Baseball

“I wrote 63 songs this year. They’re all about Jeter.” Just kidding. The game we love, the players we hate, and more.

Culture and Criticism

From Norman Mailer to Wendy Pepper — everything on film, TV, books, music, and snacks (shut up, raisins), plus the Girls’ Bike Club.

Donors Choose and Contests

Helping public schools, winning prizes, sending a crazy lady in a tomato costume out in public.

Stories, True and Otherwise

Monologues, travelogues, fiction, and fart humor. And hens. Don’t forget the hens.

The Vine

The Tomato Nation advice column addresses your questions on etiquette, grammar, romance, and pet misbehavior. Ask The Readers about books or fashion today!

Home » Culture and Criticism

Sex And The City: The Movie

Submitted by on June 3, 2008 – 11:22 PM19 Comments

However you felt about the show is how you’ll feel about the film: if you despised it, you’ll despise the movie version, too. If you adored it, you’ll have a great time at the movie. I watched the show, although not religiously; could barely take Carrie at times (viz. the “boo hoo, I cheated on you and walked around in the rain in heels and a see-through peasant top” Aidan nonsense); thought the comedy usually fell flat, but liked the more straight-ahead or serious plots by contrast (although it’s a series of eps that saw the birth of the Rasputin-esque He’s Just Not That Into You™ brand, the Berger arc is quite good); and, when it went off the air, was relieved that, as the owner of both a TV website and a pair of boobs, I would no longer feel obliged to have an opinion about it.

Sure enough, because it’s functionally a mega-sode of the show, the movie’s fine. It’s too long, especially for a story that takes you in a big circle from where the series ended back to where the series ended, with the addition of a few soapy plot points that, logically speaking, should have happened during the period between series and motion picture. The central dramatic obstacle doesn’t quite track, based on the character who prompts it; nor does anyone’s reaction to Miranda’s part in it seem proportionate, Miranda’s included. Jennifer Hudson has a likeable screen presence, but her character is the sort of Magical Black (Wo)Man writing pitfall that everyone in Hollywood should have figured out how to avoid years ago. Samantha’s plot, if you can call it that, is half-baked, though maybe it could have unfolded more organically (and less cartoonishly) if the movie had devoted more time to it instead of to multiple fashion montages…and you have to wonder whose idea those montages were. I’m not uninterested in couture and I don’t have any practical objection to product placement, particularly not here, but the wedding-dress segment in particular felt like reading a poorly written love letter, one addressed not to you but to someone you don’t like all that much.

A lot of these minuses proceed from the movie trying to do too much — wanting to do justice to every single signature characteristic of the show, and give added story value — so there’s an overstuffed, first-drafty pacing to it, but it didn’t bore me. Almost two and a half hours is about 45 minutes more than a narrative with better-edited ambitions would need, but this isn’t that kind of narrative; this is a cultural reunion, and the producers probably did the smart thing in thinking of it that way, versus aiming for a scripting coup that, let’s face it, wasn’t going to happen anyway.

But I liked it fine. I liked seeing the characters again…and at the end, I liked that I wouldn’t have to see them anymore, that the daily drip-drip-drip of shooting-location reports and carefully dissected interviews with SJP and analyses of What It All Means For Feminism can recede again, this time (knock wood) for good.

Share!
Pin Share


Tags:    

19 Comments »

  • Joe R says:

    …until the next one.

  • Jacq says:

    I think that’s a pretty fair review! I did think that Sam’s story was reasonably good – the whole concept of her wanting to rediscover herself rather than living to support a man – but it wasn’t handled well.

    Jennifer Hudson’s character was totally unnecessary – Charlotte could have been in all those scenes (she didn’t have enough to do, and I love her).

    Disagree with you regarding Miranda’s reaction, though. That’s exactly how I’d behave if I was in her shoes, and there would be no happy ending, that’s for sure…

  • joe says:

    i barely put up with the show (much like my wife puts up with nba finals) but i went to this movie with an open mind and was really dissappointed…complete boredom and mad at the girls for hating “big “over a misunderstanding about the phone??? smacked of a self-important three’s company episode…0 stars for a non fan

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    @Jacq: The problem I had with the Sam storyline in that regard is that this is her job. If she doesn’t want to support Smith 24/7, she should tell him to find another PR rep or move with her back to New York. I’m not against the sentiment, exactly; I just don’t think it would have taken five years for her to get there.

    As for Miranda…if the situation is so fragile that she can’t pop off a comment that CLEARLY is about her, not about Big and Carrie, and not have Big get a fit of the sulks and need all kinds of reassuring on the wedding day when he’s the one with the history of bolting. I don’t entirely blame Miranda for worrying that she set him off…but honestly, if that hadn’t, it clearly would have been something else. I get it if that’s the big conflict they wanted to have, but get there some way that isn’t quite so contrived.

  • Linda says:

    I totally, TOTALLY agree with you about the Miranda business. Certainly, she should not have said it, but if that remark is enough to make Big freak out, then he didn’t want to get married anyway. You don’t always get to make the world about yourself, and while that certainly would have counseled Miranda to hold her tongue, it also would have counseled Carrie that Miranda had problems of her own when she made that comment, and the accusation that Miranda *caused* the wedding not to happen was flat-out ridiculous and Carrie owed a HUGE apology for that, because it’s an absolutely awful, unforgivable thing to say to someone who had knocked herself out to try to help Carrie — a hell of a lot more than Carrie tried to help Miranda when she was feeling heartbroken.

    The Samantha story, too — if you don’t like being his PR rep, or anyone’s PR rep, then…get a different job. Do something else. She gave a speech about wanting to rediscover herself, but the only real things the movie presented as problems for her were (1) she was horny; and (2) he had to work late and that made her mad. If you can’t live with the purely sexual temptation of the person next door because it’s important to you to be able to have sex with anyone you want at any time, that’s perfectly okay and a fine argument that monogamy is not for you, but it has little to do with living your life for a man or rediscovering yourself. I certainly appreciate the show’s belief that having sex with a lot of men doesn’t make her a lesser person, but I also don’t think it makes her a GREATER person, more independent or fully actualized than someone who is monogamous. And the fact that sometimes people have to work late on Valentine’s Day is…I mean, she’s 50 years old. Is this ALL that shocking?

    I very much agreed with your overall assessment — it was fine; I’m glad to have it over, as a cultural event.

  • Fay says:

    Wow, well these semi-spoilers are certainly making me NOT want to see the movie, even though I semi-watched the show. I always hate, hate, HATED Carrie. Anyone who can do what she did to Aidan – TWICE – does not deserve to be happy. And what, so Miranda called her or Big out on something and then got blamed?? HATE.

    I guess I’ll have to see it at some point, just so I know what to HATE about. :)

  • Jacq says:

    Aha! Sorry guys – I was thinking about the OTHER big Miranda thing in the film. Totally with you on this issue – crazy overreaction from all concerned and obviously not what tipped the balance.

  • Trish says:

    I have to disagree about the Samantha plot — she went through a lot, with Smith supporting her through Chemo, hair loss, etc., and even though she plays this tough, independent woman on the show, I could see how she would feel indebted to him in some way.

    Ok, the movie didn’t change the world, didn’t solve any of life’s major problems, but it was fun, it made me laugh, and made me cry. And Dante? Good lord … he was worth the $8.50 I paid to see the movie!

  • Deirdre says:

    My understanding was that Sam’s no longer anyone’s PR rep, she’s Smith’s manager. Perhaps she has other clients (the amount of money she was spending indicates that she might, unless Smith’s a serious A-lister now), but the film never says so directly. And for a woman who had always been that independent to be completely wrapped up in one man – personally and professionally – I can see how that could become a real problem over time. I agree her dilemma was presented badly, but I found it as believable as anything to do with this show could be.

    Totally agree on the Jennifer Hudson thing, both that she was playing the Magic Black Woman and that Charlotte appeared to lose screen time because of Hudson’s storyline. On a shallow note, does anyone know what Kristin Davis’s secret is? Because she looks like she’s aged about five minutes since the show ended. I know she doesn’t drink… someone please tell me it’s her fantastic genes and not the lack of alcohol that’s the answer.

  • Eires32 says:

    Deirdre: I only know Kristin Davis slightly, since she is very close friends with a friend that I am not all that close to, so…I hate to disappoint you, but (besides good genes), the woman is unstinting in taking care of herself. Doesn’t drink, doesn’t stay out late, doesn’t expose that sumptuous skin to the sun, eats plenty of food, but only the good things (I’ve never seen her touch more than a few bites of dessert), and always has a smile on her face.
    Now heres’s where we should insert “bitch” :), but what’s more, she never preaches about it or seems to worry about it. When and if she ever gets wrinkles, I imagine she’d be fine with that.

  • Jessica says:

    Persuant to the above comment… is it weird of me to feel vaguely protective of Kristin Davis? Not Charlotte the character, mind you, but the actress herself. Mainly because, for all the celebrities who go to rehab, very few spin/allow a media story where recovery is a long-term process. Usually it’s either In the Midst of Decadence and Self-Destruction, in rehab, or sober, but not in terms of continually choosing to stay well. Maybe Robert Downey Jr. is at that point now (God willing). So I root for Davis in a way that’s different from, say, the way I root for Cynthia Nixon.

    Example: unlike Jezebel, I would describe Anthony Lane’s review of the movie as less “sexist” and more “awesome,” except for the one crack he gets off about Davis.

  • liz says:

    Well, I loved the show (not in a They Can Do No Wrong kind of way, though), and I loved the movie the same way. It certainly wasn’t perfect, and some parts of it bugged majorly – like at the end how Big & Carrie got back together. Like, no big discussion into the night or anything? I don’t know, I just think it would take more than a few transcribed love letters for me. But overall, it was fun, it was light, it wasn’t Iron Man or Indiana Jones. Good summer fun. I mostly agree with Sars review. It’s not going to change anyone’s mind.

    And I think that Sam was supposed to still have her own pr or management firm – she walked in a door saying ‘Samantha Jones Management’ or something at some point in the movie (when Carrie called her to tell her she was engaged, I think?). So I think the implication was she had more going on than Smith (especially given the number of people running around the office), but we certainly didn’t see any 8 foot tall pictures of them around the office.

    And Trish – WORD. I’d pay another $10 for Dante’s shower scene! That may make it on my hot stuff reel along with the volleball scene from Top Gun. Rawr!

  • X says:

    This is a very small side point… but was I the only one wondering how many laws of dimensional physics were broken with that insanely giant closet?

  • alexis says:

    I might be in the minority here…but I thought this movie was just fantastically perfect in every way. I loved it. It restored my faith in love and humanity and I wish I could watch it every day and squee in girly teenager-ish delight. I thought it was perfectly in keeping with the show and I was totally satisfied in every way by it. I mean, it’s not deep thoughtful cinema. It’s frothy silly girly fun, exactly what it should have been.

  • Jenny says:

    I really enjoyed the movie – and I had liked the tv show too. However, I loathe the character of Carrie. She is unbelievably self absorbed and not a good friend and this whole show/film is about female friendship.

    SPOILERS!
    Blaming Miranda for Big not turning up at the wedding was so unbelievably unfair. He had said he wanted a small wedding and was clearly uncomfortable but went overboard with that ridiculous wedding shoot scene and the Westwood dress and blah blah blah. He even said something about it being his 3rd wedding and how uncomfortable he was but she steamrolled over that. And I was sitting in the cinema getting quite irritated. So I was cheering that he didn’t get out of the car! And I was delighted when Carrie finally realised some months down the line that the wedding had been all about her. And I hoped it was a nod to all the critics of her character over the years.

    I thought Samantha’s storyline was plausible and that she would have had the deepest affection for Smith for supporting her through cancer. But it’s not her style to sit around sunbathing and being bored and I felt a career girl like her would have totally been a PR success in LA and had her own life. She would not have sat around waiting for him. But I liked that she walked away because she needed to get her life back. Wouldn’t have taken her 5 years to come to that conclusion but hey. I was annoyed that she paraded around in a bikini and there was no mention of cancer treatments/surgery on her breasts. I felt women with breast cancer or who had been treated, would feel a little betrayed by this.

    Loved Charlotte – never enough of her. Loved Miranda. Really liked Big, I thought Smith looked really old and nowhere near as cute as he did 5 years ago!

  • kerry says:

    I thought the Miranda thing was one of those situations where you feel horrible about something and it builds up in your mind and when you finally confess it’s no big deal. Unfortunately that’s not how the movie handled it and I completely agree that it was ridiculous to blame Miranda for Big’s relationship issues and Charlotte (or someone) should have stepped in and said that to Carrie.

    I also agree that Samantha should have just told Smith she missed NYC, wasn’t happy, needed a change, etc. They could have tried to work something out.

  • Julie says:

    Even though Jennifer Hudson’s character was verging on Magical Black Person, I didn’t mind as much as I shoudl have, because I adore her and loved seeing her on screen again. And she looked unbelieveably gorgeous–that curly do really works on her.

    Too little Charlotte and Harry though.

  • Jennifer says:

    SPOILERS

    Jenny: I see things with Carrie and Big differently. Yes it’s his third wedding but it’s her first and she got overexcited. Throughout their whole relationship everything was done to his time scale. They had sex when he wanted, they finally got together when he was ready and in the the end they married exactly the way he wanted. It was always all about him. HATE.

    I totally agree that the Miranda storyline was silly. Plus the complete non reaction to Steve as compared to the reaction to Big grated. Whether you liked him or not what he did was apalling and her friends should have told him so.

    And agree completely that Dante was worth the price of admission!

  • Erin says:

    Just got back from seeing the movie with some girlfriends and wanted to read Sars review…it turns out that I loved it WAY more than I thought I would (but I really enjoyed the show too–frothy and silly but well done). I’ve read so many reviews that I thought it would just be crappy, and I was surprised how well it flowed. It was long, but I still enjoyed it. Agree about the Miranda/Carrie fight–seemed stupid, and Carrie written in her “regular” way would have understood Miranda’s concern but would not have blamed her. It was out of character. But I loved the Charlotte story–that Charlotte was so happy and…was allowed to be. No traumas for her. I love Harry. Miranda and Steve’s really made me tear up. I was surprised they didn’t give more to the gays to do…why were they even there? Besides those minor quibbles, It just all worked for me, and it was as enjoyable a movie I’ve seen this summer (right up there with Iron Man, but way better than Indy–bleh. Boring.) If you like the show, see the movie–you won’t be disappointed.

Leave a comment!

Please familiarize yourself with the Tomato Nation commenting policy before posting.
It is in the FAQ. Thanks, friend.

You can use these tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>