Sex and The City 2: When Happily Ever After Wears Out

The second installment of Sex and The City Movie was called “lack of sparkles”, “complete waste of time”, and “a complete failure”. I have to argue on that one. I admit that the movie has its flawed, however for the loyal fans; this is the moment that you’ve been waiting for ever since Carrie bumped into Big on the sidewalk for the very first time.

Here are my takes on (almost) every aspects of the movie:

*might contain major spoiler, remember, you are warned*

CARRIE:

Two years entering marital bliss with the more mature and wiser Big, she was in her happily ever after world before a couple in Stanford and Anthony’s wedding questioned their decision on not having children. It left Carrie in doubt whether she and Big would not be in a rut for the rest of their life ahead. On the other hand, Big has turned into a more homey person, opting to watch TV and cuddle or order in take out rather than spend a glitz and glamor in the city. A complete 180 degree from the Big that we used to see.

Carrie, unhappy about that, kept trying to drag her husband to go out with the nagging, whining, and questioning about their capably normal habits. I have to admit it that in this very moment, I questioned Carrie’s way of thinking just like she questioned Big on his obsession to watch TV and cuddle. Completely overwhelmed, Carrie went to her old apartment and decided to stay there for 2 days with work excuse. Seeing how comfortable she was, Big decided to propose an idea of them taking “2 days marriage off” to work on their “issues” (truth is: this is not a major one and can be solved with one sitting, if Carrie wasn’t too shallow). This made Carrie questioned even more on her marriage.

With the rest of the girls, Carrie experienced the exotic and cultural change in Abu Dhabi. There in the middle of a mirage, she ran into former flame, Aidan Shaw. At first, she didn’t start anything until a dreadful review about her book struck her. This sent her into a complete whack. Carrie started to play with fire by asking Aidan to have dinner. It was until in the end of it, out of passion, Aidan leaned in and kissed her. It lasted for a few seconds but enough to freak Carrie out.

Once back from her date, she questioned whether she should call Big and tell him about it. In the end, she went for it and predictably, Big wasn’t really happy about it. It left Carrie wondering, what she was thinking. The truth is she used to want to have this kind of life with Big, busy chasing him around for 10 years. Now that she has it, she went back being a fool and wanted a reverse. Realizing this, Carrie broke down into tears and wondering whether her marriage is doom or not.

CHARLOTTE:
Charlotte was exactly a soccer mom. She was overwhelmed with her kids’ fussiness and her paranoia over the hot nanny. She was obsessed over the possibility of “Jude Law case”. This sent her into every kind of obsessive epitome about the reality. She needed the nanny, even so badly, that the nanny was the first thing that always came up to her mind. One of my favorite scene of Charlotte is when she put down the burden and admit to Miranda that being a mother is hard and she needed a break. It was as if the perfect Charlotte were just like us, overwhelmed and stressed out.

MIRANDA:
There’s nothing major going on Miranda. She quit her job on the firm because she felt that she wasn’t appreciated. Nothing major was made out of it, on the words, she handled it well. In the movie, Miranda acted more like a rock that every one can lean on. It’s very relieving to see her grown up from the issues she had on previous movie.

SAMANTHA:

Samantha fought the conventional and went with the modern issues of women. She was trying to fight menopause. Swallowing pills, lots of pills to stop this natural aging process. However, her confidence was shaken once her pills were taken away by the Abu Dhabi custom. She felt as if once she aged, her life were over. The thing is Samantha would always be Samantha, the young sprit in the body of a fabulous middle age woman.

On the other hand, Samantha also fought against the conventional believe system in Abu Dhabi where men and women don’t embrace in public. She struggled with it, eventually fed up and went for her usual Samantha.

As usual, Samantha was the firecracker. Her presence made us laugh with her ballsy attitude. The way that Samantha thought women should be is inspiring and made such a logical sense. BRAVA GIRL

MEN:

Once I stepped out from the cinema, I kept telling myself. “You’ll find a guy like Big” He used to be a jerk, a baby who didn’t want to commit. However in this movie, he was the complete opposite. Being a settled married man who completely loves his wife wholeheartedly, wiser person, and definitely not the intimacy phobic Big you know. He was very sweet, charming, and shall I say a major eye candy (damn you Chris Noth!)

One, two, three: SQUEAL!

FASHION:
Shall I say more? Patricia Field killed it! It was so fantastic that I choked! I especially love some of the clothing displayed here:

SPARKLES:
Two things that I love the most about this movie’s sparkles: Carrie’s new modest but completely mesmerizing apartment and the hotel in Abu Dhabi. Both of them showed how much luxury can be achieved in both ways

OVERALL JUDGEMENT:

Plot B+

Acting A-

Fashion A+

Technicality A

OVERALL: A-

ENJOY THE MOVIE FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T WATCHED IT

xoxo,

C