Sex and the City 2 (www.the-usher.com)

"You have to take the tradition, and decorate it your way."

It’s been two years and Carrie (Parker), Miranda (Nixon), Charlotte (Davis) and Samantha (Cattrall) have moved on with their lives in New York. Miranda is struggling to make an impression on her new boss at her law firm, Charlotte’s two year-old daughter Rose just won’t stop crying, Samantha has her own plan to beat the menopause and Carrie has a new book coming out about her first year of marriage to Mr. Big (Noth). When Samantha is offer the chance to go to Abu Dhabi, she invites the girls but will time away from all of their New York troubles do them any good?

When it comes to defining the ‘Chick Flick’ you should look much further than ‘Sex and the City’ but can the success of the Girl’s first big screen outing be repeated?

One of HBO's most popular shows of all time, 'Sex and the City' became a phenomena with a legion of devoted fans all around the world, with most of them been female. What made the show so different was its honesty in its portrayal of New York women and the way they went about their lives. Based on the novel by Candace Bushnell the series follows four very different women with a love of big city life and fashion. Over six seasons we got to see the ups and downs of their lives, loves, jobs and families and in essence their lives became part of the viewers. In 2008 a movie picked up what happened next with Carrie and Mr. Big finally tying the knot and the rest of the girls moving on with their lives. Now another two years have passed and its time to catch up with Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha all over again but the problem is that the writers forgot everything that made the series and first film such a hit.

The main of the criticism of the first movie was that it felt like an extended episode from the TV show, with the series producer and director Michael Patrick King seems to have taken that to heart with the second film and tried to boost up the stories surrounding the girls to be big enough to justify the movie tag. This, for the most part, backfired and turned the movie away from anyone other than the most hardened fan. Instead of just expanding upon the stories of Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha, he has decided to right the world with sex and fashion, pushing the characters into farce, much to the annoyance of everyone.

All of the girls are going through problems again but problems that many of their audience will not be able t to relate to. Miranda is struggling with sexual equality at her high-powered law firm. Charlotte can’t connect with her two year-old daughter who prefers the nanny. Samantha is using expensive methods to beat of the menopause and Carrie’s new book about her first year of marriage to Mr. Big is a commercial failure and the man himself seems to be taking her for granted by just throwing money at her. Unless you live in upper class New York and have money to burn on retail therapy, then you will struggle to connect with anything that the girls are going through this time around.

It is when Samantha arranges for them all to get away on a first class, all expenses paid trip to Abu Dhabi that the first takes a nosedive away from reality however. Here you have to completely suspend any essence of realism that the series or last movie generated to believe that Carrie and the girl’s presence in the Middle East could in fact solve many of the problems that America sees that the region has. Their answer, fashion, shopping and sex. This commercial answer to the way women are perceived to live in the Middle East by the filmmakers is dreadful but the fact that they lead with the storyline that it should be ok for Samantha to be caught in public having sex, which is against the law in many countries not just those in the Middle East, when the film completely loses everything that the hit TV show and previous film ever built.

This is a film made for fans of the show and women but director Michael Patrick King has not only let them down but also the characters that the loyal fan base know and love. The show and the last film became not only a sensation but an event, with fans gathering together to watch. This continued with the movie, with girls having a night out with the girls in the cinema and the ‘Sex and the City’ franchise was unique in this aspect and while it did continue again with the sequel, it must have led to a few disagreements and arguments amongst friends instead of the friendly chat between fans of the show.

‘Sex and the City 2’ is a film that only hardened fans could possibly enjoy. With Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall embarrassingly going through the motions and a main storyline that is so diabolical it has to be watched to be believed, this is a complete failure of a sequel and definitely one that non-fans and men especially should not have to endure.

(For Fans Only)

DVD:

Revisiting the 80s
Sex and the City 2 Soundtrack: Behind the Scenes with Alicia Keys

Blu-ray Triple Pack (with over 1.5 hours of special features):

So Much Can Happen in Two Years – A Conversation with Sarah Jessica Parker and Director Michael Patrick King
Styling Sex and the City 2
Marry Me Liza!
Revisiting the 80s
The Men of Sex and the City
Sex and the City 2 Soundtrack: Behind the Scenes with Alicia Keys
Audio Commentary with Director Michael Patrick King
Includes DVD and Digital Copy versions of the movie*

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2010