Sex and the City – A-

Let’s do this.  Sex and the City is a gem.  Every man and woman who appreciates cinema should see this movie.  Let’s talk about all the things against this movie, then we’ll break it down like we used to…  1st, there is the demographic, the target audience of this movie is women.  This might seem like a strange thing to say, women attend movies like anyone else right?  Sure they do, but when is the stuff on screen about them?  Look around the summer box office.  What do you see?  It’s a ROUGH world for women’s narrative right now in Hollywood and I’m frankly holding a grudge.  I reviewed Enchanted during the winter and gave it an ace.  Women are unfairly represented in our theaters.  They only have Angelina Jolie carrying the feminine flag this summer (she’s doing it well as Tigress in Kung Fu Panda, and Fox in Wanted).  2nd, this is an rated R comedy.  I rarely pay attention to the ratings because they frankly don’t matter to me anymore, but this is a big deal.  You actually see quite a lot of skin (fellas and ladies will be rewarded) and the subject matter as always is sex.

The Movie: Excellent.  The premise for those of you without premium channels is a sex columnist and her friends turn NYC upside down in search of the perfect men.  That’s an oversimplification because it’s also about friendship and all the mushy stuff you would expect.  That said?  I’m with these women!  They are sexy in that city and I love watching them dress up in ridiculous costume-like clothing.  Their heels are pretty sweet too…

Mr. Big, played by Chris Noth, is lead-girl Carrie Bradshaw’s main squeeze.  He’s…got money?  I’m not going to pretend like I understand the attraction here.  I’m straight, and think Chris Noth is really a terrible actor.  Big is also one of those, “want what you can’t have” men that women seem to love.  There are countless books about this, or “He’s Just Not That Into You” (preview actually comes up before SATC) or “Why Men Love Bitches”.  This is a bit of a meta commentary seeing as Candace Bushnell (the real life Carrie Bradshaw) wrote the book “Sex and the City” that inspired the HBO series.  Since I wiki’d it, you might also be interested to know that she dated and married a ballet dancer (just like Carrie does with Baryshnikov).

The plot is actually the only reason this isn’t an A.  Everyone knows the plot before the movie begins (surprise wedding!) and the dramatic elements are poorly executed for my palate.  I wasn’t down with the main plot perpetuating force, Mr. Big’s uncertainty of Carrie as a mate.  I found Sarah Jessica Parker charming for the first time in my life and cannot see Mr. Big being unable to get out of the car (I won’t “ruin it” for you).   It just felt like Michael Patrick King making Men the enemy.  Speaking with a friend of the male persuasion I found this sentiment to be echoed.  He could no longer view the show for the way that most males were blamed for things.  I see it as much more neutral.

I commend King for his wonderful writing of the relationship between Miranda and Steve.  Miranda rashly ends her marriage when they weren’t acting like a married couple to begin with.  Poetic justice revisits her when she asks Carrie to forgive Big for much more than she begrudges Steve.  Poetic justice is also at hand for Carrie, who broke off her engagement with Aiden (some viewers believe the perfect guy)

My favorite part of the movie was Samantha played by Kim Cattrall.  She’ll be 52 in August and I don’t think she looks a day older than 40.  Her sexiness aside…actually it’s impossible to put her sexiness aside.  She is Mrs. Robinson and I felt dirty/thrilled seeing her work what she’s got.  Seriously though, she does amazing things for the feminine gaze.  She views a hot couple “funking” (can I get a PG-13 on this one?) then sees the stud she can’t get out of her mind showering.  The objectifying gaze is something I’ve read about in film theory.  Men are said to pick women apart (breasts, belly, butt, face) with their eyes in an evaluation of beauty.  Samantha does this as an older woman looking at a younger man, it’s not often you see these powers at work.  Michael Patrick King I’m impressed, feminist at heart?

Go see it.  Sex and the City is very predictable but no less lovable.  It’s long, but there are plenty of jokes and the costume changes are a-plenty.  There are very few feel good, funny female narratives out there and this is a great one.  Also, let’s celebrate sex, it’s pretty great