In many ways, the “Sex and the City” movie is a hard film to review because it translates so well to the undying fans of the television series. At the same time, it becomes harder for newcomers to understand.
“Sex and the City” has never failed to depict a glorified, and often overly dramatic bond between women. This time around, that bond may be the one thing keeping the film from its desired message.
“Sex” tries to get the best of two drastically different lifestyles. In one hand, you have the world that it has made for itself. The environment of fun, carefree living with core female friendships has become a staple of not only the show, but of women around the world as well.
The other hand involves the other lives these women have with their significant others in the form of a Cinderella-like fairytale. Even though this is the aim of the film, it progresses to show how these two worlds are impossible to combine.
That first famed story, if you haven’t heard it already, surrounds Carrie Bradshaw, a writer living in New York, and her three friends, Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon).
Since the series finale aired in 2004, the story of the film picks up when Carrie and her infamous longtime boyfriend, Mr. Big (Chris Noth), decide to finally get married.
When the girls inevitably get word of this, their field day on wedding planning eventually singles out the intentions of Big, creating a war of the sexes that overtakes the aim of the film.
This also, unintentionally drops a core theme that is quickly, but brilliantly depicted with Noth’s character.
When you have four women involved so much in each other’s lives, the influences they give are the only things having a destructive effect on their outside relationships with men. Often troublesome and rarely happy, the relationships these women carry episode after episode can rarely qualify for a Cinderella love story.
Had the film never involved the four women as much as it did, it may have gained the fairytale scenario it was searching for. Even more so, Carrie would have finally had a revelation worth writing about, had she listened to her heart rather than her friends.
With so much time wasted in an overlong runtime, necessary characters like Big are left out, leaving Carrie’s realization of her wrongdoings as simply a last ditch effort to please the audience rather than the script.
In a way, “Sex” does a praiseworthy job at incorporating a realistic depiction of the unflinching friendship between these women.
Each individual woman has a charismatic effect on so many women across the world that their humor is as impeccable as their characters are believable. Fans of the show will have every bit of memorable pleasure, while the relationship the four women have will seem distractingly poisonous to others.
With this belief being notably obvious, “Sex and the City” is merely an overly extended episode that ranges from some of the best moments of the show to the worst.
SEX AND THE CITY MOVIE INFORMATION
GRADE: Two and a half stars out of four
Letter Grade: B-
RATING: Rated R for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, and language.
RUNTIME: 148 min.
STARRING: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon.
DIRECTOR: Michael Patrick King
