Sex and the City

Sex and the City (2008) picks up four years after the series ended. Carrie and Big decide to marry, the wedding grows, and as it grows the real problem becomes visible. The four friends' stories run in parallel. That the film exists at all took a fight. The series ended in 2004 and the film stalled for years over disagreements among the cast. Eventually all four returned and the show's creative lead Michael Patrick King wrote and directed it. The commercial result surprised the studios. It was not assumed at the time that a film aimed at women could open at this scale, and it multiplied expectations on its first weekend, which brought a sequel in 2010. Fashion is a separate character in it. Patricia Field designed the costumes, and several pieces were discussed all season. It runs 146 minutes. Good for: viewers of the series, fashion, and stories about four friends. Less good for: without the series the characters and their histories are opaque. At 146 minutes it is far too long for a romantic comedy and the second half sags. The film's relationship to wealth has lost the show's irony; what the series treated as a joke has become the goal.