The women who taught the world about sex and fashion made a successful big-screen debut, proving that relationship drama is still a worthy investment for any movie studio.
The timeless power of chick flicks was shown by the thousands of women who flocked to theaters to see “Sex and the City” and made this foursome of friends go down in history at the box office. The film made $55.7 million in its opening weekend, making it the fifth-highest grossing R-rated movie in its opening weekend ever – and the audiences were mostly female. Some even rented out entire theaters for their friends, had cocktail pre-parties or tested their trivia knowledge beforehand.
It’s official: sex sells.
The plot picks up where the last season ends and, thankfully, the whole cast is back. Charlotte and Harry have their adopted daughter, Samantha and Smith are pursuing his Hollywood career, Miranda and Steve are trying to deal with married life in Brooklyn, and Carrie and Big are wrestling with their roller-coaster relationship.
The movie delivers the same mixture of fun, sex and drama as the TV show. Since everything was pretty much wrapped up in the series finale, the film introduces new conflict for each relationship – especially Carrie and Big’s indecisiveness on marriage – but the issues are more mature this time.
The film is not as predictable as fans would think, and it does a good job of condensing a season’s worth of events into a two-and-a-half-hour movie. Beware of corniness, however. While there were plenty of genuinely tear-jerking moments, some camera work goes overboard to dramatize certain parts. The result is unintended laughter, which totally kills the moment.
At one point, Carrie lets go of a cell phone and the camera slowly pans down as the phone gracefully slides down her dress and falls to the floor with a resounding boom. It happened again later with rose petals fluttering toward the ground, leading the audience to wonder if gravity must work slower in that time zone (or just in dramatic situations).
The film was pure entertainment from beginning to end. It was funniest when it took itself lightly (such as making fun of Carrie’s ridiculous feathery thing she wore on her head) and just let the actors and actress’ chemistry take over the movie. The film had a ready-made cast of people who work well together and audiences love, so nothing felt forced or unrealistic. Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte have become real people to most of the show’s viewers, which is why so many people connected to this movie on such an intimate basis.
Besides the sex (there’s lots of sex) is the fashion. The women of “Sex and the City” are famous for their designer outfits and accessories, and the film is true to form. There’s more brand-dropping than the Super Bowl, and it’s about as subtle. The movie is one giant commercial for high fashion, with the traditional mixture of “I want that” outfits and “what the heck was she thinking?” outfits.
Most of us can’t afford impulse-shopping for designer clothing, Cosmopolitans at every new club and spontaneous trips to Mexico, especially on a writer’s salary (if that’s possible, please let me know), so it’s fun to watch the women who can. They are each role models as strong women, even with their bad decisions, because they make them human and more relatable.