Movie review - Sex and the City

Woooh!!!! Took a while for me to see this one! Would you believe, I actually wasn't a HUGE fan of the show. I mean, sure, I enjoyed it but I didn't watch it religiously. Hell, even though I bought the entire series, I still haven't watched it all! Regardless, I watched it enough to know who was whom and what was going on. Long story short, this movie takes place ten years after the start and four years after the end of the tv show. I won't bother to talk about what the movie is about - I'm taking it as given that only fans (and their male-handbags) would go watch it. I remember one criticism of the way the show ended was the apparent message that despite these women being successful, attractive (although that's debatable), single go-getters, a woman needed to have a man in order to be *complete* as all the characters were paired up. I'm glad that this movie addresses that issue and, to me, the storyline for each character rang true to who each of them were.

So this will be a pro and con review.
Pro

• Great shoes and interesting clothes (I won't say all of the clothes are great).
• The lighting and makeup - I know that in real life, Sarah Jessica Parker is freakishly thin and not the most classically attractive of women. However, at various points in the film I did think *she's quite good looking there.
• Dante getting out of a wetsuit.
• That REALLY big wardrobe.
• Miranda's storyline and Cynthia Nixon's performance. Definitely the most difficult and most underrated.
• Samantha's development as more than just a horny woman.
• The warm and gooeyness that are female friendships without bitchiness!
• The fact that the movie is just like another episode!

Con

• Reminding me how self-centred Carrie can be although her moping in this film is justified given the way Big has jerked her around for the last 10 years.
• Charlotte being played for laughs - while I'm glad that her romanticism and idealism remains undiminished, they really turned her into an object of ridicule - e.g. Mexico, searching for the *perfect opening line, the tottering around after confronting Big etc etc.
• Jason Lewis' weird looking face.
• The fake boobs on Dante's girl #3.
• I also didn't need to see *that* shot in order to be convinced of how/why Dante is attractive to Samantha. Overkill!
• Miranda nude.
• The fact that the movie us just like another episode. A really long episode.

Looking at this film from the perspective of a non-fan, I would be close to saying this would be like watching the Harry Potter movies without reading the books. If you don't know who everyone is and what happened to them during the series, you may be left scratching your head. There is a short rundown at the start of the film that covers the four main characters and their respective partners, but doesn't cover the recurring characters who are naturally there.

So yes. Not a perfect film, not an overly terrible film. While I'll stop short of saying *for fans only* I will say that it will help greatly if you are.
7-8/10 for fans, 4-5/10 for everyone else.