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Sex and the City: The Movie
Posted: May 29, 2008 in Movies
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'Should we get you a diamond?"
"No, just get me a really big closet."
In a "Sex and the City" world, that's the most romantic proposal imaginable. True love means both Happily Ever After and having a place for all your Jimmy Choos.
And the big-screen adaptation of the hit HBO series does have it all. It plays like a mega-sized episode in a thoroughly entertaining mix of chat sessions, romantic pitfalls, life-turning changes and hot sex. And bling -- lots and lots of high-fashion bling.
It's no secret that in the movie, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and on-again, off-again love Mr. Big (Chris Noth) finally get engaged. The writer/heroine also finds the perfect penthouse. When Big promises her the ultimate closet for the ultimate fashionista, Carrie goes into full swoon.
All's well that begins well. Unfortunately, things quickly take a downturn for the now-fortysomething foursome.
(By the way, I do not recommend a marathon of "Sex and the City" episodes on DVD as a way for the uninitiated to bone up. After an entire weekend of "ick factor" and "toxic bachelors," I felt the urge to hunt down an animal and eat it in order to restore hormonal balance.)
When last we left "Sex" four years ago, Ugg boots were hot, and things were on an upswing. Carrie had dumped her dour Russian boyfriend and Big finallly had told her she was the one. Career gal Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) had settled into married stability with a husband, son and mother-in-law in Brooklyn. Perpetual romantic Charlotte (Kristin Davis) had found an unlikely soulmate and adopted a daughter. And unashamed sexpot Samantha (Kim Cattrall) had found her inner cougar with her Hollywood boy toy.
Far be it from me to bare all the delicious twists of the plot, other than to say things take a dark turn. Part of the appeal of the series and the movie is the whiplash pace of happenings cooked up by writer/director Michael Patrick King (with characters based on Candace Bushnell's book). It's the incongruous yet satisfying melding of the silly and the serious, the frothy and the fraught, that gave the show its magic.
OK, a few hints: There's marital infidelity, a tragic humiliation, a 50th birthday, old friends alienated and (the horror!) a poochy belly. As their fortunes head south, the four gals do so literally, holing up in a resort where Carrie struggles to emerge from her "Mexicoma" -- just a tidbit of the clever dialogue the trend-setting show was famous for. ("He's just not that into you," another line from the series, became its own phenomenon with a book and, yes, a forthcoming movie.)
Jennifer Hudson makes a fleeting but invigorating appearance as Carrie's new assistant, who breathes life back into her boss.
There's also a scene near the end in which Samantha comes out and says "the thing you're not supposed to say." Outside observers would label her actions selfish. They are, but in her own way she's also incredibly brave.
Samantha's fate acknowledges that love is not a one-size-fits-all garment that we put on at a time and place of our choosing. It's a messy, complicated thing that surrounds and colors each of us in a different way. The lesson of "Sex and the City" is that it's OK to make a fool of yourself trying on different notions of what romance is, but never to define oneself by who we're with -- and who we're not.
If the shoe fits, wear it.
