by Maggie Larkin

Created on: June 23, 2008

As Carrie Bradshaw answered Big's phone call in the final minutes of the "Sex and the City" series finale, we wondered if we would ever hear her stories again. When news of the film broke soon after, a beacon of hope glimmered. Four years later, we super fans were given a chance to catch up with our favorite New York Gals, but I can't say that I felt totally satisfied. WARNING! SPOILERS FROM HERE ON!

The movie picks up in the present day, four years since we had seen them last. Carrie is still dating Big, Samantha has moved to California to be Smith's manager as he becomes a Hollywood star, and both Charlotte and Miranda settle into family life with their children Lily and Brady, respectively. It's pretty much as expected.

Big and Carrie are looking for an apartment when they find "the one", and Carrie decides that maybe they should get married. A wild marriage preparation ensues as expected, but one thing leads to another and the wedding doesn't happen. Steve and Miranda also encounter trouble, as do Samantha and Smith.

After Carrie goes through a massive multi-month depression, she decides to hire an assistant. Enter Jennifer Hudson. I've never cared much for her, and I saw her character as unneccessary. Basically, she was a friend to Carrie (like she doesn't alrady have thre...) and she reminded her about Love. A number of other things could have done that without this character.

Rather than deem Jennifer Hudson's character unnecessary, they decided to do away with the continuity department. In nearly very scene, a boom mic was visible for at least a couple of seconds. Everything else about the film was very meticulous: costumes, cinematography, music, and sets, so why were these scenes not re shot or the visible mics erased in editing? For as much money as this film cost and made, re shooting or editing out those mics would have been worth it. By the half-way mark, the mics became a running joke to my friends and me.

The ending of the movie was quite sappy and predictable. Everyone ends up happy and the way they wanted to be. Not that I wouldn't want my beloved Carrie to end up with the guy, but I expected a little more twist, and more adherence to the format that the show followed: in which she writes an article each week based on a question stemming from her personal life or that of her friends. While it is clear that she is writing a new book about what happens after you fall in love and get the guy, the audience is denied the view into her writing process, as we are in the show. For instance, each time she realized something in the show, it became an integral part of that week's article. Here, we were reminded of the topic of her book, but she never presented us with plot-inspired theses or life lessons. In that respect, the movie was a toned-down version of the show.

Over all, I enjoyed the movie, but I didn't feel that it compared to the show like it should have. The show was such a wonderful conglomeration of wit, wisdom, humor and heart, but the film lacked the total commitment to those four ideals. Perhaps the format of the show just can't hold up an entire movie.

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