Your Say and the City (From News Shopper)

Your Say and the City

1:00pm Wednesday 4th June 2008

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Although this very piece is yet another drop in the media ocean of publicity Sex and the City; The Movie has received, it, like the shoes you could not really afford, had to be done. (Apologies in advance, this blog has more fashion metaphors than Carrie Bradshaw has corsages!)

The girlie magazines aside, there’s been a bit of a backlash and the film hasn’t been what you would call a widespread critical success. Yet, in a number of ways, it has been something of a cultural phenomenon.

Movie-goers voted with their high-heeled feet and flocked to a cinema to see the SATC film. On opening night, May 28, more than a million of you saw the film and the cinemas dubbed it the “biggest opening of all time” which had generated a “unique buzz” which eclipsed a Bond release. But this ridiculously-wide public appeal isn’t enough to keep cynics from putting it down.

There were plenty of lukewarm reviews – a number of publications even introduced a patronising special rating system (eg, four stars for fans, one for non fans!) – and en route to the cinema, a hoard of friends and I, who, like many other women, made a night of the screening (think cocktails and fabulous outfits) were on the receiving end of some cruelly bemused stares from non-fans who knew exactly where we were off to.

It was then, as Carrie often says, I couldn’t help but wonder when Sex and the City became such a guilty pleasure.

Honestly, I don’t give a Gucci what the critics say – I loved it. But it’s sad so many fail (or should that be refuse) to see past the sentiment and product-placement to find achievement in a blockbuster not only for women, but led by them. Not to mention the merit of casting women enjoying their 40s in starring roles. And credit is due for avoiding the usual ubiquitous and predictable slush the rom-com genre usually dishes up.

Please feel free to name another romantic comedy so beautifully styled and shot which refuses to ignore the harsh realities of relationships in favour of the romantic (and often unrealistic) aspects of love?

Admittedly, as a fan, I came to the feature where I already had relationship with the characters and a 10-year back-story in the bank.

But I still saw some shortfalls; there were a few overly twee moments and there have been half-hour episodes of the series with more sex than the 145-minute movie version.

Yet, I refuse to consider it a guilty pleasure based on a few clangers. The overall experience was fabulous, friends coming together and sharing laughs and tears, a charming parallel to the show itself, no?

Was it the nostalgia – or the cocktails before the show – leading me to having such an arguably romantic outlook on the film?

Perhaps I’m taking it a little personally, but as I sat absorbed in the well-told story, surrounded by friends, I realised it’s certainly my (designer) bag, but is it yours?