Film Review - Sex and the City: The Movie

by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

SEX AND THE CITY (Cert. 15, 145 mins) 
Stars:  Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Hudson, Chris Noth, Jason Lewis, Evan Handler, David Eigenberg, Mario Cantone, Lynn Cohen, Willie Garson, Candice Bergen
Directed by Michael Patrick King

IT MUST be the most eagerly anticipated movie of all time and after all the snatched photos, rumours, twists and turns, Sex and the City The Movie does not disappoint.

Coming four years since Mr Big swept our heroine Carrie (Parker) off her feet in Paris in the last episode of the TV series, the film is 2½ hours of bliss as we get to reconnect with our four fabulous girlfriends and New York city.

For those men dragged along by their other halves, or women who somehow missed out on the biggest TV phenomenon of the last decade, the movie opens with a breathtaking opening credits montage condensing 94 episodes of tears, tiaras and tantrums into five minutes of soundbites and one-liners.

Then it is straight on with the movie.

Some 10 years since they started dating and countless break-ups later, Carrie is all loved up with Big (Noth) and poised to take the next step in their relationship: moving into a swanky New York penthouse together.

Samantha (Cattrall) has relocated to Los Angeles with her toyboy lover and model/actor client Smith Jerrod (Lewis), while Charlotte (Davis) paints a picture of domestic bliss with her dependable husband Harry (Handler) and adopted daughter Lily.

Miranda (Nixon) continues to pursue work commitments ahead of home life in Brooklyn with her husband Steve (Eigenberg), son Brady and nanny Magda.

To go further with the story would be too ruin it. The cast and crew have implored people to "brag about it, not blog about it" and I am sticking with that.

All I will say is there are romantic upheavals, weddings, break-ups, make-ups, babies, infidelities and everything else that love and life can throw at you.

Naturally, there is also plenty of talk about sex, although not nearly as much nudity or bedroom action as there was in the show. But then the film is more about love than sex.

Old friends such as wedding planner Anthony Marentino (Mario Cantone), Vogue editor Enid Frick (Candice Bergen) and Carrie’s confidant Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson) enjoy supporting roles.

But the biggest star of the screen is the fashion. With over 300 costume changes for the girls alone, every major label makes it into the movie and full marks to Britain’s own Vivienne Westwood for commandeering so much screen time.

It has been a four-year journey from HBO to the big screen for SATC, and in that time writer Darren Starr and his team have perfected a script that is as heartrending as it is side-splittingly funny.

As ever, Samantha and Carrie nab most of the best one-liners. Kim Cattrall, portraying man-eater Samantha’s coming to terms with turning 50 and being in her first long-term relationship, steals virtually every scene she is in.

An incredibly lithe Sarah Jessica Parker, meanwhile, plays the 40-year- old Carrie, as more mellow and less neurotic than she was in the old days.

Five minutes into the movie, my eyes were already brimming with tears and a huge grin had spread across my face where it stayed until the closing credits.

As I said in the text I sent to my own girlfriends as I exited the cinema – this movie is perfect. Everything SATC fans could wish for.