And Just Like That; How to Make It on OnlyFans

“The onslaught of ‘woke’ teachings lends the show a smugly self-congratulatory rather than ironically self-aware air. This does nothing to make it sing like the original, which – even if it was narrow and elite – knew its world inside out and could allow the comedy and the drama to arise in ways that felt effortless. Perhaps more importantly for the overall success of the series, it reduces the original characters to a baffled trio trying to negotiate a strange new world, as if the only thing ageing has to offer us (or women at least) is confusion and failure. All that said – there are reasons to hope that these are teething troubles only. There is a handful of good lines, there are flashes of the old spirit and there is one sex scene that recalls the genuinely pioneering original, and what fun it used to be.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“The pointed absence of Kim Cattrall as its fourth wheel in And Just Like That… meant the funny filth quota that became its progenitor’s byword in the 1990s (and, for me, the sole reason for watching because it was otherwise really quite annoying) was sadly much depleted. Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie), Cynthia Nixon (Miranda) and Kristin Davis (Charlotte) gamely tried to fill the Samantha-shaped hole with lame stuff about masturbation, gender-neutral toilets and teenagers leaving used condoms on bedroom floors, but it felt as though they were going through the motions, as if their hearts weren’t really in it. Instead there were many inclusivity themes as a lunge for relevance that only make you remember how funny and risky the un-PC Samantha could have made it.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“There is lots to like about And Just Like That, and as with the original series, much of it is in the finer details. The quietly political discussion over whether Miranda should dye her grey hair; Steve’s hearing aid which he takes out when convenient; the fashion, of course. But there’s also a lot that rankles – the persistent references to the pandemic and over-romanticised moments when the show indulges in its own legacy. The problem is that the show is competing with a younger, bolder, less pressured version of itself. SATC changed the way women are portrayed on TV for the better. Its reincarnation should be allowed a few clumsy missteps.”
Emily Baker, The i

“This 10-episode revival isn’t just shocking because of what happens in it but because it knows its main characters are older, whiter and completely out of step. It is a brave, unexpected and ultimately rewarding move. If the terrible movie versions of the show overdosed on froth and nonsense, wildly misreading the pull of its TV source material, And Just Like That…gets Sex and the City back to basics. There are still guffaws and glamour but it also has emotional heft.”
Adam White, The Independent

“The ‘wokeness’ feels tacked on, as do the non-white characters. They’ve been brought in to answer criticism that Sex and the City was too white, but they will always be background noise to the three main stars, plus the others we already know well. The midlife issues do feel rooted in truth: parenting truculent tweens and teens, having a late career change. It was, though, always a comedy at heart. Now it isn’t. Here’s the message of And Just Like That…: in your fifties you can still have fashion. You just can’t have fun.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“The psychology of inexperienced operators selling sex online is not lingered on for too long, because the film wants to have a nudge-wink giggle over homespun smut. We get the latter when Zoe, researching her target market, logs on to a porn site and is soon sitting with her eyes out on stalks. Thus How to Make It on OnlyFans eases itself in alongside 2012’s hilarious but bittersweet My Phone Sex Secrets and 2013’s faintly macabre Dogging Tales, joining a sub-genre of Channel 4 documentaries that try to peep with a chortle at horny suburbia. But whenever TV does that, it seems it can’t help lifting a lid on something disturbing.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian

“HTMIOOF was fatuous nonsense that was an excuse for a bit of soft-focus flesh and some giggling. What was frustrating about the film, however, was that it chanced upon several really quite interesting stories and then didn’t explore them. Likewise, there were hints at the sort of insecurities or identity-crises that had driven some of these people to want this sort of ‘fan’ in the first place, but these also went unexplored. In summary I learned very little about how to make it on OnlyFans, very little about OnlyFans itself… and now I can never eat quiche again.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph