Sex and the City 2
DIR: Michael Patrick King • WRI: Michael Patrick King • PRO: Julio Fernández • DOP: John Thomas • ED: Michael Berenbaum • DES: Jeremy Conway • CAST: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall
Yes, they’re back (yet again) for another big screen adventure – four sophisticated Manhattan women – perky sex columnist Carrie Bradshaw, prim and proper Charlotte York, cynical lawyer Miranda Hobbes and sex-crazed Samantha Jones, all ready to strut their stuff in what can best be described as a two-hour fashion show. After the worldwide success of the last film, New Line have pumped out this latest feature with a reported budget of $95 million – making the franchise glossier than ever, but no amount of flattering lighting and soft-focus filters can disguise the fact that these women have morphed from interesting archetypal characters to card-board cut-outs of their former selves.
The movie opens with flashbacks explaining how the girls first met each other, decked out in ’80’s garb with awful hairstyles, which is admittedly very funny. The plot, thin as it is, centres around Big and Carrie – there’s no great dramatic incident that triggers a soul-searching story arc – just that he prefers nights in with the remote, while she’s looking for the sparkle of the big city…after a couple of days apart in which Carrie does some writing back at her old apartment, Big proposes regular short two-day breaks from their marriage as a way to keep things from going stale. Meanwhile, Charlotte feels threatened by her big-bosomed Irish nanny and Miranda is annoyed with her boss. Samantha is back on the market in search of men, battling the menopause with a cocktail of vitamins every morning. That’s about the height of it.
The first reel of the film is taken up by a big wedding scene, bringing together two token gay characters who hated each other throughout the series and are now inexplicably exchanging vows before the holy vessel of Liza Minnelli – who also performs at the party with a hideous cover of ‘All the Single Ladies’. Carrie and the others are all in attendance. There’s also a movie premiere in which Samantha wears the same dress as Miley Cyrus and Big hits on Penelope Cruz. Then suddenly the girls take off on an all-expenses paid trip to tourist paradise Abu Dhabi – where Samantha has some PR business to attend to. There’s less a plot in this movie and more a series of extravagant events hoping to be a coherent film.
Placing these four very Western, sexually expressive women in one of the Arab emirates is a risky move – and they do clash with their surroundings, particularly Samantha who finds it hard to keep within the customs of an Islamic country, eventually being arrested for lewd behaviour and heckling the local men after condoms fall out of her purse. The girls also run into a group of Arab women, who make the eye-rolling revelation that they are secretly wearing high fashion labels under their burkas. It’s these kinds of shenanigans that make one question the intentions of Michael Patrick King, the director and writer who seems to have run out of believable scenarios to place these characters in. Carrie also runs into old flame Aidan Shaw while at a spice market, and the question of will they or won’t they rekindle their love need not be answered here.
Visually the movie is very appealing – the exotic scenery is quite spectacular, even if it does somewhat take the ‘City’ out of the title. One of the charms of the show was to see New York at its best, as a stage for smart and funny dialogue about relationships and sex. A highlight of the film is a scene between Davis and Nixon as they discuss the hardships of motherhood over cocktails. It’s here that the movie regains some of the initial attraction that came with the series. Many fans of the show will happily pretend that the story ended with the final episode and the movie versions don’t exist. But this film, while it may be missing the edge and relevance of the original show, does improve on the last cinematic outing by not taking itself too seriously – it’s superfluous whipped cream entertainment and it’s well aware of that fact. Indulge only if you must.
Eoghann McQuinn
Rated 15A (see IFCO website for details)
Sex and the City 2 is released on 28th May 2010
Sex and the City 2 – Official Website
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Category: Reviews
I love carrie and miranda in this movie, hope there is many more to come!
iv worked with kim out of sex and the city ,i must say kim is a lady.shay monahan actor.irish.
i would always be a fan of the TV Series samantha who, it is really very funny ‘.”
i would always be a fan of the TV Series samantha who, it is really very funny ‘.”
i would always be a fan of the TV Series samantha who, it is really very funny ‘.”
i would always be a fan of the TV Series samantha who, it is really very funny ‘.”