The gals you all love – and yes, I did kinda love ‘em in their first flick — are back, but unfortunately the writing you’ve enjoyed in the past isn’t. There’s a half-hour of good stuff to be had in this big-screen sequel…unfortunately, it’s preceded by nearly two hours of listless filler.
The first Sex and the City movie felt like a joyful reunion, and a real movie with serious stakes; three out of four of our heroines actually seemed on the verge of losing their relationships. Part two feels more like a cynical cash grab, with relatively little on the line. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) worries about Mr. Big (Chris Noth) wanting some alone time each week. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) has an annoying crying baby, and is nervous about the hotness of her nanny (She’s Out Of My League’s Alice Eve). Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) quits her job and doesn’t look back. Samantha (Kim Cattrall) worries about getting old.
So do they address these issues? Not really. They attend a gay wedding, hang around New York, then buzz off to Abu Dhabi for an hour before truly confronting anything. Abu Dhabi sure does look like a fun place to stay…but this is supposed to be a movie, not a travelogue. Give a six year-old a Barbie luxury hotel and some dolls, and she’ll likely develop a more compelling storyline.
Minus any dramatic stakes or conflict (at least until the very end), all that’s left is wardrobe changes every scene, predictable “Samantha’s a slut” jokes, and a surprising amount of booze-swilling. And oh, Sex and the City, we really expected more from you than that hoary old chick-flick cliché of the group karaoke number. Cameos by the likes of Ron White and Miley Cyrus are amusingly weird, at least.
By the time the movie delivers anything resembling relationship insight, frantic fun, or even amusing double entendres, it has numbed the viewer into a stupor. There could be a halfway tolerable movie in there somewhere, but it would take a ruthless editor to find it.
Look, if you like these characters enough, you’ll find something to enjoy about their continuing story. Just realize that you’re no different from Trekkers who are apologetics for Star Trek V just because Shatner’s in it.
Having been a single girl in Manhattan for 12 years I was a huge fan of the show. It really hit the nail on the head (except none of my friends and I ever had that much sex). So I was happy to see the film when it came out. Even though it was nice to see my old friends I really couldn’t stay interested for an hour and 45 minutes. I was used to 28 minute doses. But when I saw that the new incarnation was 2 hours and 27 minutes… I mean really! Are they doing battle for Middle-earth!?!