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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Sex and the City 2 (Directed by Michael Patrick King)



IMDB Page

She said:

There is no denying it - this movie left political correctness at the door and took a trip to bad scripting land but I have to admit: I kind of loved it. I think it was one of those 'so bad it is good' kind of deals. I pretty much spent the entire time covering my face in astonishment, but it was so unashamedly cringeworthy that I couldn't help laughing along with it.

This film was set up to be a kind of critique of post-recession life although I didn't see this in the film at all. Sex and the City is luxury, it is fashion and style, it is extravagance. I can't see how a big downer on the recession would have fitted into this without it being depressing to be honest. Rather I felt the film focussed on two main themes: womanhood and conformity (or non-conformity, if you like). It was also about not being ashamed of your own feelings.

The film was set mainly in Abu Dhabi and while it was sad to move away from New York I have to admit that I enjoyed gorking over the $22,000 a night suite they had. Of course being set in the United Arab Emirates meant that the script writers went for the cliche jokes about burkas and the oppression of women. And while I have no qualms in saying that I do not personally agree with the treatment of women in the Middle East just for religious justification*, the film treads a tightrope which I really am not sure they made across.

(*I just want to point out that my opinions on the oppression of women spread to pretty much most religions in some way or another. It is part of the reason I am an athiest.)

Overall there were bad moments aplenty - Samatha's refusal to observe local custom's was pretty cringeworth, as was the karaoke - but also some amazing moments. One scene had Liza Minnelli singing Single Ladies which is now my utmost favourtie cinema moment of 2010 so far. I snorted with laughter. Literally. And in general I understood the message they were trying to put across underneath the risque humour - that women are their own people, who should be who they want and have relationships that suit them and their partner.

If you are not a fan of Sex and the City you can wait for DVD and will probably think it is terrible. If you are a fan of Sex and the City you can wait for the DVD and will probably think it is terrible. I give this film a very generous 3.5 out of 5. If I wasn't in such an open minded mood I think this could go as low as 2 though!

1 comment:

  1. I get the impression that this is a more upbeat movie than the first one. One of the things that surprised and rather disappointed me about the previous film was how so much of it was such a downer! This one looks more promising - if you're going to take a complete departure from reality it might as well be fun, frothy and frivolous! :-)

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