Sex and the City review: too many plugs and too few sparks

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Sukhdev Sandhu fails to get excited by the Sex and the City movie Kim Cattrall: Sex and the City is a fairy tale - don't take it seriously Sex and the City in pictures | Watch: Cocktails at the ready The Sex and the City premiere in pictures Sex and the City is back. Yet it never went away. Endless re-runs, DVD box sets, bus tours of the Big Apple: the final series may have attracted audiences of only 4.5 million on Channel 4, but, like Friends, Cheers or The Bold and the Beautiful, it has become globally ubiquitous.   Sarah Jessica Parker at the premiere in New York Not a second of the day goes by without a TV channel somewhere broadcasting the sounds of Sarah Jessica Parker philosophising aloud on the vagaries of love or Kim Cattrall testing the resilience of her bedsprings. Few fans of the show would ever have expected it to return after its drawn-out and dramatic finale. Not to the big screen. And certainly not strung out to nearly two and a half hours. That's as long as it takes Che Guevara to bring down the Cuban government in Steven Soderbergh's latest movie. The good news for traditionalists is that very little has changed. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) has adopted a Chinese baby with Harry (Evan Handler); Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is still stressing out over how to balance her legal work and bringing up her son with Steve; Samantha (Cattrall) is on the West Coast attending to the career of hunk-bucket Smith (Jason Lewis) but zipping back to New York at the drop of a hat; and Carrie (Parker), after years of ups and downs, is finally about to marry Big (Chris Noth) and has just moved in with him at a gorgeous Fifth Avenue penthouse. Michael Patrick King, who wrote and directed the film, does an able job in ensuring that the whole thing doesn't just seem like a bunch of episodes slung together. Sex and the City: A girl's best friend Sex and the City tour of New York Yet, in spite of its great length, he doesn't succeed in adding to what we know about any of the characters: they've become frozen, Spice Girls-style types - angsty, neurotic, predatory, princess - rather than individuals who might evolve or surprise us. The short shrift given to endearing men such as Harry is also a shame. What really grates, now more than ever, is how much time is given over to advertising. Shoes, dresses, handbags, coffee, removal companies: it seems that almost every inch of the screen is full of product placements and designer labels, branded like the jumpsuit of a grand prix driver.   A scene from the Sex and the City movie Nearly 20 years ago, when Brett Easton Ellis wrote American Psycho, the illness of his serial-killer central character was betrayed by his obsession with brand names. In 2008, the filmmakers regard that obsession as normal and part of the film's aspirational appeal. Actually, it makes Carrie's pals seem like yuppie Wags. Some critics of the original show objected to the whiteness of the New York it portrayed. The producers have taken that criticism on board and brought in Jennifer Hudson from Dreamgirls as Carrie's personal assistant. As for sex, the film is surprisingly tame: while Miranda has a bed scene with Steve, and Samantha glimpses the penis of her next-door neighbour, a pet dog is consistently the horniest character on show. There are some good lines, but the much-feted banter is far less soulful or funny than that in Bridget Jones's Diary. Sex and the City won't disappoint any of its fans. But like its characters - Samantha, who's on the verge of 50, and Carrie, who looks like a skeletal transvestite - it's getting on a bit. This really should be its final hurrah.

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Related articles 12 May 2008[Http:]: Meet our very own real life Carrie Bradshaws 8 May 2008[Http:]: Sex and the City: They're older - but are we wiser? 1950463 undefined newstopics: Sex and the City, the movie: Review by Celia Walden

External links Sex and the City: the movie Sex and the City : Sarah Jessica Parker defends London premiere

I am a massive SATC fan and I absolutely loved it. It was more than perfect - even better than I had hoped. Well done to everyone involved in the film. Hopefully this won't be the final hurrah!
Posted by carries shoe on May 30, 2008 2:43 PM
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It's interesting that the author of this "review" (and I use the term lightly), doesn't have a byline...

What's your name? Man? Woman? Alien? I'm betting not a woman...

Men don't get the series. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. Even if your guy watched the series with you, and enjoyed it, as my boyfriend did, they don't really "GET" it... and they aren't meant to.

It's fabulous... just what I've been waiting for.

~
Posted by Angela on May 30, 2008 2:35 PM
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I thought the film was terrible. They did not stay true to the characters as they were in the series, (case in point, the birthday party at the end, Samantha would have never agreed to that in the series). The plot was contrived and predictable... A lot of good characters were under used and in the end I was left wondering exactly how far Big could push Carrie and she would still take him back....glutten for punishment!
Posted by Katy on May 30, 2008 1:33 PM
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Firstly, judging by the number of inaccuracies in this review, it is unsurprising the author found the film too long. She obviously has a very small and limited attention span.

If you don't get it, don't write about it. And the bitchy 'skeletal transvestite' jibe is a little below the belt.

Rubbish review. Go back and watch the film again.
Posted by Daniel on May 29, 2008 7:11 PM
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I loved the series. My wife and I have the DVD box set and watch it over and over again. It is wrong to assume that fans of the series will enjoy this film which was truly dreadful. The plot-line was absurd. The acting frequently awful. The good lines were few and far between. Relying on a horny dog for laughs was depressing. Of course, the series occasionally relied on cheap laughs but these were few and far between and easily forgiven. The product placement in the series was rarely annoying and was often connected to amusing plot-lines (as when Carrie walked down the cat-walk or had very expensive shoes stolen at a friend's party). Crude materialism was put in context and often gently mocked. In this film the product placement was in most cases gratuitous, over-the-top and very annoying.

We watch the series over and over again because of the cleverly constructed episodes, the inspired use of music, the witty lines, the titillation, the frequently interesting discussions about relationships and the intelligent observation of men, women and mating practices by a thoughtful but quirky woman columnist. The film has none of these features. I'll do my best to forget this unnecessary film and go back to the series.
Posted by Dave on May 29, 2008 10:33 AM
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you must be a man.-- and someone who never got any hugs from your parents, the film is exactly as it should be, and i havnt heard one disapointed person apart from you who gets paid to trash films.
Posted by Bianca on May 29, 2008 9:38 AM
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amazing film! any fan will love it!
Posted by samantha on May 28, 2008 10:50 PM
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I saw it today and its great - just what you'd expect
Posted by Bob of the South on May 28, 2008 7:05 PM
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