Caffeinated Clint
By Clint Morris
It doesn’t make much sense for me, someone who has never watched – well not religiously – or appreciated the series, to be reviewing the highly-anticipated ”Sex and the City” movie…… or does it?
I guess there’s the possibility that because I haven’t got that attachment to the series, and can look at it as it’s own entity… as a stand-alone feature, that I might be able to give a more honest, more well-rounded opinion of it than say, someone whose already decided they’re going to love it before the pre-film copyright warning has even screened. And I’m not attacking those that have already made their mind up about the film before watching it – I’ve been down there too. I remember going to see “Twin Peaks : Fire Walk With Me” on its opening day back in the early 90s. I was giddy with excitement. “Twin Peaks” was my favourite TV show and there’s nothing more exciting than seeing your favourite small-screen heroes [and villains] projected on a giant mesh screen before you – and with their leash off. I loved the movie. At the same time, I’m also aware it wasn’t very good. Do you get my drift? I loved just seeing these characters again… and David Lynch’s world. It didn’t matter so much – well, not until the third of fourth viewing when it became clearer – that the story was a shambles and it had an ill-fitting tone that didn’t mesh with the series’, I was just as pleased as punch that someone had treated me to another day with my old pals. And I’m betting that’s how fans of “Sex and the City” will be looking at the movie – they’ll be too busy smiling and trying to contain themselves from the excitement to notice any problems with the script or the film itself.
To their merit, their film is probably a lot better than what mine was.
For those who’ve never watched the sexy and, er, slightly smutty cable series, “Sex and the City” tells of out four female friends: Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte York Goldenblatt (Kristin Davis), and Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) looking for love – or in Samantha’s case, constant sex – in New York City.
The film isn’t so much concerned with the search-for-love as it is, well, what to do with it after you discover it?
As the series ended, all the girls’ had begun their cosy new lives with their perfect matches – especially Carrie whose on-again off-again relationship with high-flyer ‘Mr. Big’ (Chris Noth) finally evolved from the occasional fling to a bonafide relationship.
As the movie begins, Carrie and Big (his real name is ‘John’ – something we found out in the show’s last episode) are apartment hunting. Carrie is ecstatic with what they end up with – but is sad to say goodbye to her long-time loft. She’s also feeling that, because they’re not married, and the new place is in his name, that she doesn’t have any ownership rights in the place. Solution? Get married.
The thrust of the film is around that – the wedding… and how she really wants it but he, kinda, sorta, doesn’t, but does, want it.
Meanwhile, Samantha, who is now based in Los Angeles, is starting to have second thoughts about her relationship with long-time beau Smith (Jason Lewis), Steve (David Eigenberg) and Miranda split after he confesses he’s had an affair, and Charlotte adjusts to life as a new mother.
So, how did I find it? To be honest, I quite enjoyed it. It’s a slick, funny, very-romantic but mostly fun couple of hours. I have watched a couple of episodes of the series, and therefore knew the main characters and essentially what their deal is, and maybe that helped, but for those brand-new to the world of Carrie and co. there’s enough introductory stuff here to make new inductees feel comfortable (the entire opening sequence re-introduces the characters and also their singular plights). Would I watch it again? No. I doubt it. It ain’t that good. But for what it is, it’s successful. It’s just what the fans want – a big-screen version of the TV show.
I can’t imagine too many guys going gaga for the film – it’s for the girls, no doubt about it – but forced to watch the thing, they’ll probably find themselves quite entertained (Even though they’ll never admit it).
Extras
The version of the DVD that I watched was the 2-disc extended version – not that I’d know what was new and what wasn’t. It did seem to be quite lengthy though, in terms of duration. A good couple of hours.
Extras-wise, there’s commentary by director Michael Patrick King (flicked between it and the movie – didn’t interest me too much, the fans will undoubtedly want to listen to it sometime though), some additional scenes, a bunch of featurettes and an interview with star Sarah Jessica Parker.
