Bruce Bennett Short Bio

Bruce Bennett

Bruce Bennett has been the primary contributor to Mad About Movies since it began in 2003. He is an award winning film and theater critic who, since 2000, has been writing a weekly column in The Spectrum daily newspaper in southern Utah as well as serving as a contributing editor of “The Independent,” a monthly entertainment magazine. He is also the co-host of “Film Fanatics” a movie review show which earned a Telly in 2009. Bruce is also a featured contributor at: RottenTomatoes.com

His motto: "I see bad movies so you don't have to."

Sex and the City

“Sex and the City” arrives, men hide the car keys

When panning a film it is fairly common for movie critics to attempt to discredit it by describing it as “made-for-cable,” an implication of lower quality. So wouldn’t it be redundant to describe the self-indulgent “Sex and the City” big-screen adaptation as similarly vapid, pointless, and poorly acted as the popular HBO show upon which it is based?

On the other hand, do its fans, for whom this two-and-a-half hour (though it feels eternally longer) love letter is obviously made really care?

No, they don’t. Nor should you. “Sex and the City” struts its stuff knowing it has no higher goal than to please its customer. The show’s fan base has waited over three years for the reunion of superficial material girls Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and Samantha (Kim Cattrall). It’s all here: the sex-crazed cougar attitude (new feminism?), the relationship stupidity, and of course the relentless designer couture.

A plot summary would be futile since there really isn’t one, just a series of situations most of which involve pre-menopausal meltdowns of the highest order. All of which defy logic unless you LIVE for moments when you hear the doorbell ring and answer it to find your three best friends there for a “surprise visit.” If you do, this film-which features at least a half dozen of such precious inanities-may be just your cup of Glaceau Vitamin water. The funniest moment in the film involves Montezuma’s revenge-is that a good sign?

Academy award winner Jennifer Hudson’s arrival as Carrie’s new assistant promises some much needed soulful grounding. But alas, the script allows no room for any depth of character whatsoever. Probably a good thing since the acting, especially by the men in the film is particularly poor. Perhaps this petty preoccupation works better in half-hour doses on the small screen.

That groan you hear is the quality of TV programming going down another notch.

Grade: D
Rated R for profanity, nudity and sexual situations.

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