When a show has the luxury to end on its own terms, without the interference of a studio mandated end date, it has the rare opportunity to bow gracefully out of the spotlight instead of getting the vaudevillian hook. Calling it a luxury in today’s ratings-oriented market is an understatement; it’s a rarity and one that most shows wish they had. So when a show like Sex and the City, which had a six season run and then let the characters disappear into their New York penthouses to live happily ever after, gave its fans a respectable farewell, the fans were ready and waiting to watch the send-off. The only thing is, the exit of Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte from HBO’s bejeweled lineup was the highest ranked episode of the series, and thus talks of Sex and the City movies became inevitable - and now we have Sex and the City 2.
The first movie came and went, attracting more than respectable box office numbers and giving fans of the series a little bit of the closure that they wanted for Carrie and Mr. Big (as the rest of the characters just spun their wheels with their storylines already nicely concluded in the series). And, since box office success begets sequels, a second Sex and the City movie wasn’t far over the horizon. However, if the quartet was done with their stories in the first film, what was left to be said in another? Nothing. So instead they made a film about that.
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mr. Big (Chris Noth) have hit a block in their marriage; he wants more quiet nights spent at home with black and white movies and Carrie curled up next to him, whereas she wants to keep going out and having fun nights on the town with him and her friends. Just as their relationship seems to be hitting an impasse, Samantha (Kim Cattrall) receives an invitation to visit Abu Dhabi and broker a deal with a rich investor in the United Arab Emirates, much to the relief of Charlotte (Kristin Davis) who is having a newly established series of panic attacks that her husband is attracted to their new Irish nanny; so it’s quickly decided they should all go with Samantha and their whirlwind adventure of cultural insensitivity in the Middle East begins.
Their trip is an unending series of jabs at the practices of Arabic countries, and until Carrie has a meet-up with her ex-lover Aidan (John Corbett) who she kisses after a romantic dinner, the drama and comedy value of the film rests safely at zero. Even after the kiss, which feels like a forced plotpoint if ever there was one, with no other objective than to throw fuel on the barely burning fire of Carrie and Mr. Big wanting some time apart, the film has all the dramatic tension of a poorly written harlequin romance novel. You know Samantha is going to go after the rich guy on the dune buggy. You know Charlotte will come to realize the nanny is no danger to her marriage (a resolution that’s written in sloppily at the end). You know Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), who had a mid-life crisis with her career at a major firm, is going to find satisfaction as a strong independent woman in a firm that respects her voice (which is also thrown in last-minute after two hours of panicky female jabbering in the middle of a desert). Finally, you know that the breach between Carrie and Mr. Big won’t break all the work the series and first movie went through to put together.
The film fails to create any genuine drama and relies entirely on transparent one-liners and empty conversations that were meant to serve as a suitable replacement for actual substance in a movie that goes on more than an hour beyond it has worn out its welcome.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The combo pack features a Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy of the film, on top of extras like an audio commentary and interviews with SJP and Director Michael Patrick King and a retrospective look back at the series and all the men who’ve come (heh) and gone. Finally, featurettes look at the styles of the clothes in the film, the filming of the Liza Minnelli song and dance number from the wedding at the film’s opening, a look at studio time with Alicia Keys’ recording session for the soundtrack, and how the styles were chosen for the film’s opening flashback. The extras are sorely needed considering how awful the film is, but chances are the fans will buy it no matter what, so you could argue it’s an empty gesture meant to maintain their loyalty for maybe one more film outing. Probably more.
"Sex and the City 2" is on sale October 26, 2010 and is rated R. Comedy. Written and directed by Michael Patrick King. Starring Chris Noth, Cynthia Nixon, John Corbett, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker.
