Sex and the City 2

After seeing the first Sex and the City movie, and finding it OKAY, I decided to take a stab at the second film. I am a huge fan of the HBO series, so i was naturally excited...

THE GOOD: Yes, there were some funny moments, and some nice things to look at (clothes, design, men). I liked most of the music choices, and I did enjoy the first 20 minutes or so of the film because it seemed as though it would be building up to something interesting, but just these few things alone could not have made a good enough movie for one of the best shows to ever air on television.

THE BAD: This movie had a lot of downfalls. Lets start with the plot (or lack there of). The audience was treated to four women that constantly complained about their "problems". I am not saying that their issues were not legitimate to regular women, but they did not present these issues in a way that would create an interesting plot..they were just seemingly simple problems that were over dramatized and annoying to listen to (lackluster marriage, boring job, declining hormones, having children...) In the middle of these "problems" we get to see how rich they are with their maids/nannys, change of expensive clothes every 4 minutes and fancy homes. All these things made it hard to sympathize with them. Yes, in the show we saw their lavish lifestyle, but this film was rubbing it in the audience's face, and it was a main part of the "storyline" when it really shouldn't have been. (plus, a lot of the clothing choices were NOT good)

It seemed as though they threw in the idea of going to Abu Dhabi just to make things interesting, but it just made things worse. I felt as though there was a mocking/ undermining quality to the way they portrayed middle eastern customs... But more importantly (to me) is the fact that when i think of the show and its title "Sex in the CITY" I think of that city as NYC, NOT Abu Dhabi (really, what were they thinking?)

Overall, i felt like this was a poorly executed film that had little resemblance to the show... I feel cheated.

Anyone watching this in 2020 cause of quarantine just to see if its as cringey as you remember? No? Just me? Ok

The popular TV series Sex and the City has ran from 1998 - 2004, spawned a movie adaptation of the series in 2008, and here's the sequel that will most likely bring it to a close in 2010. At this point, the girls are old enough for fans to not care what happens to them. But we keep coming back to see them every movie and every episode. We're so used to these characters we need them in our lives supposedly, but after this movie, my love for this show is drastically decreased. My hope for this film to be a successful follow up was brought to a tease when watching the first hour of this film.

To begin with, the film has a miserable run time. Two hours and thirty minutes may work for a superhero film or LOTR prequel, but who the hell thought it would work for a Comedy about four women? The first film had the almost the same run time, though it was entertaining and it was fun to see the characters do what they did in the second film like struggle with wedding plans and try on dresses. This is jam packed with racist, stereotypical jokes about homosexuals, Jewish people, and Middle Eastern people as well. I'm sure if Prince of Persia didn't steal the subtitle, The Sands of Time, it would belong as the subtitle of SATC2.

The plot is all four women are struggling with their marriages. Carrie (Parker) wants more "sparkle" with her man "Big", Charlotte (Davis) has trouble keeping her two children under control and frets the nanny (Eve) is getting too close to her husband, Miranda (Nixon) is stressed with work and not there for her kid when she needs to be, and Samantha (Cattrall) is still sleeping with the whole town. All knowing their stressed, Samantha books a vacation for the girls to fly in n extreme first class condition to the Middle East where jokes take the route for stereotypical, and the lackluster level plummets straight into the ground.

Its sad to see a once brilliant series take the route of crap, but if it were to keep going on and maintain the same jokes as seen in this, it's better off dead. I said before the first movie was just as long, but interesting to see the characters get into fun mischief and have fun, intelligent talks. In this sequel, an intelligent and interesting talk is hard to come by. Every talk is followed by some bad joke or stupid sexual comment, no talk is perfect in this film.

Overall, the film is mediocre and just a bore. There are some humorous scenes by Carrie and Big, but with a big name like Sex and the City, it should've been extraordinary and have been on many critics "Best of the year" list. Instead it makes the "Worst of the year" list and probably will earn the title "The worst film of the year" by most critics. Wouldn't surprise me if the cameo by Miley Cyrus is nominated for a Razzie Award. Lord knows the film will be too.

Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Alice Eve, Chris Noth, John Corbett, David Eigenberg, Evan Handler, Miley Cyrus, Penelope Cruz, Jason Lewis, Lynn Cohen, and Liza Minnelli.

This movie was unnecessary once again. I get it. These characters are fun characters and people like watching them interact but i just once again feel like there was nothing to be said once again.

The glaring issue is this movie is also too long. 2 and a half hours! That is 5 times the run time of a single episode of the original series. That is a big jump and i don't think it works especially when then story isn't there to support the long run time.

I actually found this movie slightly funnier than the previous but only by a slight margin. But i just couldn't get past the blah-ness.

Kim Cattrall is great as always but why she is also great is she's the only thing stopping them making a third movie, so good on her. They would keep making them because like i said people love these characters, i do too but i don't want to see them just like flounder around the screen not growing or developing. I said it in the last review that these characters have plateaued. They have reached their end and big surprise they ended once again where we started with them.

I do want to mention the start of this movie because it was the strangest thing id seen all week, Liza Minelli singing Single Ladies. That maybe even be enough to make the film watchable.

A lot of people exercise their brains with puzzles found in the newspaper. Sudoku is a prime example. The variety published by a typical paper can usually be solved in less than 5 minutes, or at least that's been my experience with them. The goal for me was to grab an issue of The Kansan, take a seat in class, and have the Sudoku finished before learning was to commence. I didn't have class every day, so when I didn't need the Sudoku I kept the paper. A small pile sits next to me as I type this review. I never got to working a single puzzle after graduating; I found that writing and talking about movies was a more suitable exercise for me. It seems that the worse the movie in question, the more mistakes there are to find. For that reason alone, Sex and the City 2 is a good brain teaser.

The adventure begins when Carrie Preston (Sarah Jessica Parker) and friends Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) attending the wedding of their best gay friends. Since this is based on a long running TV series, I'm sure fans of the show found more significance to the scene than I did. In my eyes it was the most logical way to present Liza Minnelli as herself singing Beyoncé's "Single Ladies". It's a scene that can't be unseen, and I knew instantly that it would haunt me for the rest of the summer. Everyone at the wedding makes Carrie feel bored with her life now that she's settled down with Mr. Big (Chris Noth). The most bizarre way this is accomplished is by having a random couple tell them they will be lonely if they don't have children. Then wouldn't you know it, something ridiculous happens and the girls get flown to Abu Dhabi where they are treated like royalty all because some sheik wants Samantha work a PR campaign for his property. But don't worry, our leading ladies forget about any logical objective and proceed to flaunt what they got in the desert.

I realize this movie didn't have me in mind when it was created. This is my first experience with the girls of Sex and the City and from what I gathered I can see why an hour-long TV program running on premium cable would be a hit. These girls are rude, and vulgar, but they play off of each other like champs. When they are seated at a table gossiping is when Sex and the City 2 shows any hint of a shine. The problems then smudge that polish.

I've never seen so many costume changes. I'm convinced it's the driving point behind the narrative. Every scene is constructed to show what Carrie and the girls can put on then lead to another situation for them to dress up. No movie should be so shallow, and even worse they look flammable and toxic. I wasn't sure if the running gag is that Carrie doesn't know she looks like a low rent streetwalker, there's a sign of trouble if ever there was one.

No care is shown with the characters. Samantha sleeps with absolutely any guy regardless of the situation, and the outcome is too much to stomach. Miranda has a subplot about needing to balance work and family which gets lost in a sea of plunging necklines. Charlotte frets about her husband cheating on her with their nanny every 10 minutes. Lastly, Carrie is simply too selfish to be likable. She has a husband who seems to be doing a fantastic job by everyone else's standards. To her, he needs to do more and this sets her up for a lamebrain, and oddly predictable, encounter with an old flame.

The wanton excess of this movie leaves no doubt as to why the world hates us. Sex and the City 2 is a better terrorist motivational tool than it is an enjoyable time at the theatre. These girls are easily living the life in New York before the film takes its sweet time to send them to the Middle East where everything is ratcheted up to 11. They each get a personal Maybach 62 S so they can be chaffered to and from locations where they can offend locals and change clothes. There's an occasionally clever line but that won't vindicate watching it.