Saturday, May 24, 2008

So what are we going to do? Sit around bars, sipping Cosmos and sleeping with strangers when we're eighty? Thoughts on Sex and the City: The Movie



Ok, I’ll admit it - I’ve seen every episode of Sex and the City at least twice. The girls’ (Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda) kept me company during the latter part of my high school years and my first year of college. Even then, I detested certain elements of the show and it’s almost constant need to pair up its ladies’ with mostly terrible men (among other things), which is exemplified in the show’s finale, but I couldn’t and still can’t help being drawn to the caring friendship between all four women. They’re goddamn soul mates for Christ sakes! And they’ve made it a point to flat out tell us so on more than one occasion.

So, even though I sold off my DVD sets long ago and haven’t watched the show in close to three years, I’m looking forward to the movie immensely…and so are other women, apparently. As it has sold more group sales tickets than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! The trailer has me hoping that the movie will un-do all of the romantic knots it created within the lives of the characters at the seasons end. I can’t wait to attend the first ever female oriented midnight show this upcoming Thursday evening. Could this be the first chick flick blockbuster in a decade? Could Sex and the City: the movie prove to studios, like, ahem, Warner Bros., that women want to see strong, important women on the big screen? It very well might.

Let’s hope certain obstacles don’t get in the way. Reporters keep trying to place the “bitch” label on each actresses forehead for some reason. Why do women have to be seen as constantly fighting with one another to sell newspapers and magazines? BTW, Kristin Davis (Charlotte) has emphatically denied all of the squabbling accounts here:

Sex And The City star Kristin Davis has denied reports alleging the hit TV show was marred by infighting between the four leading ladies. Davis and her co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall have long been dogged by rumors they don't get on - with speculation that petty arguments about costumes and pay had divided the group. There was even gossip that the new movie adaptation was almost shelved because of the growing rift between the actresses - in particular between Parker and Cattrall, who have both admitted to a dispute over money. But Davis insists the four women rarely fight when working together - especially not over a trivial matter like costumes. She tells British TV show This Morning, "If we were fighting over shoes, if we actually got into a physical altercation over shoes - we would have to be in the nut house. We don't fight over shoes, we don't really fight. We are four of the luckiest, overpaid women in the world - with the best job in the world. We have been together for 10 years, working together for 18 hours a day. We would never have got through this if we weren't close. We love each other."

The reviews of the film are also very mixed thus far and while those aren’t all that interesting, the comments the reviews receive online are:
“This may not be an indictment of men, but it is surely an indictment on the kind of people too many women of this generation have become. Promiscuous, foul-mouthed male bashing sexists. I am in my early thirties and I am thoroughly disgusted by the way many women who are ten years younger than me to around my age act. Where are the feminine women who know how to be a lady and respect men. I guess women could say the same thing about men. Masculine men are becoming less and less. There are so many Gay men nowadays and women seem to want their men feminine instead of true men. When did the line between the way men and women act become so blurred? It makes me SICK! Speaking of sick, the way women and Homosexuals idolize this show and these women also makes me sick. Women of this generation need to join us in reality!!!”

Ok, well, this review is particularly hilarious:

That said, I am revising my box office estimates for the film to about double what was being bounced around the studio just a few weeks ago. In the last decade, I have never seen the New Line screening room this full… not for Rings… not for nothing. If the fire marshall had shown up, at least a dozen women would have been thrown out before they could show the film. And it was 88% women in the room. And 8% gay men. And me.


But in a summer where Anne Hathaway is playing with boys and Meryl Streep is in a movie that Universal is now trying to sell to the High School Musical set with the unknown blonde girl and there is not really a single film for women of all ages all summer long… this one is going to be a big, stinky hit.



Yeah!

5 comments:

Lisa Draski said...

You know, I NEVER cared for Big. I don't get the appeal.

Sara said...

No kiddin'. Out of all of Carrie's beaus, I've always liked Aiden best. She screwed that one up big time, though. She's certainly attracted to men who treat her like crap.

Anonymous said...

Came upon this blog by accident. Just out of curiosity, why are the men they end up with at the end so terrible? Aside from Big being questionable as to if he really did change, the other three end up in very healthy supportive relationships. Also, as for Aiden, I used to prefer him, but when you think about it, he isn't right for Carrie...he's too traditional, he just wants to settle down and have a family...when we see him like a year after they break up he's already married and has a kid.

Sara said...

Hey Emilya,

I should have specified a bit more in my post, but what I meant by "...and it’s almost constant need to pair up its ladies’ with mostly terrible men (among other things), which is exemplified in the show’s finale.." is not that all of the men in their lives were/are terrible, but that the show is simply and constantly pairing them up. There are very few episodes, if any, that don't revolve around one of the ladies' entanglements with a male character, which is fitting because the show ends with all four(!!!) of them drifting off to monogamy la-la land. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but I'm not a big fan of it.

I realize Aiden wasn't the best choice for Carrie, I was just stating a personal preference. Truth be told, I don't think Carrie has ever dated a character in the show that is "just" right for her. My favorite male characters in the SATC universe are Aiden, Steve, and Trey, simply because I lurve Kyle MachLachlan.

Andrew said...

http://www.reverseshot.com/article/sex_and_city

Thought you might find this interesting. I'm still willing to watch this with you, by the way.