I'll just come right out and say it. I am a fan of Sex and the City the television series. But after watching Sex and the City the movie the other night, I left disappointed. Its jokes just weren't as funny. Its drama both weighed it down and failed to delve deep enough to really deliver. Even though the movie is over five times as long as one of its regular TV episodes, I can think of several episodes that contain more significant events, memorable scenes, and character development than the entire movie. And between the major plot points given away in the movie's trailer and the knowledge I already had of the characters, the movie's story unfolded in such a predictable matter, it almost made me wish for an Indy 4 ending.

That said, the movie isn't awful. If its characters and storyline are predictable, it is because those characters and the way they navigate through life are what we fell in love with to begin with. Even though its ending holds no surprises, most of the series' fans probably would have revolted had it ended any other way. And even though the movie can often feel like no more than a giant box filled with tissue paper, inside that tissue, there are still a few valuable trinkets to take away.

If you've watched the movie's trailer, you pretty much know the major events that propel its story. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) finally decide to get married. And, at the last minute, don't. Steve (David Eigenberg) cheats on Miranda (Cynthia Nixon). Charlotte (Kristin Davis) gets pregnant. And Samantha (Kim Cattrall) struggles to remain faithful to Smith (Jason Lewis). The questions that the remaining story must resolve: Will Carrie and Big get back together? Will Miranda and Steve and work things out? Will Samantha actually be able to commit? And since the movie was made to do nothing other than please its already existing fans, its answers just confirm that the women and relationships we knew four years ago are pretty much the same now.

With Carrie, Miranda, and Samantha all dealing with disappointment in their romantic relationships, a major theme of the movie, as in the series, is the value of friends. As Carrie says, "Life doesn't always turn out to be your fantasy. That's why you need friendships that are real to get you through it all." In the movie, the women are the ones who help each other deal with the problems they are dealt. One part protection, two parts presence, three parts honesty, and a four parts understanding, the women are not only there for each other wherever they may be, they are also there to help each other get wherever they are going.

Although Charlotte personally deals with the least drama of all the women in the movie, her character comes off as one of the most noticeable examples of the friendship that the four women have come to depend upon so much. Where the other women have remained the same, she has taken on a fierceness that was not there before. And even though her own life has pretty much turned into a fairytale, her intense reactions to her friends' struggles reveal that real connection means truly feeling for and desiring the best for those we love.

Continue: 1 2