these mentioned above and quite rude—Elle is actually an angel sent to Earth who will only be mean to you if provoked. But the poor thing just can’t get anyone to take her seriously. But she is determined: she is going to get into Harvard and she is going to show everyone that she can and will be a great lawyer. She pushes herself, busts her butt and never gives up. During her freshman year she “wins” a nationally known case and in one fell swoop shows up her ex-boyfriend (which, if I’m being honest, might be my favorite part. I live to watch the rejected sass the rejecters with their own lines). Elle uses all her resources — her smarts, her kind heart, her determination and even her friends — to help her prove wrong all those who doubted her.

2. "Mean Girls."

The classic of our generation. Everyone can spot a "Mean Girls" reference from about a mile away and after 12 years, the movie has become ingrained in American teenage society. (It’s rare that a person graduates high school without having seen "Mean Girls" at least once.) The movie is remembered for Regina George — the classic blonde, popular girl — and Cady Heron — Lindsay Lohan before she started tumbling downhill. Cady enters into her new high school as a young woman who is glaringly unaware of how to deal with clothes, gossip, boys, just everything. Regina and her two minions — Gretchen and Karen — take Cady under their wings and teach her the ways of The Plastics. Cady is a quick learner and within months has risen to the top of the high school food chain and become the new, bonafide mean girl. But after her rise, she loses the only true friends she has and disrupts her relationship with her parents. Cady is eventually able to shake herself out of it and realizes that looks, clothes and money really don’t matter — what matters is what kind of person you are. Fancy clothes won’t win you meaningful awards. They won’t help you do better than anyone at anything that matters. It’s what you have inside of you that will help you win. She also manages to dissolve some of the separation between all the cliques, which is a giant feat in and of itself.

3. "Clueless."

My sister can remember watching this when it first came out and was astounded that my generation still talked about it. But it is actually a classic. Cher and Dionne take the new girl and transform her into the same popular socialite they are. It’s practically the same as "Mean Girls" (which is also practically the same as The Heathers from ten years prior), but the lead differs from Regina and Cady quite a bit. Cher is kind, like Elle, but if we’re honest she doesn’t really have a brain, like Regina. She adopts a new burn out girl and makes her into a different Cher — except this fixer-upper evolves into a mean girl. Cher decides that she needs to change herself to fix her new friend. She devotes her time to after-school relief efforts for the people of Haiti and even donates a lot of her things to the efforts (including her ski equipment, because “some people lost everything”). Sure, there aren’t a whole lot of messages to learn here — other than you really just need to be yourself and not try to be something you’re not and if you want something you can go after it — but it’s just a fun movie that all young women should see.

4. "Princess Diaries."

Who hasn’t seen this movie? The first or the second, both of them are classics (and I’m sure the third one will be as well) My daughters will end up watching them all one day. Mia was a normal, socially awkward young woman who didn’t expect much of herself — in fact, it seems that no one did. Until one day she finds out that she’s the princess of Genovia. While trying to cope with high school and all it entails (mainly a mean girl), she also has to transform into a beautiful princess in a matter of months. She does so — with quite a few bumps along the way — and ends up becoming an amazing, headstrong ruler. Mia was bullied growing up, and this made her into the Queen that she was; she had a very strong backbone, was levelheaded and fair, and seems to be the kindest monarch that has ever been around. The lesson that Princess Diaries taught me was that the experiences you have — good or bad — are what shape you into who you are. You can either grow from them or let them make you bitter.

5. "Bride Wars."

Again, Anne. But this time with Kate Hudson, who is also perfect. The plot revolves around two lifelong best friends who are getting married at the same time. The two of them have dreamed of having June weddings at a high class hotel in New York and both accidentally schedule their weddings for the same day. The two split up their friends and family and engage in a long feud that involves a sabotaged spray tan and blue highlights instead of blonde. Oh yes — it’s that bad. The two even get into an all-out brawl halfway down one of the aisles after one plays a video of a wild spring break as her friend is walking down the aisle. But while the two of them are fighting, they end up dissolving into laughter and all hard feelings are gone. By the end of the movie, both are married (one called off her own wedding and married the other’s brother) and find out that they’re expecting a child…on the same day. This is definitely a “bestie night” movie: besides the fact that it’s about two best friends, it teaches valuable lessons about friendships. There will be rifts in your friendship, you will clash, you won’t agree on everything, and there will be competitions between you two. But if you really love each other, there is nothing the two of you can’t combat and come back from.