I’ll admit — I was one of the giddy groups of females who went arm-in-arm-in-arm-in-arm to see Sex and the City last weekend. Right before going, I read two reviews of the film, and then almost immediately wished I’d read neither, both illustrating what to me seemed like valid, though wildly divergent, opinions. ("It’s sexy and fun!" "It’s sexist and shrill!")
I walked out… confused. I honestly didn’t hate the film at first, though after talking it over with a gal pal who loathed it and pointed me towards this, my dislike of the film increased dramatically. (Warning: Spoilers ahead; if you don’t want to read them, skip to the next paragraph.) Every character seemed cast in a Jello-tin mold (with the possible exception of Candice Bergen. pictured, in another resigned-yet-lovable mommy-esque role). The Vogue shoot was nauseating. Carrie’s behavior towards Mr. Big when he got cold feet was, I thought, beyond parodic vis-a-vis the "expected" feminine reaction — shallow, weak, hysterical. (Beating Big up with a bouquet of flowers? Where was her parasol?)
As a native New Yorker whose parents got hitched at City Hall (and not because the New York library was booked), I totally get where Dodai is coming from: "I used to roll my eyes at the women wobbling on heels as they navigated the litter of soda cans and condoms on downtown streets. Real New York women need to be mobile. Real New York women never know when they might have to run for their lives." And this point: where are movies about "ethnic diversity, genuine soul-searching, "Big" questions — not about men, but about women. About our changing role in society, about our continued second-class citizen status… Especially this year, election year, when the focus on looks, cosmetics and cleavage became politically correct."
Now that the dust is settling: What did you honestly think of SATC? I know, I know —it’s entertainment, it’s supposed to be light, it doesn’t need to hewto reality. Yet walking out of that theater into the bright andunforgiving light of day, feeling very VUP in my nondesigner jeans,mealy T-shirt, and sneaks, my wallet noticeably lighter in my pocketafter blowing $15 bucks at the concession stand, I felt it impossibleto turn reality off. A quick check of my closet substantiatesthis. (Carrie’s Big-ified closet is the size of my current apartment, Ikid you not.)
Sour grapes? Perhaps. What do you think? Is there something that canbe said about the times we live in, that a movie about findinghappiness is pegged so clearly to material things? Or is such a filmworth seeing based on its entertainment value alone?
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The ending was horrendous. It wasn’t great, but I was enjoying it. And then the last ten minutes ruined it all. To take all the growth and development Carrie had done, to take all the leaving at the altar, and then to have her forgive him without a single moment of anger or resentment or even refusal was RIDICULOUS. It mocked the idea that in the course of this series, anything changed.
While I didn’t get all dressed up to see the movie (I don’t have clothes like that), I did see it on opening night with a girlfriend and I loved it. I loved the show even though I never related to any of the characters despite being a 30-something single girl. Its complete fantasy to me and I enjoyed every minute of it. I thought it was a fantastic movie adaptation. It gave me every predictable moment I wanted. I look forward to seeing it again and adding it to my DVD collection.
My first response to reading this is Ugh – can we not just enjoy the movie for pure entertainment’s sake? Does everything have to have a more important message behind it? I don’t disagree with the article entirely, but I still managed to enjoy the movie for what it was – two and a half hours of escapism. If that makes me shallow, so be it. Frankly, I don’t have a single designer label in my closet but for me that wasn’t what it was about. It was about catching up with four old friends who I hadn’t realized I’d missed so much until they popped up on screen. Is it a perfect movie that will go down as a classic? Probably not. But it was money well spent to get away from everything (including the politics you can’t escape outside of the theater – thanks for tying that one in)and experience a couple of mindless but enjoyable hours.
From watching the show I don’t know what else you expected from the movie. The show ended with all four in some sort of monogamous relationship (even Samantha!), so the movie is just an extension of society’s perception that all women are broken/unsatisfied until they can find true love. I found the movie to be shallow, but fun.
I disagree. I walked out of the theater in my frayed jeans, comfy shirt and sneakers and thought “Well, that was a sweet, fun fluff movie just like I was expecting.” I don’t really know why people were expecting anything other than fluff and clothes and friendship.
After watching the show for six seasons how could anyone think that the movie wouldn’t involve high fashion and 400 dollar shoes and things these people wouldn’t really be able to afford? The show was like that too! They were never very realistic when it came those things.
Sure there were things here and there I didn’t enjoy and it was far from perfect, but all in all I liked it.
As an avid fan of the tv show, i left the theater very satisfied. the movie is not about real life it;s about sheer fantasy, escapism. the movie was just what i hoped for: funny, touching, colorful, over the top. it’s not meant to reflect real life, it’s a fantasy.
I use movies like SATC for the reasons it was created…for entertainment and to escape. For 2+ hours, I didn’t care about how much gas was in my tank, what was on my plan for the week, whose call I needed to return. I was just a chick in the theater in my baggy jeans and shirt watching other characters lives. Everyone does know that movies aren’t real, don’t they? Even the biographies have embellished details to make it more entertaining. So it was a fine movie to bring into summer. Now Michael I better not hear any crap about the X-Files movie later! Haha
Hello! Sex and the City early on was always about the high rollin’ lifestyle but back in the day it seemed I guess tolerable or even something to aspire to. Now the whole country’s gotten on this prudish anti money trip and it just really sucks. Especially because SATC the movie *was* too materialistic and intolerable. Let’s face it people, the SATC characters are dead and so are their stories. I am going to continue watching season 2 and 3 and will choose to forget the horrible film was ever made.
I like this movie. I watched almost entire 6 seasons of SATC. And it is great in telling women’s frendships and relationships in NYC. It’s not a sheer reflection of reality though. But that’s TV shows and movie, right? And i think the movie is quite a hit. Well connected with the 6th season, and as someone said above, It is a fantacy. I cried and laughed during the movie, fully indulged. Anyway, Love, friendship-those are the things that people’ll permanent cherish. Right?
I have to say that I was really disappointed in the movie, I really don’t think it was at all a correct reflection of the edgy, modern, smart show it was based on. It seemed to be a vanity project for SJP to parade around in an way too long Vogue shoot and ooze this “I cannot live without the love of my life” schmaltz! I think I rolled my eyes more than I laughed and Samantha was the only fun character in the entire movie! The writing just seemed like a sell-out by MPK and SJP, the rest of the ladies would just do anything for the money unfort. I loved the series and expected something smarter and less superficial & materialistic! whatever happened to Carrie’s hobo-chic sense of style? Def won’t pay to see a sequel.
As someone else who lives in Manhattan, the constant stiletto wearing IS bullsh. I loved the movie and the show but I will always roll my eyes at these moments. Nonetheless, I appreciate the 2 occasions we have seen Carrie take the subway (once on the show to go ring the bell at Wall Street, once in the movie to go visit Miranda) which proves to me she’s not as pretentiously high maintenance as she can come across.
Who are you anyway? This movie was fun and nothing more. Leave it alone. Why are we digging into it and trying to find things we didn’t like about it?
This movie was like catching up with old friends…and for the reviewer who stated the way Carrie acted after being stood up by Big was unrealistic…maybe it was, but it was totally within character for Carrie. Any real fan of the show knows all the back and forth, ups and downs, “i will, i won’t” crap that Big put Carrie through over the years. Her reaction to that latest display of wishy washy behavior…the ULTIMATE humiliation, was totally warranted. It was part frustration with him, and part frustration with herself for allowing him to put her in such a predicament yet again. He ripped her heart out…so that reaction, no matter how “stereotypical” (i don’t agree), was totally warranted and totally within character.
SATC was just ok. It was completely unnecessary but I will give it credit for showcasing middle age women in a summer movie. SATC worked better as a TV show. I was offended by the Jennifer Hudson character, because it was purely a calculated attempt to bring diversity to the movie but she was given nothing to do. She just got Carrie’s affairs in order, missed her boyfriend and then went back to the midwest to marry him. Why couldnt she get a little action if they wanted a young twentysomething prespective on dating and mating in the big city.
I literally just came home from my second viewing of the movie. I went again because some of my friends wanted to see it and I honestly liked it the first time. This was a mistake. The second time, since you know the story and are not anticipating the futures of our favorite characters you notice the flaws of the movie. It was way to pridictable and “cheesy.” The parts I teared up on the first time I saw the movie I found my self laughing at how rediculously cliche it all was. The script was over the top gushy talking about love every 5 minutes. This is not like the sexy and the city of old where finding love was there yes but not the sole purpose of show. This movie did not impower me as a 20 something woman; it depressed me by making me feel that shoes clothes and a man in your life is the only way to be happy.
this movie was a major disappointment. i literally walked out of the theater early feeling like i had just been tortured with 2 1/2 hours of nothing but sobby woman complaining about how horrible their lives are. is designer clothes and a man all a woman needs in her life to be happy? i think not. the movie stereotypes women as a human who needs to rely on the opposite sex at all times or else they’re miserable. i highly disagree. don’t even get me started on how predictable every single little detail was going to be. “i would marry you in the court house if i had to.” come on. you don’t think they’re going to ACUTALLY have the big wedding she planned after saying a line like that? please. there were also so many long, unnecessary scenes such as talking at the table, new years, etc etc. i about lost it. the show was good, but this was just too much.
As a fan of the show, I was extremely disappointed. My cousin and I use to watch that show faithfully every Sunday then would buy the DVDs to sit up all night and watch them together. This movie was just horrible. J-Hud role made no sense. A 20 something coming to NY to look for love and she was actually boring. Why wasn’t she partying and going though her love crisis.
Also that whole thing with Big and Carrie was crazy. Carrie overacted. This is the same man who told her he never wanted to be married. They break up and a second later he marries another woman than makes Carrie his mistress and she has the nerve to get upset because he was nervous. it’s not like he stood her up. Samantha was just plain stupid. A 50 year old ho. Just what this world needs. Jerod and Samantha had one of the best relationships. And I remember after Miranda had Brady she could barely comb her hair. Now she’s so busy married/working with a kid yet she was styling the whole time. Hair/earrings, etc.
Wow it was a really fun movie and I think you are all really bored. Why does everything have to be political or over analized. Seriously I went with a group of my friends and we had a blast. It is what it is. Now, that writer that is talking about new yorkers like a different breed of people get over yourself. My family grew up in the bronks and it is nothing like you say. Your making it sound like more of a cliche then the movie. Let me guess your one of those people who stuck to the same streets and same people and obviously never ventured out much because if you did your article would have been a little different. In my opinion the movie was fun and it was honostly the ultimate girl movie…how many chances can you go out and bond with your girlfriends. Women don’t bond over sports, poker or the whole male bonding experiance. But one brilliant writer found a way to give us some kind of sisterhood..So leave the dang thig alone and stop being so uptight.
As long as we still read Vogue, and Glamour, and Allure, and Instyle, and every other magazine that celebrates fashion, relationships, and sex…we will always have a need for escapist fare. We will always want a bigger closet. We will always want a Mr. Right (or a Mr. Right-now). And yes, we can still want all those things and still be modern, enlightened and intelligent. It aggravates me to no end that people are over-dissecting SATC to have some greater commentary about society. It’s like comparing People Magazine to NY Times. It’s a MOVIE BASED ON A TV SHOW, people. Get over it. You don’t read a romance novel expecting parallels to the Democratic Primaries, do you?
I loved this movie, too…I guess I’m the demo they’re going for with these “women’s films”…gay 31-year-old professional male. LOL
I don’t know…I guess some of the stuff might not have been very believable, but I’d rather watch a movie with outrageous or ridiculous plot points than something that seemed like real life. I live in real life, and I go to the movies to escape for a while. If I want reality, I’ll watch the news or talk to my mom or clean the house.
I don’t think people are over analyzing SATC. I don’t think a lot of people who watched the show wanted to see a big screen movie with the exact same storylines as the show. This is 5 years after the fact. They should have been growing and learning from past experiences. This movie was basically a glamorous version of the show without the snapping dialogue and witty banter.
I really enjoyed the first 3 seasons. I LOATHED the next three. Mainly because Carrie started speaking like a shrill teenager (in season 4, I believe). However, I *do* think the show redeemed itself in season six, so I was a little bit curious about the movie when it was going to be made. However, since we’d been seeing pictures and clips and reading articles about the movie for what seems like over a year (while the film was being made, the multiple premieres, etc.), I quickly lost interest. I still don’t want to see it… well, maybe I’ll Netflix it. We’ll see.
I LOVED the movie! It was everything and more as far as I was concerned. Movies are for entertainment, to take us away from reality for a couple hours and that is exactly what SATC did! I was thrilled when Carrie forgave BIG and married him. He had cold feet, big deal… she went overboard with the wedding and realized that. I thought it was FANTASTIC!!
Ok, here it is: if the film was a standalone, it would be enjoyable nothing more, you watch, you leave, you forget. If the movie had been the series, I wouldn’t have watch it for 6 seasons because the storyline was simple, not original and the characters were not inspiring any friendship emotion…
I will for now on, stick to my beloved DVDs!
As far as the realness of her reaction at being stood up on her wedding day, I’d say that was very true to life. As someone who experienced it, I can tell you that when you realize that everything you thought your life was going to be is suddenly crashing down around your head, you feel an incredible disorientation and sickness. All you want to do is get the heck out of there as quickly as possible. And yeah, if flowers were what I had in my hand at the time I next saw him, I’d hit him with it too. I had to bite my lip to keep from crying during those scenes as I knew just how real her reaction was.
I always felt like Carrie wears stillettos so I don’t have to.
I saw it twice-I probably would’ve liked it better if I saw it only once! I went to a Premiere viewing and loved it the first time. It was better than I thought it was going to be. The second time (with a friend)-I saw stuff that I thought was just plain stupid, and it was way too long! I think if they would’ve just had a couple more episodes and finished the show with the movie scenes, it would’ve been great! I was disappointed they barely showed Samantha having sex, yet they showed Miranda & Steve naked, Charlotte & Harry getting it on even when pregnant. Samantha’s character in this movie wasn’t the same as the show! The other characters were ok, Charlotte was somewhat dumb as dirt acting. Some things just was disappointing! What can you expect, a Movie from a TV show cannot be that wonderful!!!
I never really got into this show, tho I kept up with it one way or another. My 19 yr old daughter loves it, but when watching together it was all I could do to not sit there and point out all the relationship no-nos being committed, or the shallowness, or the “..get off the pot” moments. Like Dodai, these are not women I’d want to be, or be friends with.
I honestly think that this reviewer had nothing better to do with her day other than to try and ruin the moods of others who liked this movie and further annoy us with this unnecessary blog post. Find a hobby already!
This reviewer obviously didn’t watch every season if her opinion is that it was all about “material things”. i think most of the real, grown up world understands that we could never afford their fashion or their apartments, but it’s about the relationships between these four women that’s most important. Granted the movie didn’t break any new ground but it’s meant to entertain. Just enjoy it, not everything needs to be judged or ripped to pieces. After four years w/ nothing new, i’ll take this movie over nothing at all.