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MOCK
them at your own risk. They have heels and they know how
to use them. They’re showing up in droves, in posses, in
very well-dressed tribes. Worshipers of Sex and the
City may not look like Comic-Con fans but they’re
every bit as tenacious—and they smell better. Tickets
for the ArcLight Hollywood’s 12:01 a.m. Friday show of
the movie based on the HBO series sold out so quickly
that the theater added a 12:02 show. Then 12:03. And so
on, for seven post-midnight shows, and 1,800 tickets
sold.
And they
aren’t just there for the flick; they’re making an event
of it. By 10:30 Thursday night, the bar and restaurant
were full of groups of women, and the occasional man,
downing cocktails and awaiting the midnight hour. “If
you see a cosmo on a table, they’re going to Sex and
the City,” said waiter James Warfield as he carried
a tray bearing the show’s signature drink. “I have a lot
more ladies than usual.”
Lynze
Radzyminski, 24, sat at the head of a table of seven
friends, sporting Chanel. Her childhood buddy, Sarah
McDonnell, 25, coordinated her visit from Ohio to make
it to the opening show. Most of the women, all in their
early to mid-20s, knew one another from the Fashion
Institute of Design and Merchandising, and were
fabulously dressed. They’ve watched all the shows on DVD
many times and wouldn’t have missed the movie for
anything. They did not care about the early, sometimes
stinging, reviews, nor the epic length (two hours, 20
minutes). “It can never be too long because I can watch
the show for 14 hours in a row,” said Sarah Perillo, 21.
“I watch three episodes a night before I go to bed,
every night.”
Over at
the bar, Kandis Mak and her friend Erica Weindruch were
also impressively dressed. “This is totally a Samantha
outfit, but I don’t think of myself as Samantha. I think
I’m kind of a Carrie with a little Miranda,” Mak said.
Mak’s boyfriend, Andrei Kissin—in a sweat shirt and
jeans—was off to see the new Indiana Jones while the
girls went to Sex. “We’ve been planning this for months,
said Mak, 23. “From the very beginning, we said we have
to get dressed up, go have a cocktail before and pretend
we’re the girls before we go. It feels like we’re
reuniting with one of our best friends we haven’t seen
in four years.” They got the tickets only a week ahead,
so they’re sitting in the front row. But that’s OK,
Weindruch said: “We have tickets for tomorrow night
already.”
The HBO
series was a potent mix of outrageous fashion, soft-core
bedroom action and relationships that ran the gamut from
pillar to Post-It. But what held it all together—and
what detractors never understood—was the friendship
among Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha (Sarah
Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis and Kim
Cattrall, respectively). Mr. Big (Chris Noth) nailed it
in the final episode, when he said to Carrie’s friends
that they were the loves of Carrie’s life and a guy was
lucky to come in fourth.
So who
cares if the movie comes out four years after the show
ended? You think women’s friendships—even those between
real women and fictional creations—are that tenuous?
These women are coming to pay their respects.
“You
have to come see this with a mess of your friends
because it’s about friendship. It’s not about men, it’s
not about the outfits...it’s about friendship,” said
Gohar Gazazyan, 25, from Sherman Oaks, who was there
with 37 of her closest friends. One, Lilit Kalachyan,
25, just moved to Manhattan but came back for the event.
They started out the night at the Bowery up the street,
with cosmos and apple martinis. Three men—two straight,
one gay—accompanied the 35 women. Straight men? At this
movie? Call it research.
“The
smart men use the show to figure out what’s going on in
the minds of women. And then they’re better with women,”
Gazazyan said.
Since
mid-April, the ArcLight has been getting so many calls
from groups of women asking about the film that they
created a Sex and the City package ticket for opening
weekend. For $60, a private party with drinks and
appetizers precedes a screening. “To be quite honest, I
thought maybe we’d sell 100 tickets,” said Robert
Brugeman, who runs ArcLight’s special events, “and we’ve
ended up selling 900 of them.” They’ve added a second
weekend of party shows at the Hollywood venue.
Much has
been made in the press (including this newspaper) about
the film’s narrow appeal. After all, what about those
magical four quadrants that presage a hit? Young boys,
young girls, big strapping men and, yes, grown women.
Can a movie said to appeal only to women over 30 open
big? That term “only” rankles some people. After all,
the box-office bonanza The Devil Wears Prada
should have put the lie to that thinking two years ago.
And if the
midnight shows are any indication, plenty of twentysomethings are
attending.
When a
few of the fans were reached by phone the morning after
the screening, the words “awesome” and “amazing” were
most often used. Said Jessica Henry, 23, “I cried and
laughed. I’m going to see it again on Sunday with two
other girlfriends. We loved it. I had mascara running
down my face by the end of the movie.” She added that
she was exhausted from the evening. “I’m a nanny and
completely tired today and can barely take care of this
little girl, but it was worth it.”
Said
Kalachyan: “I’m going to see it a few times. And then
I’m going to buy the DVD and see that a few times.”
Mak also
raved about the film. “It was awesome. I’ll probably see
it again on Saturday or Sunday with my boyfriend.”
Meanwhile, said boyfriend didn’t get to see Indiana
Jones in the wee Friday hours after all, she said.
“There weren’t enough people to see Indy, so they
canceled it.” Interesting. Maybe it’s a movie “only” for
guys. |
