It makes no pretension to art, but Sex and the City succeeds as a ‘well-honed, character driven, comedy chickflick’
(15)
It was obvious watching Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw leading her friends Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) in their long-awaited big-screen bow that fans of the celebrated small-screen quartet are going to be in “label and love” heaven. The gales of contented “civilian” audience laughter that greeted the preview proved that beyond argument.
Surprisingly, perhaps, writer-director Michael Patrick King’s cinematic follow-up to the cult TV series makes highly amusing entertainment for non-devotees who enjoy well-honed, character-driven comedy chick flicks. King brings non-devotees ingeniously up to speed during the opening credits before launching into the latest escapades of the four fortysomethings. Everyone gets their comic/dramatic moments, with the focus, enjoyably, on Carrie’s on-off relationship with Chris Noth’s billionaire “Big”.
Parker’s comedic skills are attractively showcased, making her segues into seriousness even more effective. Cattrall, Davis and Nixon add dimension to their already polished TV characters, as does Noth who broods in the manner of a Manhattan Mr Rochester.
Sex and the City makes no pretensions to art, only to entertainment. And on that admirably unpretentious level, it succeeds splendidly.