(M) Roadshow DVD
Sarah Jessica Parker’s post Sex and the City body of work generally contains movies that insult both her own and her audience’s intelligence. Yet, for reasons I can’t fathom, I like her.
Not everyone does. A Maxim magazine poll actually awarded her the title of “Unsexiest Woman Alive”. Ouch.
This movie isn’t terrible. In fact, it’s smart at times. SJP plays a working mother trying to juggle her dream job with a family. We’re not silly. We know exactly how she does it. She has a nanny and a supportive husband, for a start.
Attempts at raw reality are overshadowed by frothiness but people will still watch this. And by people I mean women, of course. Women that I’d assume wish to be entertained but also empowered.
Why are the female protagonists of these sorts of movies inevitably accident-prone? It’s like there’s a list of prerequisites: Great hair? Check. Desperate to be taken seriously? Check. Trips over everything in sight? Check!
It’s as if ditzy equals endearing. Or that we’ll forgive her for her 0% body fat, perfect apartment, high powered job and eternal blow-dry if she consistently makes a fool of herself. Oh, look! She’s human after all. Awww.
Any self-respecting chick flick contains a love triangle and this is no different with husband (Greg Kinnear) and co-worker (Pierce Brosnan) vying for our girl’s affections.
Throw into the mix a sassy, supportive bestie (Christina Hendricks), girly rivals (stay at home mum Busy Phillips), a demanding boss (Kelsey Grammer), a scheming co-worker (Seth Meyers) and the now tired question, “Can women have it all?”
After the shenanigans subside the answer is, of course, yes — if you follow your heart … Or something.
I want to tell you that I hated it, but I didn’t. My raging cynicism is no match for the inexplicable allowances I make for SJP. She can act as wide-eyed as she likes but she doesn’t fool me for a second: anyone who makes a career out of this sort of nonsense is one smart lady.
Jasmine Edwards
