Let me say this right from the jump: I am obviously not the demographic at which Sex and the City 2 was aimed. Or the first SATC movie. Or the TV series. Or Candace Bushnell's books. Or her newspaper column.
And yet I would hope that, if this film had merit as a movie -- whether as fluffy romantic-comedy or trenchant social satire or even just as a guilty pleasure -- well, I'd like to think that I could see it for what it is.
What it is, unfortunately, is not very much. The TV series may have tapped into a zeitgeist, but it rarely made me laugh. And neither did this movie.
And at two hours and 23 minutes, that's a lot of not laughing. Between the outré fashions and the conspicuous consumption (whose sour taste is unmitigated by a couple of lines about how bad the economy is, obviously pointed attempts at vaccinating this film against charges of tasteless irrelevance) and the just plain dull writing, I find it hard to imagine that anyone will find this funny or entertaining.
Indeed, at the screening I attended, which was more than 50 percent women, the moments of actual out-loud laughter could be counted on one hand. The verbal grumbles about the clothes or the lameness of the jokes outnumbered the expressions of mirth.
Yes, I know: This is a fantasy, meant to take girls and women out of their lives and plunge them into a dreamworld called New York, as imagined by Darren Starr, the series creator, and Michael Patrick King, who has taken over the movie franchise. Every moment of these women's lives is supposed to be a fashion show. How fabulous.
But honestly: When Sarah Jessica Parker, as Carrie Bradshaw, goes shopping in a souk in old Abu Dhabi -- and comes flouncing out of her hotel in a designer outfit of Dior t-shirt and mammoth flouncy skirt, well, I mean, come on.
And really: Who is laughing at Kim Cattrall's jokes about menopause and "Lawrence of My Labia"? Or jokes about cameltoe, both real and figurative? I love vulgar humor, but there's a difference between actual vulgar wit (i.e., The Hangover) and just plain crude. These women are like little kids who know they can get a rise out of the adults by saying "poop." Or "fuck."
Still, the first SATC film was such a downbeat snooze that one assumed it couldn't get worse. But it can -- and it does.
This review continues on my website.
Follow Marshall Fine on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hollywoodnfine
Diana Butler Bass: Sex and the City 2: Where's the Interreligous Sensitivity?
Regina Weinreich: Sex and the City II: The Morocco Connection
Seriously, I think it would be about as much fun as being on the Event Horizon at the end of that movie.
I do agree with you on the first movie. It was awful and a huge let down for fans of the series like myself. The second one doesn't look any better! :(
"Miranda’s frumpy Brit cousin Hatty comes to NY . Married herself, she has fallen for a married colleague, goodlooking, smoothy Dave.
First of all the girls give her a total makeover, in the style of Jacqueline Susann, circa Valley of the Dolls. Carrie tells her it is a total success, Hattie looks like she is trick or treating.
The SATC girls provide their usual wise advice. David is in need of therapy, he is a commitment-phobe and has problems with intimacy. When he took out the restraining order, it was only because he was fighting his feelings. When he said to her “I never want to see your face again, is that plain enough” he just wasn’t serious. They advise her to carry on stalking him and when he has her hospitalised, they all turn on him, screaming how could you be so mean to her? They tell him he is an SOB, who doesn’t understand women.
The last scene shows the girls kissing each other, really a lot, because they are so close, crying and saying all men are b…..s. They are all off their bonces because they have slurped too many cocktails as well as their medication. New York women are just so lucky to have these strong, feisty, independent women as role models!"
http://cyberboris.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/harriet-harman-a-sex-and-the-city-girl/
the world is SO crazy today-- I need two hours of mindless fun--