Sex and the City - B+ / C-

In theaters. Rated R, 142 minutes. Trailer.

As regular readers will know, I avoid 'chick flicks' and musicals like the plague. Early summer's dearth of good releases and my bride's enthusiasm persuaded me to go see SATC on opening night, along with lots of 'gal pal' groups dressed to the nines. In the spirit of Doc's recent Rambo review, I've given this one a girls grade (B+) and a guys grade (C-). The film picks up a couple of years after where the series left off, with Big and Carrie in love, Miranda being a Brooklyn working mom, Charlotte being a stay at home mom and Samantha in LA managing her boy's career.

Click below for more on the girls counterpart to the Jackass series.

Carrie and Big decide to get married and the others work through their own issues, including a cheating spouse for the terrible Miranda. Through it all the girls have each other and love conquers all, even love of self. If you like girly montages about shoes and clothes and closets, this is your movie. If you like cliches, puns and cringing while 3 year olds hear bad words, this is your movie. In fairness, this is probably a good 'chick flick' with some genuinely funny moments and a decently realistic storyline. The dialogue is great in some small parts, but I found myself laughing at different parts than the gussied up MIWNF (WN=would not) crowd I was attending with. One note about the wardrobes: most of the time, the girls looked like they were dumpster diving for their clothes, and socks never look good with high heels, sorry.

I always liked about 60% of the SATC series, but hated the other 40% enough not to watch too many episodes. The series and movie worked best for me when it wasn't trying to be 'real', but when it was aware of its campiness and embracing it. I see what girls see in it, but don't like it. Kind of like Jackass for guys. Priest, it looks like I officially have the chick flick Stanley Cup for a while.