Note: I originally envisioned this as part of a "short take," but I abandoned the notion when I saw how long this was. Bear that in mind, as what follows is more of a rant than a traditional Feria Films review.Spoiler-averse, take note of my lax attitude.
I love that unnecessary subtitle. It's like everything else in the movie. While Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) have been together since we last saw them and plan to move in together, an expensive 5th avenue (I think) apartment leads to a decision to get married, which leads to getting jilted, which leads to silliness. So then we backtrack over what are supposed to be Big's commitment issues, but it ends up being about Carrie's crazy self-absorption issues. This, my friends, is kind of fantastic (at least as a notion. Execution? Not so much). Since the chronically underused and under-appreciated Cynthia Nixon is the only one who gets anything resembling an emotional subplot (you know, other than Carrie), I'm going to just skip right over pretty much everything else. In the midst of my sickness, my boredom, and my annoyance at the two people who came in an hour and half (!) after the movie started and insisted on sitting directly in front of me (!!), who then had the temerity to start loudly asking questions as to what was going on (!!!), I realized a few things that I didn't already know about my feelings re: SatC (the series or the movie).
They are as follows:
- I really dislike the way that all of these people have apparently sprung, fully formed, from the Hudson, so little do they have in the way of parents, siblings, or childhood homes. I know that it can be difficult to weave a lot of these things in without making them plot points (like the ep where Miranda's mother died or the recurring character of Steve's ma), but it's so hard to swallow that they just have no ties. It's not normal.
- I also really dislike the over-reliance on the concept of a "good" person. Pretty much any show with no religious centre has the same kind of quasi-morality to it, so I know it seems strange to call it out this one time, but I found the scene where Charlotte (Kristin Davis) reveals that she's stopped running while pregnant because she's afraid of what might happen so ridiculous when she compares it to Big leaving Carrie and Steve (David Eigenberg) cheating on Miranda, things that shouldn't have happened in her view because they are "good" people. What is that crap? What does that even mean? How does that fit in with the world view of an Episcopalian turned Jew? Neither of those things have anything to do with the (debatable) fact that they are good people and everything to do with the fact that Carrie planned a huge wedding without consulting her husband-to-be and (not unkindly) steamrolled over him when he stated his objections plainly and that Miranda and Steve had a strained, sexless marriage. While neither of those things mean that they "deserve" to be jilted or cheated on, respectively, they also don't have anything to do with Charlotte's point.
- I really like Big. Who knew? The only boyfriend of Carrie's that I remember particularly liking was Berger, and that was only for the half a minute he wasn't a terrible boyfriend and even then mostly because he was Ron Livingston. But I feel bad for the poor guy. Yeah, sitting outside and waiting for her to get there is douchey and not trying to reach her any other way than her cell phone (get a clue, buddy! Try another line!) is similarly stupid, but so what? He realizes his mistake pretty quickly and, standing there in the the street pleading with Carrie and getting pummeled by flowers, I felt bad for him. It's like the episode where Carrie wants to meet his mother and he says no, so she stalks them in church. No wonder he doesn't want to introduce you, you selfish bint! I agree that Noth looks freakishly well rested, though.
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