Sex and the City!

One of the perks of spending as much on a luxury car as my parents did on their first house is being invited to a special screening of one of the hottest movies of the year. Mercedes-Benz has some nice product placement in Sex and the City, and our local dealer held a viewing party last night. And the verdict is....

Manohla Dargis got it wrong. This was a really, really good movie. I was really happy with the way the series ended, so had some trepidation about the movie, but I thought it was really well done. Have I made myself really, really clear? The movie was more like a continuation of the whole series rather than a 2-hour stretched out episode, and that's why it worked. I watched the series religiously when it first aired, and for me, it was pure escapism. The characters were caricatures of themselves, the situations outrageous, the clothes fabulous and the lifestyle fantasy. The movie was more real--the characters may have been more fabulous versions of real women, but Carrie, et. al. were more real in the movie than they ever were on the small screen. Miranda and Steve's marital woes? Real. Miranda thinking she got stood up by a date when in actuality he died? Not so much. Samantha's feeling confined in a relationship? Real. Her fling with an octogenarian? Not so much. Etc., etc. I also disagree with Ms. Dargis about the roles for the male characters. I think the men should not have been a central part of the movie; their purpose was to really showcase the women, and were relevant only with respect to the situations the women got themselves into. This was a movie about women and their relationships. The men were ancillary, just like in real life--ha!

My one small quibble with the ending was Samantha's story arc. I feel conflicted about her ending her relationship with Smith, and I'm guessing many would say that's consistent with her character. But to me, her character showed a lot of vulnerability in the series (notably in her relationships with Richard and Smith), and I think underneath that tough-single-girl exterior lay somebody who really, just like the rest of us, just wanted to be loved.

Sure the storyline was a tad predictable, but the roller-coaster ride we took to get to the storybook ending was well worth the price of admission.