Sex And The City

Sex And The City
Directed by: Michael Patrick King
Rated: R (US) / 18A (Can)
Runtime: 2 hrs 15 min

Remember Carrie Bradshaw, Samantha Jones, Miranda Hobbes and Charlotte York? If you have never watched an episode of Sex And The City, then these names may mean nothing to you, but to thousands of women these four are the soldiers on the front lines for single women everywhere, answering their questions, making the mistakes, and of course, testing out the shoes.

The film adaptation of this critically acclaimed television show picks up several years after we left Carrie and the gals in Manhattan. Carrie Bradshaw is a columnist turned non-fiction author who has made her living writing about the single scene in New York City, focusing on sex and relationships. We left her in an on and off long-term relationship with Mr. Big that despite more than one breakup, has spanned a decade. Carrie and her three best friends Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte are all in various stages of their thirties and forties, as well as in varying degrees of relationships, when Carrie announces that she and Mr. Big have decided to tie the knot.

The film chronicles Carrie as she prepares for her wedding to a man who has been labeled the Mr. Big of commitment-phobics throughout six years of episodic television. When the wedding day arrives, and Mr. Big doesn’t show, Carrie must deal with the aftermath of a very public flop. Samantha, supporting Carrie from distant Los Angeles begins to reevaluate her commitment to her partner, a much younger television star who supported her through chemotherapy. Miranda decides whether or not to try and breathe some life into her failing marriage, while Charlotte faces her fears that something terrible is around the corner, coming to mar her fairy tale happiness.

It is obvious by the title and rating of this film that it deals with some very mature subject matter. Anyone who has caught so much as a glimpse of the episodes will realize that all four characters lead a lifestyle open to many sexual partners with very little relational pretext. These women pride themselves on living in Manhattan in the age of sexual revolution where women treat sex the same way many men do, while still maintaining their femininity..

While it was exciting to see marriage being celebrated in this film, the motive for marriage was not a long-standing monogamous commitment, rather a legal convenience. Even as each party began to realize that they wished to be committed to each other, there was a lack of emphasis on the sanctity of the wedding vows. Relationally, the emphasis on friendship is probably the best thing that this film has to offer (aside from the designer purses). The unconditional love that these four women offer each other is inspiring. It bodes the response that perhaps if they gave the same to their relationships, the outcomes may be a little less bleak. It seems, however, that they are content to rely on each other and treat men as the extras to their four-way love story.

Anyone who is a fan of the television series will enjoy seeing this film, as the characters remain pleasantly consistent, and the dialogue is equally as witty as it was throughout the episodes. The amount of high fashion is phenomenal and the film is a great place to find your next wish-list Manolo Blahnik’s (that’s Vogue for shoes, in case you weren’t sure). The plot fell a little flat at points and the narration (pinnacle in the series) seemed to grasp for substance in some moments. That being said, the writers tackled the monstrous challenge of adapting an episodic thirty-minute TV show for the big screen, and succeeded.

I would not recommend this film to anyone who is easily offended by lude behavior, language, or nudity, as it contains plenty, however, if you are already a fan of the show and are prepared for what you are paying for you will likely enjoy the film for its friendly reprise of familiar and engaging characters.