A very late review

So let's talk about the Sex and the City movie. To be honest I became a fan of the series after it hit TBS in an extremely edited form. I never had access to HBO regularly before college. Even with half the content cut out of each episode I could see how this series was so groundbreaking. Even if you hated it you have to admit it pushed the limits of how women were seen on the television.

Warning Spoilers Ahead (thought if you haven't seen the movie yet and you're reading this, you're a little behind).

Throughout the series the characters were pushed to their limits and forced to grow. Samantha eventually got over her promiscuous sex life and "settled down" into a loving relationship with a younger man, who stayed with her through her battle with cancer. Charlotte found true love, not with a beautiful and perfect model/doctor type from CT, but with a Jewish lawyer. A man who supported her and loved her for who she was, and who was more than happy to adopt a little girl with her and start a family. Miranda finally allowed love permanently into her life when she married her on and off again boyfriend/sex partner, who is also the father of her child. She allowed someone passed her lawyer defenses into her heart, and even moved to Brooklyn to raise a son. Carrie got past the "labels and love" lifestyle and was able to finally find out who she was as a person. She left an emotionally abusive relationship that she moved to Europe for and found true love in a man in whom she invested a great deal of emotion.

That all being said I feel the movie may have hurt some of what the series accomplished. Don't get me wrong, it's a guilty pleasure of mine to sit down with a snack and watch the girls parade around in high fashion outfits, however the writing lacked the original spark of the series.

First let's deal with the guys of the SatC world. They came into the girls' lives for important reasons with witty and biting dialogue that really hit home. Every action they took was important in some way or another, whether it hindered one of the fabulous female stars or boosted them to new heights, their presence always had a meaning. However in the movie a lot of the male characters pop in from the sidelines or stand around just looking pretty. They were part of what made the women so strong and groundbreaking. In the movie their screen time is minimal and I think that hurts the overall plot. I would have liked to see more of Steve suffering over his separation from Miranda, or Big's anguish over losing Carrie (when for example did he sit down and decide to start writing her love letters), or Harry being a father, or Smith trying to deal with working all the time and Samantha jetting back and forth across the country every other week. It was scenes like these in the series that made the men of SatC real to us. I know this movie is about the girls, but let's give them more depth and importance by seeing them reflected in the eyes of the guys.

Second, Samantha leaves her loving relationship. Granted she's moved cross country, is having problems dating a younger man who her career revolves around, and misses her old sex life - all of this I understand. But the way she left Smith felt like she was regressing and leaving behind all the emotional growth she accomplished over 6 seasons. She leaves mostly because her male sex-craved neighbor reminds her of her old lifestyle. I think perhaps we could have focused more on how much she felt she was investing in Smith, or how much she hated living on the West coast, and less on ass shots of her male temptation.

Charlotte, nothing bad happens to Charlotte. Well she craps her pants in Mexico because she accidentally drinks bad water and her water breaks a week earlier than it's supposed to, but that's all. I'm not saying that she should have suffered a miscarriage or marital problems, however give her something challenging. The only thing she gets is being worried about losing her pregnancy by regularly running, a problem she overcomes in about a week. Are women supposed to look at her character and think that she's the only one who didn't suffer because she's a married-stay-at-home mom? She has everything she ever wanted: a loving husband, a beautiful apartment, an adopted daughter, and finally a biological child of her own. Maybe I should just sit around and fulfill all domestic stereotypes as well, this way I can be set for life!

In the movie the girls have grown up and their bond tto each other is tighter than ever. They are no longer just the 30-somethings fighting in a 20-something world. They have set careers and financial security. They have men who love and cherish them (for the most part). And they've learned that in the words of Samantha "relationships aren't always about being happy." But they lack the flair and edginess of their 6 season youth. I'm hoping the second sequel can do better.