We Can't Wait #11: SEX & THE CITY 2

Next up in the "We Can't Wait: Summer and Beyond" countdown... five impossibly glitzy girls!

Directed by: Michael Patrick King, aka that guy who started it all and refuses to quit it.
Starring: Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker aka SJP), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), The Island of Manhattan (Manhattan), Samantha (Kim Cattrall) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis). And in that order though you may disagree.


Synopsis: Until the most recent trailer (below) all we knew was that they go to the desert because that's what filthy rich gorgeous 40somethings in Manhattan apparently do when they need a little R & R. Plot is beside the point. It's all about the girls, the clothes and the laughs.
Brought to you by: the last film's extraordinary box office
Release date: May 27th

Nathaniel: So, Jose. You and I will probably get flak for picking this one.

Jose: Then bring on the flak!

Nathaniel: But here's the deal: I am an unapologetic fan of the HBO series. It was the ideal series to watch with a groups of friends on a Sunday night. We missed it when it was gone. We even missed groaning about Carrie's columnist tics... how many of her thesis statements were prefaced by "I couldn't help but wonder..." and concluded with "And just like that..."? All of them!

Anyway, we loved the color and the clothes and the puns and the cheeky sex scenes. Speaking generally now, people like to say that that's shallow but is this really any different that people loving action films for great stunt sequences, visual effects, explosions and derring-do. "Derring- do"... I've slipped back in time to the 30s or something. I'm HOPING that this film slips back in time a little too. I worry that the girls might be a little too "settled" what with the happy marriages and children and whatnot. Where's the conflict and the risque fun? Now, I don't mean this in an ageist way at all. Don't all these people continually bitching that the actresses are too old for this realize that they themselves are going to be 40...and then 50... and then 60 before they know it? Do they want their own stories to end at 35?

But I do worry that the first movie painted itself into a corner of domesticity when it was always most fun as a girls-on-the-town comedy. And why are they leaving Manhattan again? Manhattan is the fifth girl. They need her! I'm fraught with anxiety but I'll be there on opening night.

"I can hear the decadence calling!"
-Samantha in Sex & the City 2

Jose: I refuse to call this a "guilty pleasure". I unashamedly love everything Sex and thought the first movie was one of the smartest romantic comedies of the decade. I think your travel back in time is appropriate because when I first saw the desert scenes in the trailer I immediately thought Road to Morocco, not "big sequel in an exotic land". I don't really mind them leaving Manhattan so much because I'm sure there's a part in the movie where they realize what fools they were to even leave and will return to the island with hard earned lessons and new found appreciation (I've always wondered who would win in an I ♥ NY battle: Woody Allen or Carrie Bradshaw?)

When it comes to the age issue, it's just plain, old fashioned chauvinist BS; men seem to have a problem with women whether they age or stay young, so I love how Kim Cattrall gets naked and SJP wears the craziest crap out there with no regards for what others will think. SatC2 should work because the themes at the center of the series were timeless and whatever seems shallow for some might be the holy word for others (I know people who believe they can find answers for everything in the show).



Besides even if the movie blows, I would never say no to the opportunity of dressing up on a Friday night and going out for a movie and cocktails with my friends. Isn't this in the end what Sex has always been about?

Nathaniel: That's the not so secret secret to the movie version appeal, surely. Movies that promise a fun group experience are often the movies that open well. I love that the new trailer ends with Charlotte's daughter referencing Aladdin. Carrie amends "yes sweetie, but with cocktails". The series has always known it's a fantasy.

I can hear the decadence calling, too.

Related Recommended Post: Floral imagery in Sex & The City

"We Can't Wait: Summer and Beyond"
The "orphan" picks Nathaniel (Burlesque), JA (Love and Other Drugs), Jose (You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger), Craig (What's Wrong With Virginia?), Robert (True Grit) and Dave (Brighton Rock); Team Film Experience Countdown #12 It's Kind of a Funny Story, #11 Sex & the City 2, #10 Scott Pilgrim vs the World, #9 Somewhere, #8 The Kids Are All Right, #7 The Illusionist, #6 Toy Story 3, #5 Inception, #4 Rabbit Hole, #3 Never Let Me Go, #2 Black SwanThe Tree of Life. and #1
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