Year:
1998
Studio:
Home Box Office
Feature:
3/5
DVD:
1/5
Feature
My sister loves "Sex and the City", so does my brother and Dave and his
wife. I took the opportunity to borrow seasons 1 through 4 and watch
over the course of a week plus. "Sex and the City" is a half hour
R-rated sitcom shown on HBO. It follows the adventures of four
Manhattan early to mid-thirties career single women as they meet and
date men, have sex, and fall in and out of love.
Almost everything is told from the point of view of newspaper columnist
Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), who writes the "Sex and the
City" column. Her three friends are the wild Samantha Jones (Kim
Cattrall), who by far the most sexually active and the most sexually
adventerous; Charlotte York (Kristin Davis), who wants to be married
and raise a proper family; and her best friend Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia
Nixon), attorney and later partner at her law firm.
The first season is the most varied, as the episodes highlight various
sexual topics, usually able to show it in four different lights. The
only running plot is the romance of Carrie and Mr Big (Chris Noth).
Season 2 introduces Aidan Shaw (John Corbett), who Carrie falls in love
with and yet ultimately can't commit to by the end of Season 4.
Charlotte has her long arc when she marries Trey MacDougal (Kyle
MacLachlan) and finds out that sometimes love and marriage is not
enough. Miranda gets pregnant in Season 4 and even Samantha falls in
love in Season 4.
It's a nice show with good production values. And yet it's not a show
I'd try to watch if I had cable. I guess in the effort to create real
characters, what you end up is four women who are at times quite
selfish and petty and flawed. At times the show reminds me of
"Seinfeld" -- four people who I wouldn't want to know in real life. And
although the sex jokes are great, after a while it gets a bit stale and
you're left with a handful of imperfect relationships and a show that's
about as funny as most other sitcoms.
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Since the
relationships all seem to end in heartache, the only real
element that I really like are the voiceovers. Carrie is always writing
a column. Each episode starts with an introduction, then we see Carrie
start her week's column with an observation. The rest of the week she's
researching and we see the various threads play out. At the end we have
an insightful bit from Carrie as she finishes her column. That to me is
the best part of the show.
Actors
Sarah Jessica Parker has become a good actress, working her way up from
B movie roles. Kim Cattrall has the most nude scenes. Kristin Davis is
beautiful. Cynthia Nixon goes from plain to pretty and back again,
showing that a good outfit and makeup can make a world of difference.
Chris Noth seems fairly good, though the character he plays is like
"why are you attracted to him?" John Corbett on the other hand
continues to be sexy playing nice people.
DVD
Season three has 4 episode commentaries while season four has 3 episode
commentaries. There are some cast and crew bios though I didn't look at
them. The first season has an HBO trailer for the show and a
commercial. That's it and it's not very impressive.
Recommendations
As a smart and sexy comedy, "Sex and the City" delivers. It's probably
not for people who can't talk about sex in public. And after a while it
gets kind of boring. But if you buy it and watch it once a week you
should be happy. If you could only buy one season set, I'd rather get
"Friends". |