The truth be told, I was never a big fan of “Sex and the City” when it was on the air—at least not until the last season— and always felt like I was so tragically un-hip for not getting what the fuss was about. However, I still went to see the “Sex and the City” movie last weekend in hopes that maybe a few years away from the characters would suddenly give me new appreciation of these four sexy ladies.
One of the problems with making big screen adaptations of small screen hits like SATC is that often the big screen illuminates the flaws of the storytelling that were well hidden when the stories were in twenty-two minute chunks. But the movie is two hours of mish-mashed events that are just as confused about what their significance is as the characters are about the purpose in their own lives. So the audience is treated to one-part fairytale and one-part sass, and a little bit of satire— and none of it is very fulfilling. (Though I am sure the most-diehard fans will disagree.)

The movie picks up four years after the show ends and in many ways, life is what we would expect for these sophisticated gals: Charlotte is a mom to her adopted daughter, Miranda is still cranky, stressed, and married to Steve, and Samantha is still sex-crazed, successful, and with Smith. It doesn’t take long for all of the romantic relationships to hit bumps in the road—especially, of course, Carrie and Big’s. The girls help each other through their emotional ups and downs because, well, they’ve all made the same mistakes before.
“Sex,” the movie, actually did have a chance to show the women have evolved and are now maturing into better versions of themselves, when several times in the middle of the movie the ladies discuss the thorny issue of forgiveness: When should you forgive? What if you can’t forgive? You want me to forgive , but you won’t? Unfortunately, the movie never follows through. Now that would have made for some interesting story progressions instead of the long, drawn out, inevitable ending we are finally given.
No one can deny that Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, Miranda, and Big have become icons in our culture, but for me, to be worthy of that iconic status, you need to be remembered for more than just the clothes, or the one-liners. Hopefully, icons are remembered for what we believe they have taught us, and that is where “Sex” falls a little short.