Once upon a time, the mention of "The Fab Four" would set many a teenage girl's heart aflutter and elicit shrieks of giddy excitement. After all, those mop-tops from Liverpool were a cute bunch and their music wasn't that bad either. Alas, all good things must always end, so after their last public performance in 1966, The Beatles recorded a few more studio albums and then split up.
And while those fans were dismayed, they eventually went on with their lives, and grew up by getting jobs, finding someone real to love, starting a family and suffering all of the usual joy, heartbreak and such that goes along with moving from one decade to the next.
Then in 1998, another Fab Four would come along to capture their attention, not of the "Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod it's Paul" kind, but rather the "been there, done/seen/experienced/wish I were like that" type associated with women living the high and sometimes low life in New York City. We're talking, of course, about "Sex and the City," the HBO series based on the newspaper column writings of Candace Bushnell.
A glorified soap opera, it not only made stars (or at least bigger ones of those already known) out of central cast figures Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, but also all of the fashions they wore and/or carried. For six years and 94 episodes, fans were treated to the various romantic and other personal travails of their characters who, at best, could be described as narcissists longing and/or complaining about love, men and worldly possessions.
All of that satisfactorily wrapped up in the last episode, but as soon as that aired, rumors quickly spread about a possible movie version. Of course, that naturally begged the question of why ruin a good and seemingly completed thing. After all, it's not like the show was "Star Trek" where the repeatedly stated five-year mission was cut short after just three.
But like that series that eventually got the big screen treatment, (suspiciously following the wild success of "Star Wars" two years earlier), it's seemingly all about the money for "Sex and the City" the movie. Which, I suppose, is appropriate since much of the original series was about material gains, especially in terms of the kind that cover one's feet or carry one's [insert brand name here] wallet.
Much to the presumed enjoyment of the show's fans, I can report that fashion is still a big deal in this universe. All of which means that, in true big screen style, viewers are treated to not one, not two, but three clothing montages (including one where past costumes are presented for the "Oh, I remember that one" fond recollection response).
Yet, like the original show, the equally important thing is how these women interact with each other and deal with their various issues, and the story -- penned by original series producer/writer Michael Patrick King, who also directs here -- continues that trend.
All of which means that the picture is really just for fans. While there's a quick introductory part during the opening credits listing the characters and brief back stories (including some footage from the show), one really needs to know these oft-tortured souls to understand the continued storyline and character arcs (not that there's any sort of wild swings in store).
Not surprisingly, the four leading ladies are quite comfortable and recognizable in their roles, but that's somewhat of a problem in that they feel like small-screen creations that have somehow moved uptown to a better neighborhood (things will presumably feel right when they return to their original haunts once on DVD).
Save for those who played pre-current former lovers or husbands, most of the supporting cast also returns, with Chris Noth getting the meatier part due to the pending nuptials between his and Parker's characters, and all that, natch, doesn't exactly go as planned. New additions include Jennifer Hudson as Carrie's new personal assistant and Gilles Marini as the enticing "boy toy" next door for Cattrall's character to lust after, but neither really adds much of note (although Marini fulfills most of the sex part of the film's title).
In the end, the pic appropriately feels like just an extension of the original show, and thus fans will likely be pleased to get one more dose of the characters, their soap opera lives and, of course, the fashion. Potential box office returns aside, however, there's no reason for this to appear on the big screen.
And the far too long running time of 140 or so minutes makes one feel like they're watching five back-to-back episodes without any commercial breaks promoting "The Sopranos" as occurred back in the day on HBO (let's just hope they let that outstanding series live on only in reruns). Decent but nothing remarkable or different, "Sex and the City" feels more like a reunion than a big screen event and thus rates as a 5 out of 10.
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