GETTING CARRIED AWAY....

I went and saw Sex and The City Monday night and despite the lukewarm reviews, I really enjoyed it. In fact I think it added depth to the television series. Yes it was different to your conventional movie the way in which the television series was different to your conventional television series. As a result you do have to know the television series inside out to gain the full benefit of the film. The movie for me was like catching up with old friends I hadn't seen for a while. Yes Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte have all grown older (haven't we all) but they still look fabulous without any desperate attempts to hide their older ages. If anything it's the men who have aged badly. ‘Big’ sports the worst hair dye job throughout the entire film which makes him look an extra off the Munsters, Smith (Samantha's) looks like he has hepatitus and Steve (Miranda's) looks like a crack addict. Harry (Charlotte's) is the only bloke who hasn't changed at all and when I come to think of it, nor has Charlotte.....she has not changed both in persona and looks in ten years!

The film, written and directed by Michael Parker King who was executive producer and chief writer of the series drawn from journalist Candace Bushnell's columns (and her later book), is basically five new episodes stitched together, again set in New York City. This stretches the movie to 145 minutes which many critics did not like but if you are a diehard SATC fan like myself….I loved the length…I wanted it to keep going!

All the original's basic ingredients -- sex, relationships, careers, shopping and Patricia Field's fashions -- are there, with the lives of the four main characters resuming three years on from the concluding TV episode. There hasn't been such a female friendly box office blockbuster since Renee Zillwegger became Bridget Jones and Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Dianne Keaton formed the First Wives Club in the 90s.

While the gals are well and truly into their 40s-- Sarah Jessica Parker as narrator and central focus Carrie, Kim Cattrall as the lusty LA-based entertainment executive Samantha, Cynthia Nixon as the uptight married lawyer Miranda, and Kristin Davis as the house-proud Charlotte -- continue to try and work out what the deal is with life, love and happiness.

Of course the big question is whether Carrie and her ‘manfriend’ Mr Big tie the knot. Now if you haven’t seen the pic yet….don’t read on! I think it was pretty obvious if they were going to do a SATC film that Carrie and Big’s wedding was going to fall apart…..otherwise there wouldn’t be anything to do a film on! Yes Big gets the old fashioned cold feet and pulls out of the wedding as Carrie is making her way up the wedding steps in her Vivienne Westwood gown. And it is some of the best acting I’ve ever seen SJP do. She gives Carrie a third dimension beyond that manola bhlanik wearing barbie doll image which she never managed to overcome in the series. The scene where she confronts BIG just after he pulls out of the ceremony is haunting to say the least.

The wedding disaster is not the only romantic entanglement to be sorted out in the course of the movie. There are crises of varying impact in each of her friends' lives as well. Miranda is too tired to have sex with Steve due to running a legal practice, a household, raising a child as well as raising Steve…..the guy is a 12 yr old trapped in a 40 something yr old man’s body. Due to the lack of action in the bedroom, Steve has a one night stand. All hell breaks loose and the couple spend the rest of the film trying to work it out. Cynthia Nixon is still by far the best actress in the group. She knows and absorbs the character of Miranda so well; not to mention I think she’s the hottest out of the 4.

It's not difficult to tell that director Michael King is gay; there are more bare male buttocks on display on this film than there are manola bhlaniks. As I said before Steve has aged something chronic, but there is a hot scene of him shagging Miranda and my my, he’s got a very nice peach. And then there is Samantha’s neighbour…..the man whore who shags a different girl every night. The guy is piping hot. The scenes of Samantha perving on him are hysterical.

In the film, Samantha is trying to survive outside of NYC managing Smith in LA but is failing miserably. …….even if her house right on the beach is to die for. The LA coastline looks amazing in this film. Samantha eventually leaves Smith remaining true to her character, which I felt didn’t happen at the end of Series when she moved in with Smith.

And then there is Charlotte who as I said before, really hasn’t aged at all. She finally realises her dream in this film, falls pregnant and has a baby. There are still some classic Charlotte scenes particularly when the girls go on Carrie’s all expenses paid honeymoon to Mexico and Charlotte refuses to eat any of the food except the bottled food she has brought with her from the states.

The second half of the film introduces Dreamgirls Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson as Carrie's personal assistant, Louise from St Louis who loves Louis Vuitton (ya…it’s a little too much). Hudson does her best but this character just doesn’t work. There is no point to her character and it doesn’t assist in carrying the film along at all. In fact most of the dialogue between Carrie and Louise sounds like it’s written by Hallmark Cards: Louise to Carrie: “I’ve come to New York to find love.” What? Get out. I would have preferred to have seen more of Stamford who gets about two minutes in the film and was sadly missed.

Seen even more briefly and to even less effect is Candice Bergen as a Vogue editor, lacking the bite of Meryl Streep's Devil Wears Prada role. Bergnen appears really tired, overweight and sounding like she’s reading her lines off an autocue. It was embarrassing.

Apart from those few blemishes, I loved the film and definitely will be seeing it again. Like the series, the heart of this film is about friendship; the tight plutonic bonds that can exist between four human beings. Something we can all relate to…..even the most alpha of males. There is talk of a sequel, which I couldn’t comprehend at first as this film does tie up the loose-ends left by the series. However, these characters are so rich, I would love to see them again, but not in two years’ time. Perhaps they should consider a film every five years. I think it would be really interesting to see a movie franchise (that isn’t an action film) which narrates the lives and tribulations of four best friends over twenty years.

C