After a marketing blitz that could have taught Lord Kitchener a thing or two about campaigning, the big screen adventure of the small screen queens has finally arrived.

Around the world, legions of fans have pre-booked their tickets and pre-mixed their Cosmopolitans, but is it worth the hype?

Four years after Carrie (Parker), the kooky one (she can’t text and likes library books!), returned from Paris, she's a bestselling writer, about to move into a Fifth Avenue penthouse with sometime soulmate Mr Big (Noth).

Miranda (Nixon), the uptight one, is struggling to juggle a high-flying Manhattan career with life as a wife and mother in (whisper it) Brooklyn.

Charlotte (Davis), the Park Avenue Princess, is raising her adorable adopted Chinese daughter with husband Harry (Evan Handler).

And Samantha (Cattrall), the sex-mad one, has relocated to Malibu to set up house with younger man Smith (Jason Lewis).

Despite a rabid online following, the filmmakers have done a decent job of keeping major plot points under wraps. Without spoiling too much, there is a wedding or two, infidelity, heartbreak, dirty talk and lots and lots of shopping.

Filmmaker's have tried to cram in everything that fans loved about the series, with blink-and-you'll-miss them cameos peppered liberally among the emotional epiphanies, complete with explanatory commentary, that pop up every five minutes.

However, the plot is almost incidental to this celebration of expenditure. No one walks down a street or enters a room without a shopping bag or six in their hand, with brand names prominently displayed.

There are complete costume changes with almost every scene, and the ensembles range from the spectacular to the ridiculous.

Enjoyment of the film pretty much depends on whether you are a fan of the series - the main characters are still self-obsessed clothes horses (not a comment on SJP's features) who never let a genuine emotion get in the way of a good pun, or even a bad one.

It's frothy and fun, but no more shallow than most rom-coms or chickflicks, and a film based around the very much active love lives of women in their 40s makes a refreshing change.

It delivers plenty of sex, most of it in the city, so does what it says on the tin, but don't expect it to convert any non-believers.

Ruth Ford