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The HBO series Sex and the City that ran from 1998 to 2004 was brought to the big screen in a feature length film in 2008 with the original cast. This splashy, overlong, and overblown extension of the cable series attempts to give fans closure on the show and the characters fans had grown to love but takes way too long to do it.
The primary focus of this film is on the relationship between writer Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) and how their matter-of-fact decision to get married is the beginning of a very slippery slope. We also are subject to marital troubles for Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve (David Eigenberg), Charlotte (Kristen Davis) adjusting to motherhood and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) who is now residing in LA and trying to learn how to be the girl in her relationship with Smith Jerrod (Jason Lewis) while suppressing fantasies about a new neighbor (Gilles Marini).
There is a lot of history behind these characters and Michael Patrick King, a creator of the series and director and co-writer of this film, attempts a brief overview of said history during the opening sequence but one has to wonder if it's enough for the uninitiated. As I watched this film, I couldn't help but think that moviegoers who did not watch the series would have no interest in seeing this movie. I thought the same thing about The Brady Bunch Movie, but I do know there are people who liked that movie who were not fans of the series so, it's really hard to say.
As someone who was a fan of the series, I have to say I found this cinematic journey a long but predictable one...it would have been nice to have been offered a few surprises along the way. The closest thing to new information we got here was the final reveal of Big's real name (John James Preston). I was also disturbed with what appeared to be an alteration in the relationship between Carrie and the other three girls...the movie implies that Carrie and Samantha are BFF's...Carrie even asks Samantha to be her maid of honor, but in the series, I always felt Miranda was Carrie's BFF and watching that relationship shifted behind Carrie and Samantha was kind of disturbing to me. I also had trouble with the forced relationship between Carrie's gay friend Stanford (Willie Garson) and Charlotte's gay friend Anthony (Mario Cantone)...shoving these two characters together just because they were both gay just didn't work, evidenced by the clear lack of chemistry between Garson and Cantone. And Jennifer Hudson's hastily-written supporting role meant to capitalize on her success in Dreamgirls was pointless.
On the positive side, the film is beautiful to look at...the cinematography is stunning with effective use of Manhattan and Mexican locations and, as expected, the costumes are Oscar-worthy, but the film is definitely substance-challenged and if you weren't a fan of the series, you probably just won't care.
The HBO series Sex and the City that ran from 1998 to 2004 was brought to the big screen in a feature length film in 2008 with the original cast. This splashy, overlong, and overblown extension of the cable series attempts to give fans closure on the show and the characters fans had grown to love but takes way too long to do it.
The primary focus of this film is on the relationship between writer Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) and how their matter-of-fact decision to get married is the beginning of a very slippery slope. We also are subject to marital troubles for Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve (David Eigenberg), Charlotte (Kristen Davis) adjusting to motherhood and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) who is now residing in LA and trying to learn how to be the girl in her relationship with Smith Jerrod (Jason Lewis) while suppressing fantasies about a new neighbor (Gilles Marini).
There is a lot of history behind these characters and Michael Patrick King, a creator of the series and director and co-writer of this film, attempts a brief overview of said history during the opening sequence but one has to wonder if it's enough for the uninitiated. As I watched this film, I couldn't help but think that moviegoers who did not watch the series would have no interest in seeing this movie. I thought the same thing about The Brady Bunch Movie, but I do know there are people who liked that movie who were not fans of the series so, it's really hard to say.
As someone who was a fan of the series, I have to say I found this cinematic journey a long but predictable one...it would have been nice to have been offered a few surprises along the way. The closest thing to new information we got here was the final reveal of Big's real name (John James Preston). I was also disturbed with what appeared to be an alteration in the relationship between Carrie and the other three girls...the movie implies that Carrie and Samantha are BFF's...Carrie even asks Samantha to be her maid of honor, but in the series, I always felt Miranda was Carrie's BFF and watching that relationship shifted behind Carrie and Samantha was kind of disturbing to me. I also had trouble with the forced relationship between Carrie's gay friend Stanford (Willie Garson) and Charlotte's gay friend Anthony (Mario Cantone)...shoving these two characters together just because they were both gay just didn't work, evidenced by the clear lack of chemistry between Garson and Cantone. And Jennifer Hudson's hastily-written supporting role meant to capitalize on her success in Dreamgirls was pointless.
On the positive side, the film is beautiful to look at...the cinematography is stunning with effective use of Manhattan and Mexican locations and, as expected, the costumes are Oscar-worthy, but the film is definitely substance-challenged and if you weren't a fan of the series, you probably just won't care.