Every male reviewer should preface a SEX AND THE CITY 2 review by pointing out that he is not the target audience for the film. This movie was not made to appease 30 year-old men, it was made to appeal to women between the ages of 16 and 60, at various stages of their life. And judging by the line of women that were waiting outside the theater for the screening (on Monday night no less), I’d say the filmmakers have more than accomplished their goal. However, much like the Star Wars prequels found success despite their downfalls, SATC2 will find success despite having way too many problems.
Two years have passed for our women and they’ve all moved on with their lives (kind of). Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda are married and learning to cope with their different stages of marriage. Samantha is still Samantha and clearly, the only one the writers really know what to do with. This immediately takes me into on of my biggest issues with the film, which is that the creators have no clue what to do with three married women that are famous because of their single lives. For me, the “sex and the city” days are over and “married and bored” days have begun, except for Samantha.
In the first 30-45 minutes, we enjoy a gay wedding, a song by Liza Minelli and the establishment of the marital problems for each woman. Then Samantha gets an all expenses paid trip to Abu Dhabi and the women are off. While in Abu Dhabi, the film stalls a bit and Miranda and Charlotte are abandoned as characters. The highlight of the film was watching them discuss being a mom over a couple of cocktails, but it was a fleeting moment and the director had to cut away before the movie developed some depth. Much like an action movie relies too heavily on violent action scenes, SATC relies too heavily on scenes where Carrie is being dramatic or Samantha is being slutty.
But at the end of the day, I can accept the cheesiness of the story and the lack of direction from the screenwriter. What I can’t accept is the horrible dialogue and ridiculous puns. There was not one single intelligent bit of dialogue in the entire film. Every childish joke or obvious pun was pounced on relentlessly, which diminished the growth we’ve witnessed from these women over the years. I don’t expect them to discuss current events or to debate the merits of a political candidate, but is asking for dialogue better than “Lawrence of my labia” too much to ask?
Being a guy that actually dragged his girlfriend to the midnight showing of PHANTOM MENACE, I can totally appreciate the “event” that is SEX AND THE CITY. As I looked at the line of women all dressed up for the showing, I couldn’t help but remember back to the Star Wars days where people would dress up like Jedi. It’s an amazing thing to see a movie bring otherwise strangers closer together and to give women a movie to get excited about. The appeal of SATC is broad and all of the women around me were really getting into it. So although I didn’t like the movie and struggled to get past the bad dialogue and unfocused plot, I couldn’t help but envy the women around me that were having a great time.
