I’m just back from seeing the “Sex and the City” movie at the first St. Louis screening; I’ll be reviewing it in Friday’s Post-Dispatch. First impressions — if you’re looking forward to seeing it, by all means see it. Super fans may even want to see it twice. There’s a lot to like here, expecially the first half (or third, maybe; the first segment), which is snappy, very funny and completely a return to the “S&TC” we loved. And the end: A lot of people in the audience (only about 160 seats) I saw it with liked the ending enough to applaud. I’ve heard of other audiences giving standing ovations.

HOWEVER. It is way too long at 2 hours and 20 minutes. And it seems even longer because the second half is meandering, sometimes draggy, and much more serious than the beginning, with some nice moments but a lot less fun and fewer high points. People who have been dragged along, or are at all lukewarm about the whole thing, will get fidgety here. A firmer hand in the editing booth could have made this a great movie. As it is, it’s just a good movie.