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'Sex' a welcome throwback

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By Mina Hochberg | amNewYork movie critic

May 27, 2008

Four years after "Sex and the City" came to a close on HBO, the big-screen adaptation has finally arrived in all its pink-trimmed splendor.

At a prodigious 142 minutes, the movie devotes a full story arc to each gal equivalent to about one half-hour episode each, plus 22 minutes of straight-up sartorial pornography.

Carrie ( Sarah Jessica Parker) is marrying Mr. Big (Chris Noth), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is navigating troubles on the marriage front, Samantha ( Kim Cattrall) is in L.A. and getting bored with monogamy and Charlotte (Kristen Davis) is perfectly, maddeningly happy.

Other "Sex" regulars including Mario Cantone and Jason Lewis make appearances, as well.

Everything in the movie revolves around the Carrie-Big nuptials, of course. After the pair's famously tumultuous history of breakups and reconciliations, they decide to tie the knot.

What starts as a simple wedding, balloons into a grand affair an announcement on Page Six, a Vivienne Westwood gown, a ridiculously lavish updo that involves bird feathers.

But when Mr. Big gets cold feet at the last minute, the wedding chapter ends and Carrie spends the rest of the movie picking up the pieces of her newly single life.

Throughout the film, Carrie is constantly pointing out her ignorance of new technology. When she needs a phone, she dismissively waves away an iPhone that someone offers her, saying she has no idea how to use the thing. Her assistant, Louise ( Jennifer Hudson), chastises Carrie for having a shoddy Web site. At another point, Carrie asks Louise if there's a way to block Mr. Big's e-mails.

Whether intentional or not, this is all an acknowledgement of a certain dated quality to the film. As entertaining as it often is, "Sex and the City" feels more like a relic than a movie with its own merits. Samantha's voracious sexual appetite, Carrie's obsession with Manolo Blahniks, their candor at the brunch table these are all throwbacks to a formula that succeeded once, but it all felt sassier, fresher and more compelling the first time around.

The emotional trials that Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte experience are all sincere and relatable (even if some of their outfits are not) and Cattrall often steals the show with her frank, carnal, anti-marriage remarks.

But around the 100th minute, you start to wonder if Carrie Bradshaw might be outstaying her highly anticipated welcome on the big screen. It's a splashy, colorful (though a bit too girly pink) production that's more or less worth the wait. Just be prepared to endure some ambling stories.