Sex and the City in the Middle East – excuse me, that’s “The New Middle East”.
Carrie and the girls are back for another adventure. It’s been two years since we’ve left Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) and Miranda Hobbs (Cynthia Nixon). If you’ll recall, the first “Sex and the City” movie ended with Carrie and John (aka Big) (Chris Noth) marrying, Samantha moving back to New York from Los Angeles, Charlotte giving birth to her and Harry’s (Evan Handler) daughter Rose, and Miranda reuniting with her estranged husband (cause he cheated!! but he felt real bad about it) Steve (David Eigenberg).
Since then, apparently everything’s been going swimmingly!! Now the girls and their families are gathering for the wedding of Carrie’s best gay friend Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson) to Charlotte’s best gay friend Anthony Maratino (Mario Cantone). Fans of the series will recall that Stanford and Anthony were once mortal enemies, but now they are in love (I guess hate sometimes DOES give way to love??) and about to be married in an over-the-top ceremony, complete with Liza Minelli as the wedding officiator.
A few days later, on Carrie and Big’s two-year anniversary, Carrie realizes that their marriage has lost its sparkle when Big’s anniversary gift to her leaves her feeling disappointed. Meanwhile, Miranda is unhappy at her job and yearns to spend more time with her family, and Charlotte can’t handle her unruly two-year old who cries constantly. Now everything’s not so peaches and cream, is it? Of course not, otherwise there wouldn’t be a movie!!!
When Samantha is offered an all-expenses paid trip to Abu Dhabi, naturally the girls come along to take a break from their troubles. They fly first class (they even have their own cubicles!! Just as if they worked in an office!!) and stay in, well, basically, a palace. Between their own fancy cars, personal butlers, and surrounded by all that decadence, what more can these girls ask for?? But of course, a bit of the real world seeps in as Carrie reads a particularly scathing review of her book. That’s when everything goes askew.
And oh yeah, did I mention that Aidan (John Corbett) returns? The other love of Carrie’s life shows up in the desert (imagine that – it MUST mean something, right??) to further complicate Carrie’s life. I know many of my girlfriends think Carrie should have ended up with Aidan (I disagree, I think Big was her “lobster”) and will be very happy to see Aidan back in Carrie’s life.
What I liked:
Hello!! Who wouldn’t want an all-expenses paid trip to Abu Dhabi?? Since that will never happen to me, it was fun to see what it would be like in the movie (even though the movie was actually filmed in Morocco due to its racy nature, which is a big no no in the Muslim country). I also thought this movie was lighter than the first one, as it lacked the drama of being left at the alter and the infidelity. Of course, Samantha stole the show with her excessive efforts to trick her body into being younger as well as her sheer outrageousness.
What I didn’t like:
During the wedding reception at the beginning of the movie, Liza Minelli performed that awful song “Single Ladies”. I seriously wished I would go temporarily deaf. No offense to Ms. Minelli, but that has got to be one of the worse songs ever. I was praying for my torture to be over. I also felt that Big’s unconventional “idea” about his and Carrie’s marriage was just wrong. It made me a little angry, and I’m not married (not even close). And, for a movie titled “Sex and the City 2” there really wasn’t much sex going on. (I’m just saying!!). Oh and the clothes. Sometimes they were nice. Other times….what were the costume designers thinking?
Fun, light-hearted fare that fans of the series will enjoy. No, this won’t change the world but hey, it’s good for some laughs.
