“OPULENCE PERSONIFIED: THE GIRLY SHOW”
Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall, Samantha Jones and Chris Noth
Directed by: Michael Patrick King
MPAA Rating: R for some strong sexual content and language.
Genre: Comedy/Drama with Romance, Sequel
Run Time: 2hrs 20min
Release date: May 27, 2010
Studio: Warner Bros.
By John Delia
It’s where opulence celebrates with sexuality and the ladies get to fanaticize for two and a half hours. Where else can you dream without going to sleep, spend some time with ‘the girls’ and plan your next move in life’s game board of chance? At the movies with Sex and the City 2 featuring the main television cast wearing all the baubles, fashions and make-up that most women can only dream of having. If you can say “I am woman,†then this edition of Sex and the City is about you.
This time we find the girls, Carrie (Parker), Charlotte (Davis), Miranda (Nixon) and Samantha (Cattrall) in heat, but for all different reasons. Carrie is having issues with her husband Mr. Big (Chris Noth). Charlotte has been getting heated over her mate’s attention to the buxom nanny, Miranda resigned her position at the law firm due to a sexist perception and Samantha is going through menopause with the grace of herding elephants.
Just when things look their worst, a hotel owner who wants her to promote his newest luxurious offering invites Miranda to a week of luxury in Abu Dhabi. She quickly adds that the only way she would go is if she can take her friends. After they have settled in at the lavish digs, the girls start to explore.
The movie is basically divided in two with the first half getting to know the girls again, taking a peak at their everyday married and working routines, and the frustration build that enters each of their lives. During the first hour we are treated to some very high and low fashions (costumes cost a mere 2.5 million), a quick morphing back to when Carrie met each of her friends, and a decaying of relationships with their men. The second half of the film is a visual treat with the girls in Abu Dhabi draped in fashion from Mid-East to West, getting drunk, causing a ruckus with the natives, getting sexual and generally being themselves.
The acting ability of the cast hasn’t changed and direction by King who also helmed the first movie makes the sequel watchable, especially for the ladies. The downside comes with the plot during the second half of the film. The script deals with Middle Eastern women and their taboo’s regarding sexuality, femininity and equal rights. Here’s where I feel the movie gets lame. During one scene where Samantha is on the beach being told to cover up her body or she will be damned, in the background girls are running around in tiny bikinis. It would not be a big deal except the whole point of Samantha’s immorality becomes moot. Oh, and the fashions are to DIE ‘of’.
But, if I go on and on about the bogus storyline, I’ll receive all those nasty notes as I did from the review of their previous film. So ladies I know the New York quartet is very sacred to you so I’ll just leave it at that.
Men, this is a chick flick, but does have some redeeming qualities, a very comical gay wedding, a heated discussion on the boobs of a nanny, a fornication scene fit for “Sex in the Cinema,†and a panoramic view of Abu Dhabi (well maybe not the view). Anyway you may want to stay clear of the film unless you are FORCED to go with your significant other. Hey you can tap your toe to some karaoke watching the fab four belt out “I Am Womanâ€.
The movie is rated R for some strong sexual content and language.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A continuation of the American Women’s dream. (3 of 5 Palm Trees)