Sex and the City
Sex and the City
The ever-popular TV-to-big-screen money-spinner got quite the endorsement this year with HBO’s popular sitcom Sex and the City hitting cinemas worldwide. Arriving on the back of huge hype and anxious impatience from females (of a certain age) everywhere, Sex and the City would always be up against it to prove its worth as both a stand-alone movie, and an adaptation of its small screen persona.
Happily, Sex and the City is an enjoyable – and thoughtful – romp through the lives of our four favourite gals as they move forward into their respective futures. Filled with all the old standards of the show and most of the old faces, it still manages to feel fresh and interesting. Every nuance of its successful formula is present and correct: innuendos, funny one-liners, sexual hang-ups and those certain situations that only a woman can understand.
Much as I am loathe to define any movie via sex alone – the so-called ‘chick-flick’ is a particularly detestable moniker – Sex and the City really is a movie for women, about women. Boyfriends and husbands, despite their denial, never really complained about watching the show, but a two-hour stretch of this craziness might just prove too much for your average heterosexual male. Sex-requirements aside, the movie scores on every other level – it is by turns touching, funny, heart-warming and tragic.
The men of the show are filled out a little more – especially Steve and Mr Big, both of whom suffered from lack of character analysis throughout the series and who show their more fallible and therefore human, side in the film. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the men are treated with far more dignity and respect in the movie than they tended to be given before, and the women, by this action, appear more rounded and acceptable as girls we could love and respect.
Knowing, or being a fan of the show is not a prerequisite to enjoying the movie, as a little ‘catch-up’ plays at the beginning to refresh memories, or create a back-story, as necessary. However, not knowing the show excludes you from certain nuances visible only to fans – the actions of the characters may not make sense to a casual observer, but are straightforward and clear to those of us who have been avidly following their moods and moves for years. As a movie-event in the lives of women, it ranks in ‘fanboy’ proportions, with ladies attending screenings in their best dresses, and drinking Cosmos with friends before settling into the viewing.
Bouncing onscreen with the biggest opening returns for both a romantic comedy and an R-rated movie, Sex and the City also stands as the biggest box-office opening for an all-female leading cast, which is certainly something to shout about! The show has long been a neo-feminist staple, giving us female empowerment with a snazzy sense of style, basically allowing women to be feminine, but never weak. Fun and frolics all the way, Sex and the City is like a Prada handbag – it never goes out of fashion.
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Category: Reviews
