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.

My sister and I were so excited about going to this movie. With the recession, the loss of jobs and general pessimism of late - the thought of dressing up, drinking cocktails and watching a great movie in the company of a whole room full of women like us was excellent. We desperately wanted to love the movie.

Initially, everyone seemed to be in good form – a bit of a cheer when Mr. Big came on screen; gasps and giggles in response to the first few jokes….then uncomfortable silence. My sister squirmed in the seat beside me through the horrible 'I am woman' song. Having visited the Middle East myself (and enjoyed the cultural experience and friendly people; albeit with a different outlook on life) I was pretty appalled at the blatant lack of propriety exercised by the four.

I have to admit when the movie ended, all the women around me turned to each other and said it was 'great' – I don't think we were ready to admit that it was possibly the biggest disappointment ever. My sister and I had planned to talk about the outfits and scenarios after…we completely avoided the topic. We had all looked forward to this movie – we couldn't admit to ourselves (never mind anyone else) that it was awful.

To say I loved the original show is an understatement. As I enter my late twenties/early thirties, the reruns are even more relevant. The characters in the show discussed sexuality in a fresh, exciting way. They were women you could look up to – intelligent, confident, self-assured. They bear zero resemblance to the four self-indulgent, disrespectful, two dimensional creatures I had to watch.

I doubt any fan will take my advice and not go – I would have ignored it myself. The movie seems to symbolise everything that has gone wrong lately – by blindly pursuing materialism we lose what's really important. This movie spells that out – and leaves you feeling ashamed for having loved them so much in the first place. Having said that, I watched an episode in the series a night later and realised that, actually, I'm not an idiot – they used to discuss interesting, relevant issues – just in fabulous clothes.

As an aside, I spent an hour with my sister getting all dressed up to go, two hours chatting to her before we watched the horror show and four hours after dancing our socks off. Maybe the fact that was the best part means I have my priorities right after all.

WARNING: a few *small* spoilers.

The previous review says it all - but I still feel it necessary to add my two cents.

I, too, was a huge fan of the series...if only because the characters were interesting, and it was so refreshing to listen to realistic female characters discuss taboo topics such as sex.

I forced myself to watch the first movie. That was bad. This one...even worse. The characters have become utterly superficial, materialistic (in a way that's practically nauseating given the current state of the economy) - and completely 2 dimensional. The writing - cartoony and juvenile. Honestly, Carrie's the worst - the way the character acted in the film, I would personally have recommended that Mr. Big file for divorce. (Complaining because he wants to stay home and watch movies together, then forcing him to leave a party--that she dragged him to--early because he had a conversation with another woman?) Jeez.

As for Samantha - that character's gone completely over the top - sex crazed in a way that went way past racy and into plain vulgar.

Combine that with the incongruity of throwing the characters into a completely unrealistic situation (heading to Abu Dahbi?), and then disrespect that they show to Arab culture....well, this movie COULD NOT have been worse. Thank goodness that there's no way they'll make STC3. At least, I really, really hope not. How this ever could have been green lighted for production is totally beyond my comprehension.

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.

Went into this not expecting much, the premise seemed off but wanted to see my old friends. I told myself everything you're telling yourself, well the fashion will be fun...there should be some funny stuff...might get to see a hot naked guy. I had no idea I'd robbed of my ticket money and insulted for 2 1/2 hours.

I loved the series, seen every show at least 6-7 times. I thought the first movie was a little disappointing, not very much depth, just wallowing and moping for most of it.

The new movie is just an exercise in self indulgence and complaining about problems that aren't really problems. Charlotte complaining about how hard it is to be her when she has a nanny AND a housekeeper. Miranda complaining that her boss doesn't like her. Carrie complaining that Big puts a TV in the bedroom. Samantha complaining about her hormones. I just kept thinking "are you kidding me?? This passes for dialogue??". That's all in the first 8 minutes and it's just downhill from there. I'm just disgusted.

Best part of the movie? The preview for the new Rachel McAdams film that came on right before it.