Sex and the City, or How I'll have another Cosmo please!

Sex and the City (The Movie)

Dir/Writer: Michael Patrick King

Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattral, Cynthia Nixon & Kristin Davis.

As any other self-respecting SatC fan, I was hesitant about Carrie & co.'s move to the big screen. I mean, what where they gonna do: set up everything from 6 seasons, tear it apart and then re-build it? True enough, Michael Patrick King's screenplay does just this. In the first minutes we get a recap of all four of our girls and then the movie moves forward towards a wedding, a pregnancy, a breakup and separation. But, sure enough, Carrie and friends manage to elevate the material from pure fluff (which it is), rom-comm-y (which it's full of), chick-flicky (which envelops it) and campy (which it always was) and make it 'Sex and the City.' It's got everything we loved about the show: drinks, labels, Carrie's voiceover (and puns!), objectified men and a love-story plot to boot. For the first 3/4 of the movie, Ms Parker (with her expressive eyes and self-aware comedic timing), Ms Cattral (with her insouciant wit and bravado), Ms Nixon (with her spark and cynicism) and Ms Davis (with her ingenuity and lovable naivete) had me hooked. I mean, it finally gave me what I always wanted for Carrie, to be rid of Big (::ducks for cover!::) - but more importantly, it used this pivotal plot point (the wedding) as a showcase for great comedy and great tragedy; arguably the back bone of the show's 6 year run: that moment when Carrie runs to Big to hit him with the flowers - while a bit over-the-top (but who here hates that?) - was painful and heartbreaking, but then an equally heartbroken (and hysterical) Charlotte yells at Big and then zig-zags back into the car as she scolds. Moments like this fill the entire movie; where you feel and you laugh, where you go 'aw' and you laugh, and then; just like Carrie and Charlotte's incident in Mexico, sometimes you ... just laugh out loud.

One should never judge a movie by uttering such things as 'I wish the character would have just...' (cause really, they're not real people!) so instead I'll just say: I wish King and Parker would have driven Carrie towards a better and more fulfilling finale. I mean, Miranda learns to take down her guard around Steve and swallows her pride and embraces her love for him; Charlotte... well, dear Ms Charlotte had little to worry about the entire movie; Samantha learns that she comes (no pun intended) first in her life... but Carrie, I wish Carrie didn't end up on square one. But alas... the first 3/4 of the movie more than make up for it, with big laughs, great outfits, fabulous shots of New York and a big load of the L-word to throw around: Love. Oh and J-Hud, yah, she was okay. True, her character was a bit too 'Carrie' circa 20 years ago (if she had been a 'sistah') but whatevs. At least her song at the end was much better than Fergie's at the beginning of the film.

In a nutshell, it was the SaTC movie I wanted to see: one that I didn't regret watching and wished had never existed. But more than that, it was a treat to watch and hey, if in the process it gave us full frontal male nudity, well... all the better. A

And now... favourite moments [Spoilers Alert!]:

Charlotte.

Funny: Her encounter with Big when she's incredibly pregnant. "I curse the day you were born!" ::hand movement::

And of course: ALL her time in Mexico. Hah-larious.

Sweet: Tearing up while furniture shopping with Carrie over her newly found pregnancy.

Samantha.

Funny: Two words - sushi, naked. (As well as her wedding dinner party toast - mainly when she yells at the d-bag at the table)

Hot: All the hot-tub scenes with Dante. Okay, she wasn't with Dante, but they were still hot.

Miranda.

Funny: (even if racist) - Walking down Chinatown looking for an affordable place downtown ("Oh, White guy with a baby! Follow him. Wherever he's going is where we need to be...")

Heartbreaking: Watching her while Steve tells her he cheated on her.

Carrie.

Funny: SJP parading her Take/Toss/Store dresses (including the credits-sequence tutu) was priceless.

Heartbreaking: when she gets Big's call at the Public Library. Gasping for air, letting the cellphone fall, screaming to be gotten out of there asap. Teared me up. (Though I did enjoy the iPhone scene right before this "Someone get me a phone! [gets iPhone] ... I don't know how to work this! Give me a real phone!").

Awesome: the bridal dresses Vogue shoot.

Oh, and to all those male critics who are hating on SatC's b.o. numbers, Vulture I think got it right: Carrie & co. are superheros!

Sex and the City Movie