Sex and the City 2 (2010) Reviews

• Worse than I ever could have imagined.

  tpaladino2010-06-04

  This could be the worst movie ever made. Certainly its the worst I've seen in a very long time. Now, before I begin I have to say that I'm not a fan of the series to begin with. It had its moments, but as a lifelong resident of Manhattan I mostly blamed the series for the unbearable influx of wide-eyed moronic girls from all over the country who flocked to the city en masse, thinking that upon arrival their lives would instantly revolve around cosmopolitans, rich men and $1000 shoes, and who very quickly became insufferable basket cases once the reality of city life actually set in on them. Of course, I saw this movie with my girlfriend, as my good deed for the week. What I was not prepared for was how horrible it actually was. The first ten minutes contained more cliché, stinted dialog, corny jokes and general awkwardness than I had previously thought possible in such a short time frame. It was embarrassing. It also involved Liza Minelli. I thought it couldn't get worse, but oh did it ever. Next came the foundation for the entire film, which was that the ladies were in a funk and needed to get away for a couple of weeks. The funny thing about that is how they all have impossibly great lives, especially by NYC standards. They live in massive apartments, have high-paying careers, plenty of money and for everyone but Samantha, loving husbands and families. And its not like there was some substantial existential crisis underpinning their dissatisfaction to legitimize their feelings and generate sympathy on behalf of the audience. It all amounted to 'Boohoooo we used to partyyyy all the time but now we're all grownups waaa pity us'. Literally, that was it. Sorry, I don't feel bad for you guys. So Carrie starts a whole big fight with her husband because he doesn't feel like going out to some stupid party after working into the evening and providing her with a lifestyle that includes what appears to be a $15 million apartment, two luxury cars, an unlimited decorating budget, a truly massive closet with hundreds of thousands of dollars in clothes, enough leisure time to write her stupid books AND her old apartment to write them in. Then he had the NERVE to not buy her jewelry for their anniversary (she actually said that). It was completely effing nauseating. The rest of the women's 'problems' were no better. Charlotte has kids who drive her crazy. Really groundbreaking stuff there. Especially since she too lives in a multimillion dollar apartment with a full time live-in nanny and housekeeper. Pathetic. Miranda has a new boss who doesn't like her very much, OBVIOUSLY because she's a woman, duh. There's no other reason for a boss to not like a subordinate other than their gender, clearly. And finally, Samantha is old and needs to take hormones for menopause now, stop the presses. Is your heart bleeding for them yet? No? You must hate women, you sexist. Moving right along. Samantha somehow is a mega-PR agent at this point (in Times Square??), despite the fact that I've literally never seen her do any work resembling PR (and I know lots of PR people). She meets some sheik at a party who simply MUST have her work that imaginary PR magic on behalf of his new hotel, and as a perk of this great new account, conveniently gets the girls invited to Abu Dhabi. Hooray! Their dreary despair comes to an end as they're flown ultra-first-class to the glamorous 'new' middle-east, shuttled to the luxury hotel in individual Maybach limousines (one for each of them!) and given two weeks all-expenses-paid in the hotel's premier $22,000/night penthouse suite, because that is totally standard treatment for PR flacks. Naturally. All is well in this paradise for like a week, until the icky middle-eastern customs of female oppression begin to rear their ugly head and Samantha is inevitably arrested for being a giant whore and having sex on the beach with some Dutch dude, at which point they're politely informed that Samantha's PR expertise would not be needed after all, and that they'd be personally responsible for another night of hotel charges unless they vacated the hotel in one hour. So now these four extremely wealthy women proceed to freak the hell out because if they don't hurry they may be liable for (gasp!) $5,500 each to cover the suite. Makes perfect sense to me too. Never mind that they're millionaires, particularly Carrie, whose couch alone in her living room is worth upwards of $30,000. Never mind that they could have also asked to be moved into regular rooms for the night so they could leave at a normal pace the next day. But on the other hand, if they had been logical, we wouldn't have been treated to a madcap scene of the girls packing and then inexplicably getting into trouble at the local bazaar (again related to Samantha's inability to keep her clothes on), followed by a quasi-insulting scene of burqa-clad women revealing designer clothes under their robes and reading a Susanne Sommers menopause book, for some reason. Ultimately they make their way to the airport in a horrible little gypsy cab (because between the four of them they couldn't afford a limo of their own too?), and before you know it, they're off to America again. Oh and Carrie hooked up with her ex boyfriend at some point in there and told her husband about it for no good reason. Predictably, they get home and everyone is as introspective as they're capable of (not very much at all), and they realize how wonderful their lives really are (no they don't). The end. Now you don't need to see the movie. You're welcome.

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• The Emperor has no clothes on

  Florentyna232010-05-30

  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.

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• Possibly the worst film I've seen all year

  janetgoodman2010-07-07

  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.

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• Stinky and Ugly

  chant3202010-05-28

  I AM female. I love to watch a good chic-flick. However, I was so disappointed. This movie has little to offer except constantly changing 'bizarre' costuming presented as high fashion and thoroughly embarrassing 'ugly American' scenes of over-indulged, entitled and rudely written characters. I went to the theater to enjoy a fun movie. I came away shaking my head. The movie was disrespectful to me as an American woman. Who acts like Samantha when in a foreign country, the Middle East or otherwise? As I watched the characters make total asses of themselves I was embarrassed for them simply sitting in the theater. It's no wonder other countries believe Americans lack respect for everyone and everything. Hollywood apparently does and wants everyone to know it. Unfortunately, the general public is judged by Hollywood--the American delivery system. It's not worth the money to see it. If you can get it on DVD for a buck, then judge for yourself.

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• A massacre. An insult to the fans' intelligence

  maya-stephani2010-05-28

  As a longtime fan of the series I was seriously shocked and appalled that the 4 women that were initially portrayed as intelligent, fun, sexy New Yorkers are shown here as self-obsessed, over- sexed idiots that are not able to travel anywhere without offending the locals and looking ridiculous. The plot of the movie is non-existent. It all looks like a really long compilation of advertorials with not much connection between the scenes. And I am not speaking about the horrible inappropriate styling and the so-old looking women - it would be fine, if they at least were styled and made up properly: Carrie has this weird tan, looks about 10 years older than she actually is and has none of the coolness that made her so likable. Charlotte is losing it and in spite of all the makeup, looks tired and has totally lost her perky personality. Not only Samantha also looks much older than she is thanks to the terrible makeup, but her behavior is erratic and really not consistent with what has been shown in the series. The only one who was more or less OK was Miranda. And don't get me started on the Abu Dhabi stint - the Middle-Eastern country is ridiculed, wrongly portrayed and I frankly think that it is shown in a racist manner. It's a shame, really, that they have taken a social phenomenon and turned it into a shameful mess. I will choose to ignore this movie, pretend I never saw it and keep on watching the series.

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