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September 23, 2008 12:38 PM

TUESDAY FLICK: Lipstick Jungle

It seems that we have been talking about Lipstick Jungle, like, forever, and finally, finally, last night it came to the screens of the UK public (or to those who get Living TV anyway).

So. Was it worth the wait?

Well, it was entertaining. It featured three strong(ish) females with high powered jobs. But. It is probably unfair of me to do this, I can't help but compare it to Candace Bushnell's other creation. Sex and The City.

Lipstick Jungle is about three women. Wendy (Brooke Shields) has it all - on her plate. She is trying to balance family life (two children) with her husband, friends and her high powered job as a movie executive. Nico (Kim Raver) has a boring husband who is into books (what is wrong with that?!), a male rival at work (obviously), a (male) boss who tells her if she has children she'll lose focus and she complicates things by falling for a Hot Guy. Then there is Victory Ford (Lindsay Price) perhaps my favourite out of the women. Her fashion show is a failure and she is trying to stabilise herself whilst being wooed by a Hot Billionaire (another Mr Big?)  played by Andrew McCarthy.

I wanted to like it, and I did enjoy it. But it just didn't have the same impact as that first episode of Sex and The City. It didn't make me go "wow". In SaTC you had four women with very different and very obvious, strong personalities. With Lipstick Jungle, at the moment, the women just seem a bit samey. The same glossy hairstyle, the same suits, the same decor in their houses. There is nothing unique about them, unlike say the sexiness of Samantha and the quirkiness of Carrie. Also, I'm afraid to say, the character played by Brooke Shields (who is the linchpin of the show) is just a bit tedious. Trying to juggle so many things at once, being let down by her husband, encountering difficulties at work because of the juggling - it just seems to be a bit cliched. A bit last decade.

There is crying, their lives are starting to fall apart and when Brooke's character comes on screen I tense up as I feel one of her juggling balls is about to drop. I just feel the message is, once again, that women can't have it all.

I will continue to watch it and I reserve the right to change my mind as the season progresses but all I can say for now is...thank goodness my Sex and The City movie DVD arrived today.

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Posted by Helen Redfern on September 23, 2008 in Friday Flick, Television | Permalink

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