This week at the movies, we've got love and commerce (Sex and the City: The Movie, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall) and romantic getaways gone wrong (The Strangers, starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman). What do the critics have to say?

Like the Grateful Dead or Star Trek, Sex and the City is a particularly polarizing pop culture touchstone. Now that the HBO cult fave has hit the big screen, it's the critics' turn to be divided. SATC continues the adventures of four gals in the Big Apple, each of whom is on the lookout for Mr. Right and the finest in Louis Vuitton handbags. Let's cut to the chase: critics say if you like the show, you'll like the movie, which expands the ribald talk and shop-till-you-drop mania to feature length. However, for the uninitiated, Sex and the City will be a slog. It currently stands at 62 percent on the Tomatometer.


Samantha didn't expect such a fierce bidding war for Jose Canseco's World Series ring
No wonder people aren't vacationing as much these days; they've got to worry about high gas prices and anonymous psychos lurking in the woods. Critics say The Strangers is a well-made, if generic, cat-and-mouse thriller. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman star as a couple whose relationship is on the rocks. A would-be romantic getaway in a remote vacation house goes horribly wrong when a trio of masked intruders put our heroes though a series of physical and emotional torments. The pundits say first-time helmer Bryan Bertino does a solid job of maintaining tension throughout the proceedings, but the film is ultimately without much of a point beyond ticking off various slasher tropes. At 46 percent on the Tomatometer, you may not want to get to know The Strangers.


"We wanted to speak with you about this exciting new product."
Also opening this week in limited release:

• Bigger, Stronger, Faster*, a documentary that takes a personal look at the issue of steroid use, is at 100 percent.
  
• The Foot Fist Way, the agonizingly comic tale of a small-town martial arts instructor, is at 59 percent.
  
• Stuck, starring Mena Suvari and Stephen Rea in a black comedy about a deadly hit-and-run, is at 86 percent.
  
• Wonders are Many, a doc about the staging of an operatic telling of the live of atomic bomb creator J. Robert Oppenheimer, is at 86 percent.
  
• The Unknown Woman, a dark melodrama about sex slavery from Cinema Paradiso helmer Giuseppe Tornatore, is at 62 percent.
  
• Savage Grace, a tale of incest and murder in an affluent family starring Julianne Moore, is at 41 percent.

"Sometimes when we touch, the honesty's too much..."
Recent Sarah Jessica Parker Movies:
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48% -- Smart People (2008)
51% -- Strangers with Candy (2006)
26% -- Failure to Launch (2006)
53% -- The Family Stone (2005)
87% -- State and Main (2000)