Sex and the City 2

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Year: 2010 (USA)
Genre: Buddy Comedy/Sex Comedy
Directed: Michael Patrick King
Stars: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristen Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall, Chris Noth, David Eigenberg, Evan Handler, Mario Cantone, Willie Garson, Alice Eve, Ron White, John Corbett, Liza Minnelli
Production: New Line Cinema


In the unconscionably long list of unnecessary sequels, Sex and the City 2 (2010) ranks among the worst the American film industry has to offer. While the first feature treatment of the long-running HBO series was bland and serviceable, this outing is downright offensive to its audience, the LGBT community, the Muslim community and Helen Reddy’s song I Am Woman. The fact that the movie is largely set in the exotic locale of Abu Dhabi (really Morocco) and 146 freaking minutes long leads me to believe that the creators were aiming at a kind of Bob Hope road movie but settled comfortably next to Ishtar (1987) as one of the largest Arabian misfires since Iraq invaded Kuwait.

While dealing with the aftermath of an ideal happy ending, Carrie is excited to see her gay best friend Sanford (Willie Garson) and Samatha’s (Kim Cattrall) gay best friend Anthony (Mario Cantone) getting married. Or is he Miranda’s (Cynthia Nixon) gay best friend? These vapid forty-plus-year-olds wear their friends like interchangeable accessories so I can’t really keep track. We as the audience have to endure a wedding more flamboyant than the Village People getting married at the Grammys, promptly followed by a movie premiere featuring pre-twerk Miley Cyrus. After meeting a sheik amused by Samantha’s Samantha-ness, the four are whisked away to Abu Dhabi to enjoy the comforts of the sheik’s new hotel; and maybe cause a faux pas or two.

Like this fashion faux pas right here

Based on the episodes I've seen and now the two movies I've had to endure, I can safely say that Carrie and her crew of selfish, petty, permanently malcontented Real Housewives of Saks Fifth Avenue need to disappear. They simply are no longer characters worthy of consideration and contemplation. They've become parodies of the fairer sex and themselves; no longer endearing in any way. Please go away.

Okay, now that I have gotten that off my chest, let’s address the vexing antics the foursome get into while in Abu Dhabi; a city which for better or for worse have laws on female modesty. Samantha is arrested for getting jiggy with it out on the beach forcing the Abu Dhabi trip to come to a merciful end. Of course that ending doesn't arrive until after the four are almost strung up by their thumbs for wearing revealing clothing and having condoms in their purses. There’s another scene where Arab women wear “the spring collection” underneath their burqas; because, you know, it’s not hot in the UAE. Then there are repeated scenes of the “good-natured” ladies abusing their status before a pod of butlers. The whole treatment of the Arab world is just frightfully ignorant. You’d think college-educated women from the multitudinous island of Manhattan would be a little more culturally sensitive.

I hate this movie. I hate the story, I hate the characters, I hate the episodic flow of it and I hate the offensive mentality of it. Sex and the City 2 is a broad, grotesque spectacle that can’t hold sway with a seasoned fan let alone anyone who didn’t grow up with HBO. It’s scary to think that the best thing that one can say about a movie of this caliber is it features a 64-year-old Liza Minnelli singing a Beyonce Knowles song. Avoid this film like a pair of counterfeit pumps.

Final Grade: F