No need to worry, this is not a post about my personal life!
This past weekend we ended a 2+ year absence from the movie theater to go and see... Sex and the City. We haven't been purposely boycotting the movies. It just seemed as if there was nothing compelling to go to see... or if there was, we just never got around to doing it. And thanks to TiVo there is always a surplus of things to watch... including all those HBO and Showtime movies we didn't see on the theaters. Now that we've returned, I am not sure my "going out" to the movies attitude has changed any... but more that in a bit...
But onto the movie! Not sure how much I can say about the movie, since pretty much any commentary would contain some spoilers... so I'll do my best, but give a gentle warning that this post may contain mild spoilers...
Although I did my best, I knew most of the major plot points going in... a few thanks leading up to the release... and a few way back when filming started... i.e. photos of the scene with Charlotte and Big outside the restaurant pretty much let one cat out of the proverbial Prada bag. Surprisingly enough, I did not know the ending... could I have predicted or expected it? Well, yes.
Overall, I enjoyed the film. I was a pretty big fan of the series -- though I can't imagine how one would "get" any of it if one wasn't pretty familiar with the girls, either via HBO or now via syndication. Stretched to a 2 hour, 15 minute feature, no surprise that some of the crackle-and-pop pacing of the show was missing (I would often be surprised that the 30 minute episode was already over) and we thought the film was a bit of a downer for a large portion of it.
Charlotte and Samantha I think remained most true to their "series" selves in the film... and I found myself questioning some of the behavior with regards to Carrie and Miranda. Granted Carrie has always been somewhat of a conundrum when it comes to life decisions - not knowing what she wants and with a tendency to turn whiny - so it probably remained in the spirit of the character, but she's still a bit frustrating... but I still love her so. The ever rocky relationship between Miranda and Steve is tested - but again I am not sure I buy Miranda's attitude through most of the film, particularly given a jaw-dropping line from hear in bedroom early in the film - which in my eyes, was just as bad (or worse!) than... well, I'll just zip it.
But it was certainly fun to see the girls again and I am sure the film will please most fans of the series... would I have had it end just a tad differently... quite likely... but again, no major complaints.
Ok, back to the theater-going experience. In our absence, prices have gone up. While we can afford it, I was a bit shocked by the cost of the ticket, granted the cashier initially charged us for a evening show (we saw it mid-afternoon)... but still, admission and two medium sodas was about $25. We laughed at the "meal deal" price of two large sodas and a large popcorn - which has to cost pennies on the dollar, clocked in at $15.75 - and even more so, that our movie club card offered an (insert sarcasm) uber-generous 50 cents off discount off of one of those "deals." Given increasing by the day gas prices and it sucking up disposable income, I can't help but think movie theaters are going to start feeling it ... just doesn't seem like a whole lot of bang for the buck... that said, we should probably get out and do it every so often!
Buckaroo and I just got back from the film, so I can finally read this post.
*** TO ANYONE WHO HASN'T SEEN IT, SPOILERS AHEAD ***
It annoyed me the way they keep turning Big's character into a cad, and the back into the best thing ever. Personally if he did to me what he did to Carrie, he would be history. He couldn't get out of the frackin' car without seeing her face? WTF? What a loser. Then we the audience are supposed to be happy when Carrie ends up with him? Sorry. Not feeling it here.
As for Carrie, I too think she gets incredibly whiney. She was still going on and on about it playing the victim like nearly a year later. I guess in a certain way she deserves Big.
As for Miranda, I agree that what she did to Steve was probably as bad as what he did to her. She shut herself off emotionally, physically, and romantically. Then she blamed him for destroying the marrigage? I kept waiting for her moment of epiphany when she would realize the mistakes *she* had made, but it didn't really happen. Not even after the "you need a wax" scene. Instead it was some hokey memory with the foam on the lip.
Samantha was a bit annoying too, but I guess more true to character.
I noticed that the men of the film in particular looked older. Samantha's boyfriend has not aged well, and Steve had a lot more wrinkles. The exception was Big of course who must have had a TON of Botox.
Despite all this, I enjoyed the film. It was incredibly predictable, but isn't that what we expected? They weren't making a SatC movie to break new ground. They stayed safe and familiar. In the end, that was enough to be fun.
Posted by: Scott-O-Rama | Sunday, June 15, 2008 at 07:47 PM