The Film
Sex and the City: The Movie made a whopping $415 million at the box office, so it's no surprise that Warner wanted to send the girls' on one more night out. What is surprising is how Sex and the City 2 reduces its infamous four females to a group of cackling cartoon characters and disguises it as empowerment of some sort.
After living the fairytale in the last movie, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) wakes up and realizes that her life is like everyone else's, except she wears insanely expensive heels while doing it. To top of the monotony, hunky husband Mr. Big (Chris Noth) gives her an expensive flat screen and brings home Japanese takeout. Boo hoo! Sounds like grounds for divorce, right? About as much as it is grounds for a movie.
The more realistic side of the movie has Charlotte (Kristen Davis) cracking at the screeching sounds of her children, despite having a bra-less minion (She's Out of My League's Alice Eve) doing her mommy work. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is also at her own crossroads, with her high-pressure, low-reward job as a lawyer. All of the ladies obviously need a break, and naturally, Samantha (Kim Catrall) can oblige -- that is, when she stops talking about her crotch for five minutes.
Samantha manages to score all four ladies first-class tickets and royalty-worthy accommodations to Abu Dhabi. You know, just like your girls' night out -- at least when there's a lot of tequila involved. A dose of that probably wouldn't hurt when watching this movie, either.
The show was good because the dialogue was witty and the characters all had personality. Now, it's just cliché and hokey. Around the time Liza Minelli busted into "Single Ladies," it got downright embarrassing. This was 13 minutes in. The most embarrassed should be the person who thought this movie warranted 146 minutes.
There's no word on whether there will be a third movie for the girls. Maybe everyone is still recovering from Sex and the City 2. Before they hang up the Manolo Blahniks, we might need a third installment, just to make up for this mess of a movie. The whole Abu Dhabi trip was boring, insulting and completely unnecessary. Yeah, it was almost most of the movie, so draw your own conclusions. Apparently, you can take the sex out of the city, but you really shouldn't take these characters beyond New York's city limits. The results are disastrous.
Want a better look at the movie? Check out Lexi Feinberg's theatrical review of Sex and the City 2.
The Picture
Let's just say that high-def is a friend to none of these women. However, it's not just the fact that they aren't the young women that first graced HBO back in 1998. We all age. That said, it seems that filmmakers may have tried to cover some of that up with the myriad of soft shots throughout the movie. We would rather see the wrinkles than have it be so obvious. The wrinkles are certainly here, and pretty detailed in some spots. Also, all four ladies seem to have contrasting skintones. They do show up really well here, although sometimes border on the orange side. Lady-parts aside, the 1.85:1 transfer produces some really great colors. The lavish gay wedding that opens the movie has a great black and white contrast. Of course, many viewers are here for the parade of rotating outfits, and will not be disappointed. The wardrobe is a highlight when it comes to both color and detail, thanks to the outrageousness of several ensembles.
The Sound
The DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack does create some ambience in the aforementioned wedding scene, as well as when the girls make their way through the Abu Dhabi marketplace. Otherwise, it's mostly about listening to them present a barrage of bad one-liners. At least they sound good from an audio standpoint. The soundtrack pops up a little too often and a little too loud. Despite it being technically correct, does anyone need to hear the four leads doing karaoke of "I Am Woman" shooting from every speaker?
The Extras
Director Michael Patrick King has really thrown himself into the extras, which are a bit of a mixed bag. That said, fans should be pleased at what's included here. King handles the commentary on his own, which is more entertaining than the movie's actual dialogue.
There's also a fun extra on "The Men of Sex and the City," which has director Michael Patrick King and actor/comedian Mario Cantone sitting on a couch, going through the various male characters from the franchise. If you've ever heard or seen Cantone outside of the series, you'd know that the guy is always "on," making this a fairly entertaining 28 minutes.
A big part of the franchise is style. Unfortunately, it's not a big part of the extras package. Still, the 15 minutes they do spend on it gives a nice little peek into the closets of outfits and accessories used on the movie.
In a slightly less interesting 26 minutes, King provides the same format for a movie recap with Sarah Jessica Parker. There are plenty of other extras you shouldn't bother with as well. The '80s flashback seems like fun, but it's mentioned like eight times in other extras. There's also a 3-minute commercial for the soundtrack, and another seven minutes on having Liza Minelli in the movie, which is one of the most embarrassing moments of the movie -- and that really says something.
Final Thoughts
Sex and the City 2 is a mess of a movie. It's seriously hard to pinpoint the film's worst part. Maybe it's the fact that filmmakers tried to cover up obvious crap with a social commentary (Middle East women love designers too!). Then, we have the classic character of Carrie becoming a complete spoiled brat (she still has her old apartment!). Maybe it was the cringeworthy "Lawrence of my Labia" poke (no, it's funny because Samantha is slutty!). It's all bad, bad, bad. The Blu-ray's decent transfer and bevy of extras isn't even worth the eye-gouging that was this movie.
Product Details
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