Monday, 7 June 2010

Sex and the City 2 - review


It began with sparkle. A LOT of sparkle, the New York Skyline, the glittered the high heels, jewelled couture and it kept on coming, literally into the dialogue. But unfortunately Sex and the City 2 didn't sparkle for me.

Having wandered into SATC1 a few years back not really expecting much I was quite blown away with a movie that exceeded the TV series in terms of cinematography, storyline and fashion. The characters had developed and in the end I'd been on a journey, albeit it a very glamorous one.

The Gay Wedding, the opening event in the movie was so over the top it was a caricature and not an especially positive one. It seemed to be trying so hard to be both correct and comfortable with the whole wedding concept that the natural flow with the well known gay characters was lost, and the feeling was more discomfort. Surely by now BIG would have met Carrie's best gay friend on enough occasions to be unsurprised with men flirting with him?

We head to the Middle East and it feels like we're in an advertorial. So many products placed, a walk through advertisement for a hotel that goes on and on and on and on... There are wardrobe changes that are so obvious, it feels like a fashion show. But I don't like a lot of this particular show. The sex scenes, while few and fleeting, did feature some particularly attractive men, but they were mere interludes.

Still there are the main characters who are at times warm and fun, but at times holding onto lines that really should have been let go in the 90's. We're taken on a cultural tour of muslim customs that is so cringeworthy it's embarrassing. There's nothing subtle here at all.

It may be a reflection of the truth, of how as we age we don't always do it gracefully or intelligently and how we don't always have everything under control. But while I had fun watching much of it, as the credits rolled I was remembering more the previews at the beginning and wishing I had elected to see one of those instead.

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