All For a Pair of Shoes

'Sex And The City' Movie Review

Okay, okay, I confess. I’ve seen ‘Sex and the City: the Movie’ twice already, even though I found it under-whelming the first time round. And here’s the funny little bit, I’d see it again if a girlfriend asked me to, because that’s what girl buddies are for! And wouldn’t the ‘sexy’ quartet be proud of me!

Yes, the movie does take off from where it left off and we do get a glimpse of their lives, five years thence. And a common refrain after the end of the series was, “And that’s it?” But truthfully speaking, what else was left? What more could they have done to keep us glued to our seats with expressions of scandalized delight writ all over our faces?

What was left to do? I mean, Carrie got her Big, Charlotte her baby, Miranda her career and Samantha had already got everybody she ever laid eyes on in the series…who was left for her to do? And so the series ended. But this is the age of more, and we hadn’t quite had our fill. We wanted more of these bright, gorgeous women whose lives and wardrobes we so envied.

That’s why the big gaping need for a movie and a movie needs a story…or in this case stories. So, what can we do? Let’s seeeeeeee, wedding theme for let-me-finally-get-mine Carrie, maybe-separation time for too-busy-with-my-career-to-have-sex-with-my-husband Miranda, do-I-love-him-or-do-I-love-me-more Samantha and happy fairytale endings for yes!-my-ovaries-do-work-after-all-thank-you-very-much Charlotte!

The moviemakers also tried to throw in things that would hopefully make us guffaw so loudly we might pee in our Victoria’s Secrets. So we have a horny dog, some potty humour and sexy sushi…all in the name of laughter gone riot. At the end of it all, we just end up going, at the most, tee-hee.

But trite story lines and super slim, sexy bodies at forty aside, there are definite moments when the women in us did roar our approval. The gorgeous Vogue wedding shoot had my friends and me wishing for a re-do of our own special days…or a magazine spread with perfect photographs at the very least! The Mexico trip reminded us how important these girlfriend get-aways are for the soul. And the nights-out-on-the-town? Well, keep those Cosmopolitans coming, is all I can say!

Yes, we gape at the clothes and shoes. Sometimes we even gag at their sheer hideousness, but that’s what we were expecting to do in any case, right? So as far as the fashion, the never-ending saga of Carrie and her Big, the cinematographer’s capturing of the streets of New York and the generous use of cuss words was concerned, the movie didn’t disappoint.

So what more was there to expect? Why were we left feeling wanting…like after a roll in the hay that was good, but just not mind-numbingly-toe-curlingly-bone-meltingly-breath-stoppingly brilliant?

Because in the end, we all knew what was going to happen. In the series, we followed with bated breath as Carrie and Big got it on again and broke it off again, on again and off again…again and again and again. In between there was the other great all-American stud and the sexy European aristocrat, keeping her bed warm and our imaginations company. We all knew, that to make for a nice, happy ending, Carrie would eventually have to get her man, her Mr. Big, but until that happened, she had lots of other adventures that kept us happily occupied. Samantha’s sexcapades were also, without a doubt, one of the biggest thrills for dedicated SATC series loyalists. Her appetite shocked, yet electrified us to our very core.

But in the movie, there were no big thrills. Nothing to shock the most liberated of the female tribe. No other men for us to drool over. It was all rather staid and tame. Add to it, an idealistic personal assistant who carries around a Love charm and mouths the tritest of dialogues, the result will be rather ho-hum and not yippee-yi-yo-ki-yay!

Yes, of course we wanted Carrie to get her wedding and her closet. It’s just that in the true spirit of excess, I wish there was more, that’s all. But then again, in the spirit of girl bonding, I will see this movie again with someone from the female tribe.

And one more thing…it’s really time we give our Bollywood movie endings a break. Let’s stop judging the offering of ‘Happily Ever After’ endings for their sheer ridiculousness and take a peek at Hollywood’s offering. SATC gives us a happy ending…but obviously. All it takes is a pair of shoes!