'Sex and the City' on the big screen

Get out those stiletto heels and clickety-click celebrate. The "girls," all four of them, have at long last made it to the big screen.

If you don't wear stilettos (in other words, if you're a guy), be warned that a long session of girl-talk dishing is about to be unleashed in the land.

Sassy but filled with romantic tragedy as well, the movie version of "Sex and the City," the six-year TV series that stretched the boundaries even of HBO, is what it was meant to be. It brings glamour, high fashion and four fan-familiar characters: the fashionable writer Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), the "mature" man hunter Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), the idealistic dreamer Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) and the sensible lawyer Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon).

Friends to the end of the TV series, they continue their friendship as the film begins, even though Samantha has moved to California with her boy-toy TV hunk, Smith Jerrod (Jason Lewis); Carrie is planning a wedding with the elusive Mr. Big (Chris Noth); Charlotte has an adopted child; and Miranda has marriage troubles after moving to Brooklyn.

It's all based on a book by relationship columnist Candace Bushnell that suggested the somewhat shocking idea (to some) that it was OK for women to be single and to hunt down men as if they were prey. Guys will squirm to learn that they can be disposable sex objects.

Has the movie recaptured the slight sophistication of the series in its 2-hour-and-25-minute running time? That is a bit of a stretch - the equivalent of five episodes in one sitting - but for the faithful, the movie serves well.

I know because I watched the film with four bona fide, committed "SATC" fans who were as eager to meet these characters again as they'd be to go on a shopping spree. Talk about intimidating a critic! They swore that if they did not like this review, they would find out where I live (which holds little threat because I'm always out at the movies). They say the movie could have been 10 times as long and still held their interest.

Point out to them that only 10 guys were in the theater when the movie previewed Tuesday, and they counter that it's still going to be the movie to knock "Indiana Jones" off its perch. They're planning movie parties with large numbers of girlfriends in a bunch to see it again.

OK already. What's the point of being so male about it? It is apparent that producer-actress Sarah Jessica Parker and writer-director Michael Patrick King know exactly what their audience wants.

Besides, guys who have dates had best play it smart and go along to this flick. After all, it is a bit ego-inflating to see Carrie pining over Mr. Big after all these years. Miranda, though, throws her poor hubby out because he tells the truth about playing around. In the process, women's attitudes toward things like faking an orgasm are revealed.

These women are strong and determined, yet flawed. It's the flaws that save them from becoming tigresses that might inspire fear in men and jealousy in women.

Parker is such a charmer that she can wear all those expensive clothes and still have women see her as vulnerable rather than a show-off.

Nixon, a Tony winner on Broadway, gets a bit of screen time by facing marital trouble when she has no time for sex and the hubby strays. In two subplots, the question arises of whether it's best to confess transgressions or just keep them secret.

The other two main cast members, Cattrall and Davis, get less screen time of significance.

The supporting cast from the series is back. The main newcomer is Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson ("Dreamgirls"), who plays Carrie's new assistant - a woman who knows designer labels as well as computer technology. Hudson fits into the movie naturally, but her small-town act doesn't quite jibe with her big-city savvy.

Sadly, Samantha, the Mae West of the new generation in that she clearly enjoys sex as much as any man, has quieted down a bit. She even hesitates when the surfer guy next door is spied in his outdoor shower. Still, at 50, she's the toughest of the women and is confident about pulling off a Valentine's Day surprise in which she wears nothing but some well-placed sushi.

Patricia Field continues as the costume designer, and one wonders what her fate will be at the Oscars. This may be the best-dressed movie of the year, but how many of the clothes did she design and how many were "acquired"?

More intriguing than any turn of the plot is the question of how well "Sex" will do against "Indiana Jones" this weekend. It took "The Devil Wears Prada" to prove that women can make a hit of their own. This is their film. Heaven help the critic who tries to get in the way of those stiletto heels. This isn't going to win an Oscar, but it's all yours. You go, girls.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com