I am not a cult Sex and the City fan. It's not the yin equivalent of the James Bond 007 for me. But, I have watched episodes of the show and enjoyed the life and travails of Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte. Unfortunately, Sex and the City is lost in translation on the big screen. The story plot is damning.
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) at 40 is finally planning to marry the on and off boyfriend Big (Chris North), who like John Abraham manages only two expressions throughout the movie. The storyline moves fast till the pathetic wedding scene, where Big ditches Carrie on the altar. What follows is ludicrous. Little logic here as to why Big can't muster courage to marry Carrie (the film tries to impress on Big's insecurity and how Miranda's one statement could have put him off). Not convincing!
Carrie is then rushed off to Mexico with the girls in tow, where she sleeps and sleeps till execrable humor shakes off her blues. The travails of the other girls include Samantha's (Kim Cattrall) valiant efforts at keeping a monogamous relationship with a Hollywood hunk. Miranda's (Cynthia Nixon) trajectory of separating from her husband Steve for his confessed one night stand. She spews and spouts about being cheated throughout the film but is unwilling to discuss her marital sex life. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is happy most of the days with her married life and her adopted Chinese daughter. Her trials are varied from indigestion to getting pregnant.
In the end all loose ends get tied up rather poorly. All women get what they want: love, shoes, giant wardrobes, child, designer clothes and jewelry. Midway there's entry of Louise from St Louis, the Oscar winning actress Jennifer Hudson, who plays Carrie's assistant. The only African American in the film, Hudson has spunk but the role is wasted. She comes to New York to find love after breaking up with high school sweetheart but quits the job to finally get married to him.
Is this what women want?
Sex and City won fans not just because the serial showed fantastic shoes, which most working women can't really wear but also because it was a cool classy comedy about being single working women in their mid thirties who could talk and laugh about sex and romance tribulations. It was perhaps also the first truly adult comedy from women's perspective that could tap into urban working women anywhere in the world not just New York.
The movie fizzles out because Michael Patrick King, the writer tries to tackle the problems of the four complex women now in their 40s but can't give the plot any depth. What we get is superficial problems and designer shoes. The only upside to this is to see these women characters back on screen together. They all look great. The movie has some funny scenes like when the gals are talking about sex life in front of Lily or Carrie's shoot for Vogue magazine. But, on the whole, unless you are a rabid fan, give the movie a miss.
- contributed by Ketaki
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