Fridae

Cosmos, couture and cocks. These are a few of our favourite things, so it's not difficult to see why Sex and the City captivated the queer crowd from the beginning - especially gay men.

There is something about this show with four single women who dress in designer labels and have great sex with different men that click with the many gay men who watch it. For the first time in TV history, we got to see women with sexual appetites as big as ours - and were unapologetic about it. The shopping, gossiping, bitchiness and backstabbing were just icing on the cake.

Although the show is based on a book by a woman (Candace Bushnell), it was really gay men who helped push the show to another level, fleshing out the characters far beyond what was provided by the book. Gay producer Darren Star (Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place) created the show for TV, and gay writer-director Michael Patrick King (Will & Grace) was behind most of the episodes. However defying the stereotype is interestingly, Patricia Field, the femme lesbian uber-stylist behind the TV series and the film as well as The Devil Wears Prada.

Of course, the idea of four sexually active characters written by openly gay men is bound to piss off some people. A few TV critics went so far as to say that Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha were really four fags masquerading as women. In the case of Samantha who "f*cks like a man"� - for pure pleasure and with no strings attached - this might actually be true.

But it is may not be so true of Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda. The later seasons (Season 4 onwards) took especial pains to tackle real women’s issues, like biological clocks and motherhood (Charlotte and Miranda), marrying up (Charlotte) or down (Miranda), divorce (Charlotte), breast cancer (Samantha) and abortion (Samantha, Carrie and Miranda).

And in new Sex and The City: The Movie, all the characters - with the exception of Samantha still - have grown more mature and womanly than ever before. Whether it's Carrie being still single at 40, Miranda balancing family and career, and Charlotte settling into motherhood, the movie attempts to portray the messy lives of modern women as they really are.

The movie opens with Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) working on her new book about love. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) are juggling marriage and motherhood - with Charlotte being much better at it, of course - while Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is in Hollywood managing the career of her younger actor-boyfriend (ultra-hot Jason Lewis).

All's fine until Carrie's long-time beau Mr Big (Chris Noth) pops a casual, half-hearted marriage proposal - which throws everything into a tailspin. Does he or doesn't he mean it? Does she or doesn't she accept it? Do they or don't they get married? You'll have to watch to find out.

Yes, the lines are still outrageously funny, with a bit of slapstick humor thrown in. The clothes are more fabulous than ever, with lots of Chanel and Manolo Blahniks drawing oohs and aahs. And the parties, clubs and dinners still look f*ckin' fabulous.

But while Samantha still wants kinky sex, there is a tinge of sadness and poignancy in the lives of the other women. Nobody really wants to be a slut anymore. Nobody wants to bar-hop all night. Everybody just wants to settle down and find their "happily ever after" - even if they're not expecting high Cinderella standards.

There is one scene where Carrie, still single, looks at her haggard face without make-up in the mirror. And for the first time in the SATC history, it seems as if the good-time girl is truly worried about ageing without a man. Though the scene lasts barely 10 seconds, it will no doubt cut into the souls of many gay men who have often felt the same.

Gay writer-director Michael Patrick King strikes a fine balance between the spicy and the sad, the piquant and the poignant, the humorous and the heartbreaking. The women are still fabulous at 40 and 50, but they have also grown a little tired of disappointments, jaded with experience. Doesn't that happen to all of us eventually?

Sex and the City: The Movie opens this Thursday.