Sex and the City

With the arrival of the second revival of Sex and The City, And Just Like That, I thought I would return the clock back to 2008 and look at the first revival of the series.

Sex and The City (2008) 151 minutes (spoilers)

Sex and the City the movie is a continuation of the HBO series that concluded in 2004. The story continues the life of the four leading ladies and their relationships with each other and the men in their lives. Each of the women have their own story, just like the tv show. However, because it is a movie is stripped back a little to accommodate the time restraints.

Carrie Bradshaw is the main character, and naturally like the show gets the bulk of the story. Her story focuses on her attempt at marriage with Mr Big, for that only to fall through, and then trying to put herself back together. Samantha has moved to LA with Smith to manage his career, but is a little bit unhappy, and soon gets a dog to help fill the void. Maranda is dealing with the fact her husband has had affair, and now has broken up their family. While Charlotte doesn’t really have a story at all, just gets pregnant and that’s about. Which I will talk about a bit later.

As such this film is aimed a very specific audience, fans of the TV. As a fan of the TV show which I have seen from begin to end several times, I can honestly say this feel like more of the same. There is only a few changes such as, being filmed in HD and widescreen. While also have a slightly brighter colour pallet, giving it a much cinematic look with is cinematography. It feels like if you went from the from season six to the movie it wouldn’t feel jarring of out of place.

As I have only ever watched the movie a handful of times, returning to this I couldn’t remember how much of it I enjoyed. After re-watching it I can say I did really enjoy it was clear it was made with the same care as the show was, and it was exactly what fans would have wanted, a continuation of the story, and not a place to try something new. If I had to sum of the movie, it feels like a season of the show, just condensed.

I feel like the movie is a movie of two halves. With the first half of the movie, is very much to set up of what do you remember from the show. Giving the audience a little recap of what has happened to the character in the years the show has been off air. Then we have a whole lot of product placement, in preparation for the wedding. When the wedding does take place is where the move gets better in my opinion. Simply because we stop focusing on Carrie so much and helps deliver the story of the other women.

Which brings me the biggest problem with the movie, there has been choices made which are questionable at best. The Steve cheating on Maranda thing is just out of left field, as a character he has never done anything remotely close to that before. To do this here, feels like it was just done to create some conflict and drama. While Charlotte’s doesn’t have a story, because by the time series ended, she got everything she wanted. It was nice she got to be pregnant and have a baby of her own. It would have been nice if she was given a little more to do rather than just be Carrie’s best friend.

Even though there is Sex in the title there is very little sex in it, which shows how the characters have grown from the beginning. It wasn’t about the sex the ladies are having, to what is going on in their lives. Which I feel why going into the new series is what we will be focusing on, and why the name change. Overall Sex and the City the movie is a good movie, but if you’re not fan of the series it may not be for you. However, if you are a newcomer and see the movie first, it does give you a previously on segment to tell audiences what they have missed, or what to look forward to if they enjoyed the movie. The movie is a nice female led comedy about friendship and relationships.

After retuning this movie after some time, I consider it a find return to the familiar. It just gives me a little wonder how they story is going to continue now, and how well it will succeed without fan favourite Samantha.