Like everyone’s favorite vintage purse, Carrie Bradshaw and ladies of Sex and the City are back for their second full length feature film.
Just like old times, the movie (2 hours and 27minutes) takes place in beautiful New York City where money is no object, and the fashion is fierce.
While most of us can name every episode from every season, I admit I was afraid of what a movie would do to the perfect series ending Michael Patrick King (Director/Writer) left us. Especially since the first one took place years after the show ended – I thought it was too late. It even took me a FULL YEAR before I broke down to see SATC the Movie…which turned out to be perfect in every way. So, like many SATC fans, I got dressed up, met my girls for cosmos, and headed off to the premiere expecting the same perfection as the rest of the women in the theatre. Unfortunately, I left feeling like I just found out that my beloved purse was a knock-off.
In some television series, the writers and directors have 1 or 2 episodes of just fluff. (Example: In Season 3 when the girls took the trip to L.A.) Almost like if it never happened no one would miss it, and wouldn’t affect the characters or major plots. This is what Sex and the City 2 was for me. A very loooong fluff episode, packed with cheesy one-liners, and even cheesier celebrity guest appearances. Now I didn’t hate the movie, but if it never existed we’d all be ok. I left disappointed.
While all of the characters returned (including Aiden, Smith, Magda, and even the boy who played Brady) I found that lots of their dialog was just a bunch of punch lines. Of course I would hate for something tragic to happen to any of these characters, but that doesn’t mean what comes out of their mouth has to be meaningless. I almost felt that the characters were acting ‘out of character’ because MPK didn’t want to upset the fans by taking risks. Part of the reason so many of us connect to these women is because they had real issues that didn’t get wrapped up in 30 minutes or less. It almost felt like they were trying so hard to strike while the iron was hot (the success of SATC 1) that they didn’t take the time to actually tell a story, or move the characters along. Some of the ALMOST story lines were rushed along and got a big red bow tied around them almost immediately which just made the 2 hours and 27 mins seem more like 22 hours! If everything is ok now, why the hell are we still here?!
Some things I could’ve done without (without giving up the goods) were: the Stanford/Anthony relationship (Those two would rather turn to women then each other! Who are you fooling?!), the ridiculous guest appearances like Miley Cyrus, and Liza Minnelli (that was actually interesting) and the return of Aiden! I know! I loved his character, but the nature they brought him back in made him out to be a dirtbag, not the Aiden we all fell in love with.
Some things I could’ve watched over and over were: the gold glitter Stuart Weitzman shoes Carrie wears in the beginning of the movie (the whole audience ooohed and ahhhhed), the 80’s flashback of how the girls met, Miranda trying to speak Indian, and just the comradery of :Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte. It was very rare that all 4 were having a convo together of something of substance, but in the few moments that it did happen, it was hard to imagine these were actresses, and not real people. This whole cast has an extraordinary chemistry that cannot be argued.
Overall, I give Sex and the City 2- 2 ½ out of 4 Cosmos (sometimes a girl needs a half).
While it was nice to revisit the girls, I spent nearly 3 hours in a theatre and left feeling like if another SATC movie were to come out they might as well call it “2” because the real “2” was just fluff.
I think if you love Sex and the City you will appreciate it, and laugh out loud. I know as fans, we’re desperate for more, but MPK should’ve waited a bit to have more of a story to tell. We don’t get to see these ladies as much as we use to, so when we do see them, I want the same quality time we were spoiled with for 6 years.
