Homance

(Movie depicting) a close friendship between women (“hos”) – a female “bromance.”

Writing for Slate, Jessica Grose discussed the film “Bridesmaids” and enumerated some differences between bromances such as “Knocked Up” and “The Hangover” and homances:

Because while Bridesmaids does share some core DNA with bromances, particularly the ones directed, written or produced by Judd Apatow (who was also a producer of this film), it is ultimately a different – and more original – animal: Let’s call it a homance.

Nancy Friedman was unenthusiastic about the term, writing:

Movies about female friends, however, have been sparse lately, so I understand the urge to tag Bridesmaids with a category name. But homance? Not only does homance dispense with the R of romance, thus muddying the semantic waters, it also replaces the chummy, G-rated bro with the decidedly less family-friendly ho – which, lest we forget, is a truncation of whore. I haven’t yet seen Bridesmaids, but it’s pretty clear that this isn’t a movie about the misadventures of a gang of streetwalkers.

(A search of the Urban Dictionary reveals that the term homance as been in use since c.2008.)