Sushi never looked so good

Cheers to writer/director Michael Patrick King and all concerned, for bringing this project, initiated by Sarah Jessica Parker years ago, to decent fruition. "While Sex and The City: The Movie" is not a perfect film, it manages to cleverly pick up (a few years later) where the brilliant cable TV series left off.

Taking a TV series - especially a seriously beloved one - and trying to turn it into a full-length feature is no easy task. Imagine, for instance, "Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Movie" (could possibly work, considering how clever Larry David is), "Weeds: Fully Grown" (love Mary Louise but this could be tricky), or, say, "Californication: The X Rated Files" (God forbid).

Movies are different than TV shows, which people watch in weekly installments, at home, on their couches, where a different, more intimate kind of connection to the characters can be made. Translating this sort of personal thing to the big screen without sacrificing the underlying tone would be extremely difficult, but as I say, they pulled it off, and I was left still wanting more.

The screenplay, for the most part, is fantastic. All four of the women have their own storyline, the most fun one being, of course, Samantha's. She has the best lines overall, too, superbly delivered, and the sushi scene is funny and sexy, with Catrall pulling it off in the classiest way possible. Jennifer Hudson fares extremely well as Carrie's wonderfully capable assistant, and NO, she is not a 'glorified maid', as some of the film's naysayers have suggested. The best element of the writing though, is the very clever way Chris Noth's character, John Preston, aka Mr. Big, is brought back into the story towards the end. This could have been handled in a contrived manner, but thanks to King's supremely thoughtful and creative sensibility, it's not. Everything flows smoothly in this movie, actually, which was one of the best things about the TV series - the writing was never forced, it had a breezy, light feel to it, always, and the movie, even with its sad undercurrent, still manages to achieve this.