Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

To think Sex & the City films ruined the series?

56 replies

MeganMascara · 16/01/2013 13:28

Probably done before, but I'm in bed ill and just watched the 2nd film again.

Now I loved S&TC the series, it was fantastic. Great characters, great writing and storylines. It ended on a complete high where the ratings for the show hadn't declined and they could have easily churned out a couple more series.

Then I watched the first film .... and thought yeah that's ok.

Then I watched the second film ... and thought what the actual hell is this crap?!

But I'm being unreasonable because I know for a fact if a third film was ever made I'd still go to the cinema to see it

OP posts:

nipersvest · 16/01/2013 14:38

anyone seen the carrie diaries yet?, it started in usa earlier this week, have watched it online. was ok. just ok though. has been a bit panned by the critics.

AlphaAndEcho · 16/01/2013 14:40

I liked the series too but agree with the pp who said they were very unlikeable characters . Especially Carrie . Whiny self absorbed and quite entitled sometimes I thought . And sometimes I thought it could be quite anti-men .

Still watched it thought

StuntGirl · 16/01/2013 14:42

Yy to the abusive relationships. Vile.

Lottapianos · 16/01/2013 14:46

'Whiny self absorbed and quite entitled sometimes I thought'

Especially in Film 2 when Big buys her a massive telly for their bedroom and she whines and complains that he didn't buy her a piece of jewellery instead

MorrisZapp · 16/01/2013 14:54

The series was superb, imo. I loved it. It was funny, clever, stylish etc.

The first film was bad but the second one made me embarrassed to be female. The writers and actors must be cash hungry whores imo to get involved with such an empty, cynical money making project.

The scripts don't begin to compare, it was like watching four different characters to the ones from the series.

And now that I know exactly how low they're all willing to sink if the price is right, I can't respect the amazing work they did for years. They've trashed their own product by cheapening it.

Lottapianos · 16/01/2013 14:57

I see your point MorrisZapp. I have tons of respect for each of the 4 actresses, different reasons for each of them. It's a shame they signed up to such a horrendous turkey.

RedPencils · 16/01/2013 15:00

The second film is quite possibly one of the worst films of all time.

The first film is OK, although completely ruined by her marrying Big at the end and all her friends being happy about it. If he'd jilted one of my friends I'd be ripping his head off, not smiling at her crappy wedding.

Hobbitation · 16/01/2013 15:05

I watched the first ever episode and couldn't stand it. Also Ally McBeal and Desperate Housewives. I hate it when people think I'm a woman therefore I must like these shows. Gah.

OnwardBound · 16/01/2013 15:15

I loved the TV series but I think I could really relate to it at the time.

I was in my 20s and was single, had just moved to a big city [London] and was dating and spending far too much on handbags and accessories.

I have a soft spot for Carrie as I know she is a shallow PITA but she is a well rounded character as played by SJP and her vulnerabilities and flaws are as clear as the good stuff - her loyalty to her friends for example.

What I really didn't like in the series [and this was even worse in the movies] was the rampant materialism/consumerism and the OTT product placement.
All that fawning over Louis Vuitton and Chanel made me want to barf.

I would have appreciated it more if Carrie had had a more individual style and perhaps had showcased NY fashion instead of bowing and scraping to iconic French brands [yawn].

I did think that Carrie and Big are good together though. They are both emotionally damaged souls [didn't Carrie have a distant or unavailable father?] and I think they understood each other on some level. They had a spark and a friction which they both enjoyed, although they made each other deeply unhappy as well. I like to think they entered long term couple psychotherapy together and spent long nights analysing each other in complete self absorption!

Aidan was lovely but too homely and down to earth to truly appeal to Carrie. And he could get very passive aggressive at times. Like in that episode when he was being very distant and was flirting with his bartender female friend. Understandably he was pretty pissed at Carrie sleeping with Big but I still found him annoying when he started being like that.

But the worst of Carrie's boyfriends for me was that Burger chap. Gee he was a manipulative yo-yoing moody sod. I really felt for her in the episode where he came back to her with a bunch of carnations, stayed the night and then left her a POST-IT NOTE breaking up with her!

Sorry for the essay . Just remembering all the good things about the series and how I felt that Carrie's misadventures in dating and relationships mirrored my own.

Original poster

MeganMascara · 16/01/2013 15:18

I watched the first ever episode and couldn't stand it

To be fair the first series isn't that good imo. It got better as the series went on.

OP posts:

Lottapianos · 16/01/2013 15:35

'But the worst of Carrie's boyfriends for me was that Burger chap'

I wouldn't say he was the worst (that will always be Big IMO) but he was seriously awful. He was an enormous tosser who was supposed to be hilariously funny - he will just such a muppet! Obviously massively threatened by her success and her money. She was well rid of him.

freddiefrog · 16/01/2013 15:39

For me, the films didn't ruin the series...because I thought the series was utter shite as well

I honestly don't know why I watched any of it

OnwardBound · 16/01/2013 15:51

Lottapianos hear hear!

Yes he was an enormous tosser who was threatened by her money and success.

I hated him!

MissyMooandherBeaverofSteel · 16/01/2013 16:13

The films were pure and utter shit, the only highlight in the second film was the gorgeous Aiden but even the storyline with him was shit. I can't stand Carrie in the programmes either but I watched every episode and have them all on dvd but I love the rest of the women.

Schnarkle · 16/01/2013 16:15

I really liked the series and the first movie.

BUT looking back at it now, all the stuff with them making their own way in the world, looking out for themselves was really only them threading water until the "right man" came to save them.

AlphaAndEcho · 16/01/2013 16:26

Oooh I forgot about Berger !!! He was horrid . He had the worst inferiority complex . Not to mention being a first class dick . Never saw what Carrie saw in him .

LauriesFairyonthetreeeatsCake · 16/01/2013 16:27

I don't think Big treated her badly at all - right until the the end he told her that he wasn't as into her as she was to him. I recently watched the first break up and she's wittering on about their 'relationship' and he's standing there thinking 'what the fuck is she on about, we're just dating'.

I thought the series was great and sjp's acting in the first film was brilliant - finally she lets her anger out at not getting it her way.

It was good on sex at the time and there was real pathos in some of the story lines like the cancer one, Mirandas mothers death and charlottes problems with Trey.

OnwardBound · 16/01/2013 16:42

I think Big was/is as much into Carrie as he could be with anyone.

He is emotionally constipated imo.

And yes I think they had a sexual chemistry and emotional connection in the early days when it was exciting and dramatic and will he, won't he commit...

But their true bond came through their friendship ie when Carrie nursed him when he had that heart procedure, and he came to her with all his woes when the famous actress dumped him.

And I liked that scene when they both seemed to grow up a bit, he was reading her book and asking her if he really acted like that, wasn't he a dick, etc and she was getting impatient and saying I don't care about all that, let's just have sex... he became a bit more self aware and developed more empathy whilst she was less emotionally needy of him and just wanted to have fun.

This is why I like the characters in the series of SATC, you could see them grow up and develop and they were multi-faceted. Not just he bad, she good, etc.

Although Charlotte was particularly painful to watch being the epitome of a 1950s housewife [albeit with a fortune of her own, a mega wealthy DH2, a cleaner, a nanny, endless time to shop and have lunch with her girlfriends ]

zippey · 16/01/2013 17:03

Here is a great review by Mark Kermode on Sex and the City 2

Spero · 16/01/2013 18:17

i am glad he name checks the Lindy West review. She says it all.

NuggetofPurestGreen · 16/01/2013 20:58

"Carrie, Whiny, moaned about not commitment, then had Aiden, who wanted to commit, but she was a bitch and dumped him."

Aiden dumped Carrie! not the other way round.

But yes agree with OP that second film is tripe, first one watchable, series great.

LittleBearPad · 16/01/2013 21:05

Liked the first film. Cringed throughout the second one - it was dire. YANBU

Please, please, please let there not be a third film.

(Could say exactly the same about Bridget Jones (books and films)

Glittertwins · 16/01/2013 21:05

I loved the series and watched it all religiously from the first airing in the UK. I have all the series sets on DVD. Whilst the first film was "alright", I felt it was too much Carrie centric and not as cutting as the series. I still haven't seen the second film as the trailers were that bad, I couldn't bear to watch it.

ineedanewmiddlename · 16/01/2013 21:06

YANBU.

Loved the series, but disliked the first film. Never subjected myself to the second.

PrincessTeacake · 17/01/2013 21:32

I love the 2nd film, I put it on when I have friends around so we can drink and cackle about how awful it is. We even had the Shut up, Carrie! drinking game thrown out the window ten minutes into the film, not sure my liver has recovered fully.

Flip

1 2 3