Probably many reviews have already touched on this, questioned this, and bitched this to death. Still, this is THE biggest thing that is bothering me regarding the film Sex And The City 2. Before and after I’ve watched it.
New York is very much a part of the series. NYC is the city in Sex And The City. The fifth character, some would even say. A character with characteristics which manifests itself in different aspects in the TV series. The pace and editing of each episode is fast and energetic, like the city. The situations, the locales and the restaurants our girlfriends find themselves in are colourful and diverse, like the city. The people they meet at work or in sex were of different cultures and background, all striving and hopeful in this melting pot of a city.
So out of love and admiration for the series, I was concerned to hear SATC2 was not set in NYC.
Then I read a press junket interview, in which the actresses claimed that one could take the girls out of NYC, but could never take NYC out of the girls. They explained that the characters they played took NYC with them, and it was the lens thru’ which they viewed everything in the Emirates.
Hmm. If those are the NY lens thru’ which our favourite characters view the Muslim world, then the film really lacks respect.
First there is the unbelievable naivety in our four leads with women in veil and belly dancers. Really? They have not seen any Middle Eastern ladies in NYC ? Then there is the overplayed waaahs and ooohs when they are being brought around the hotel. Really? They have not seen such luxury institutions in America? Shoes for only 20 dollars. At first I laughed damn hard when I first saw it on a preview clip. Watching it again… really? Carrie has never travelled to other cities where her USD is stronger?
In that scene, accidentally leaving the passport at the market is a lame trigger for the visual gag at the end of the film – 4 of them running around the market incognito with veils – that’s bordering on slapstick.
Most discomforting is the way the filmmakers handle the sensitive topic of religious and racial conservatism with an apparent ignorance that could be interpreted as offensive in some quarters.
In short, it is like these cosmopolitan girls who sip cosmopolitan have suddenly become non-cosmopolitan out of the city.
Sex And The City the series and Sex And The City the first movie are thematically strong on loyalty. So New York may have become over-used in other movies. Old dame-like and boring. Or it may have lost some lustre in recent years due to the wall street debacle. But isn’t it akin to being with old friends, the more down she is, the more you should stand by her. Why leave the city?
The film does start with shots of NYC, Chrysler building shimmering in the sun and all. And the first scene introducing how the four girls met on the streets of the Big Apple in the 80s is well-done and funny.
Last observation, which is not about the city but about the plots on infidelity, or the thoughts of.
The film opens with Anthony telling everyone he is allowed to sleep around after marriage. Then Charlotte gets suspicious about her hubby and nanny after learning about the ‘Jude’ law. Then Carrie makes a molehill of a cheat out of a sugar crumb of a kiss.
Really? Thinking of cheating is the in-thing in 2010?
2008′s SATC in comparison was bolder. Miranda’s plot started upfront with Steve confessing he already slept with someone else. No wasting time establishing if Steve contemplates to cheat or not to cheat. He had sex. Not a kiss, not a thought, but extra-marital sex. And Miranda had to deal with it. Period.
