Holli Rausch

I got into Sex and the City when they started playing reruns on TBS my freshman year of college. Kind of a guilty pleasure show. Somewhere in between then and now, I’ve forgotten that it used to be on HBO. Many words were changed and scenes cut for the TBS version of the show. And what they show on HBO, they also can and will show in movies. So it was a lot racier than I had expected (very naively, considering the name of the show). Putting that surprise aside, the movie was closely in line with the show.

The writing was clever and the plot wasn’t too girly, and almost never romantic – a staple of the series. In the title credits, they quickly catch the audience up on the main characters. Very quickly. Probably because almost anyone who goes to see the movie would already know the characters’ back story. But they included it for the poor husbands who get dragged to it. Luckily, my poor husband has “seen” the show and knew enough to not be lost. But not enough to follow along with the little things fans know but the movie doesn’t bring up. I’d bet most of my readers are in that category or one of less-knowledgeable viewers.

The plot was surprising – the trailer kind of tricks you into thinking one thing, but there’s a whole lot more going on. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), as always, narrates the show because she’s a writer and is typically writing about what the audience is viewing. Not many other shows or movies could pull this off, but they do a great job. I’ve really come to respect Sarah Jessica Parker’s acting – she chooses her roles well and pulls them off with style. Her continued characterization of Carrie Bradshaw was no exception. And her relationship with Big (Chris Noth) was not quite as messed up as usual, which was nice to see. Parker has a great scene towards the beginning of the movie where she’s attacking Big with the flowers in her hand, and that was perfectly orchestrated. A great scene for both characters.

My favorite character, Charlotte (Kristin Davis) was as cute and innocent as ever, along with her husband Harry (Evan Handler – Dave or Ricky, anyone?). The relationship between Samantha (Kim Cattrall) and Smith (Jason Lewis) at the beginning of the movie surprised me, but the outcome of it all did not. It was very Samantha and Cattrall did a great job with her character and humor, as always. At first, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) seemed out of character, but I think it’s because she was happy, and she was nearly never happy on the show. Her normal behavior came back in place as her husband Steve (David Eigenberg) messes things up. His screw up seemed very out of character for him, but his fess-up and remorse definitely was Steve. And the more I think of it, people make mistakes out of character often.

No visual effects to comment on, which was a little relieving, actually. And as most of my readers don’t know/care anything about the above paragraph, I’ll keep this review shortish to spare you. A great reunion show. All in all, a great movie. For fans of the show. But expect it to be HBO-ish. If you know it’s happening, it’s not as scary.

This gets a 4 out of 5 stars.

We’ll probably be renting next week, as no movies are coming out that we’re excited to see in the next few days. Any suggestions?