MOVIE REVIEW ... SEX AND THE CITY 2

MOVIE REVIEW ...

SEX AND THE CITY 2

 

The danger of any long running series is the possibility of becoming a shade of its former self.  With its’ glory days behind it, all that’s left is to become a parody of what it once was.  Sex and the City 2 sinks into a sea of mediocrity.  The fabulous glamour is still evident, but gone are the involving incidents which made the show engaging.  Naturally no matter what any reviewer says fans will flock to it in droves, although the chances of watching the characters they first fell in love with seem remote resembling a worn-out edge of the ladies sparkly high heel shoes.

Two years after finally marrying Big (Chris Noth), Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) thinks her marriage has hit a rough patch.  With Big preferring quiet nights in than going out on the town, she wonders where her days as a free wheeling party girl went.  Salvation arrives when Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is offered an all expenses paid trip to Abu Dhabi by an Arabian businessman.  Tasked with devising a PR campaign, she ropes in Carrie, Charlotte (Kristen Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) on a holiday promising a clash between cultures where mystery and romance offer surprises for the fashionable foursome.

Sex and the City’s first cinematic foray was a hit due to its accessibility.  The scope of its story-lines and catering to a general audience saw it reach stratospheric box office heights.  The same can’t be said for its second outing as it disregards what made the first so successful.  After a first half setting stories involving Carrie’s marriage, Miranda’s workplace dramas and Charlotte’s ability to cope with a growing family, it inexplicably throws these away for a frivolous second half resulting in little consequence.  It’s very disappointing writer/director Michael Patrick King took this lazy route as the first section has far more interesting possibilities.

As soon as the women jet into the Middle East it turns into an endless fashion parade with very little story to sustain it.  Whilst taking them out of New York and away from their other halves could be seen as a return to its early TV season roots, the idea prevents them from progressing as characters.  This holding pattern affects the film’s flow as it scrambles to find a reason for its various hijinks.  The opening sequences are much more successful with a musical number by Liza Minnelli beginning events in spectacular fashion.  Sadly it’s all down-hill from there as the only other redeeming features are the photography and the production design successfully showing the opulence of Abu Dhabi and the film’s extravagant budget.

With news the third film will be a prequel featuring a younger cast, it seems Sex and the City 2 is the old gang’s last hurrah.  Which is just as well given its’ mediocre efforts at entertainment with little offered for more casual viewers to enjoy  Fans will lap it up no matter the quality although it’s probably time Carrie and co departed with the graceful style this film studiously lacks.

Movie Review Rating 3 / 10

Movie Review by Patrick Moore

Sex and the City 2 released in Australia on Thursday 3 June 2010.

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