Movie Review: Sex and the City: The Movie
What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this comedy is based on HBO's
hugely popular series
Sex and the City TV series, which has garnered quite a
following among teens thanks to DVDs and edited reruns in
syndication. The movie is very similar to the
unedited version of the show -- meaning that while it's
warm and endearing (for the most part), it's also quite
raunchy. There's plenty of frank talk about sex, sometimes in
front of a child (though the characters use a euphemism to
shield her from their usual saucy banter). There's also a fair
amount of partial nudity (both female and male, including
breasts and butts), a brief male frontal shot (or, rather, a
glimpse of the front from the side), and characters shown in
various sexual positions. Also expect lots of salty language, a
good bit of drinking, and
piles of high-end brand names and products. But, all of
that said, just like the series, the sex and shopping aren't
really the point here -- the women's friendships are.
Families can talk about how the movie presents sex. Is it all
just for fun, or are there consequences? If so, what are those
consequences? What messages are teens likely to take away from
the movie about relationships? Families can also discuss
whether the movie deals with all of the same issues as the
series. Is the quest for love still the central theme? If so,
what kind of love? What is the glue that binds these characters
together? What role do friends have in your life? Do they
sometimes take the place of family? Why? In the end, does a
woman
need a relationship to be whole?
When last we saw SEX AND THE CITY's fashionable foursome, they were off to their respective happily-ever-afters. But, as narrator Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) would likely put it, what does it all mean to live happily ever after? Four years later, Carrie and her beloved Big (Chris Noth) -- now given a proper name, John James Preston -- are still going strong. But when they decide to get married, what begins as a simple affair quickly gets complicated, threatening to overwhelm everything (much like Carrie's fantastical Vivienne Westwood wedding dress). Meanwhile, Brooklyn-based Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve (David Eigenberg) are stuck in a rut that gets a much-needed -- if painful -- jolt, and Samantha (Kim Cattrall), still with golden boy Smith (Jason Lewis), bristles under the constraints of an established relationship. Only Charlotte (Kristin Davis) seems perfectly happy (she's even pregnant!), but that itself gives her reason to pause, if only because she worries when the proverbial other shoe will drop.
When the series hit the scene years ago, it was groundbreaking, not only because it served up so much sex (the word is in the title, after all) -- and from a woman's point of view, at that -- but also because it fearlessly examined women's relationships with the men in their lives and, more importantly, with each other. Although the movie doesn't blaze any new trails (the dialogue, though offering handfuls of barbs, seems to have been written with a pencil less sharp than usual), fans will still likely walk away satisfied, since it serves up plenty of what made devotees watch in the first place: Friendship, romance, and drama in the big city.
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