Sex and the City 2 (2010)

In the sequel to the 2008 blockbuster Carrie Bradshaw and company pick up two years later in none other than New York City. This time around the girls all decide they could use a break from their big city lives and decide to take a one week vacation to Abu Dhabi. There Samantha deals with menopause, Charlotte deals with the possibility of a cheating husband, Miranda learns to have fun again, and Carrie has marital issues that are compounded when an old flame re-enters her life. Of course all of these trials get solved over girl talk and huge fashion.

I am a big fan of the first film. It had some good performances and a whole lot of dramatic situations, but they were mixed in with over the top styles and mini fashion shows. But the drama toppled all of that and it was very good. The sequel, however, missed most of the good things about the original and got most of the bad things. The drama, which I enjoyed so thoroughly in the original, is almost completely over ran with humorous antics that for the most part weren't that humorous at all. And when they finally did get chances for drama they quickly resolved it to be replaced with more not so funny hilarity.

Lets not get too stuck on just the bad things about this movie. It does make for a fine sequel to the original. You are not really disappointed with the characters or what they have become over the course of two films, which is good. Some of the humor was funny and some of the drama, however short lived, was entertaining. There was less mini fashion shows, thank god, but they made up for that with an unbearable gay wedding (literally) and a group karaoke session of I Am Woman. They did focus mainly on the girls. Less side plots. Almost no new characters. Rare in the sequel world but almost always a good thing.

The script was not as good as the original. I also don't like when you take the title out of a movie. In this case, New York, the city the girls are supposed to be having sex, in never happens. Some in Connecticut and some in the middle east but there is no actual Sex in the City. On the other hand Michael Patrick King did do a better job directing his script this time. The performances all around were not as good as in the 2008 feature but I blame most of that on the script. Sarah Jessica Parker was the exception, doing about the same, since she is the main girl of the foursome that is a definite plus.

There were good moments and bad. Ups and downs. With that I have to say to skip this one on the big screen but rent it for sure. I don't really want to see a third installment but I am glad I got to see this one. Their adventures are still interesting whether there in a greatly scripted film or not. I am a young straight man. I'm not really the target audience. Girls and SatC television series fans seemed to have liked it more. If you are in that group perhaps the theater is where you should go to watch but I would suggest watching it at home for a fraction of the price.