Tuesday 1 June 2010

Sex and the City 2: The Good, The Bad and The Downright Ugly

Well I am sure you have all heard about the earthquake that was Sex and the City 2. After months of anticipation, the movie or shall I say momentous event that every lady had been waiting for finally arrived. So we grabbed our handbags, high heels and best gal pals (or best guy pal) and headed down to the latest cinema to get carried away. Sadly for many the movie did not live up to the hype, I personally thought the film was a complete and utter snore but the ladies I went to see it with thought it was great, I find It interesting that a film has created such polarised opinions. I guess S&TC2 is like marmite – you either love it or hate it and this has been reflected in the reviews. In one corner you have people lambasting it in the media for people fluffy nonsense and to a certain extent racist and in the other campy you have those who object to the some of the reviews calling it male chauvinism. I cannot remember the last time I have witnessed such an outpour of vitriolic rage, probably when The Passion of the Christ and The Satanic Verses were released. Interestingly enough both works are connected to religion and one of the main criticism of S&TC2 is the disrespect of Muslim culture. Anyway I have been lapping up every review of the film in fact I enjoyed reading them more than watching the film and me being the generous lady I am I have decided to share them with you.

So to no further ado here is a list of my favourite reviews of S&TC2.

Hadley Freeman in The Guardian
Admired by many, Hadley Freeman did not pull any punches when she ripped into the latest S&TC film and was in fact one of the first journalists in the UK to lay down the gauntlet.

Mark Kermonde on BBC Radio Five
I never really appreciated the talents of Mr Kermode before until his rant about S&TC2. Remember when Kevin Keegan went off on one about Alex Ferguson back in the 90s? Well this is very similar except that it wasn’t about football. This is epic!!

Bangs and a Bun
Lovely Bangs sent a tweet informing us that she was ensconced in the cinema about to watch S&TC2. Three hours later I had not heard from her and after fearing that she had fallen into a coma, I sent her a tweet asking if she was ok. She was just about but needed a good few hours to recover to produce this damming and brilliant vlog.

Andrew O’Hagan in the Evening Standard
No one managed to get the glossy mag ladies fuming as much as Andrew O (who?) did in his vicious attack on S&TC2. He described it as the most disgusting thing he has seen all year. Quite a feat I say and went on to condemn the film as the most. racist, stupid, polluting and women-hating film of the year Hmm steady on I say.

Katie Chutzpah
Our Katie was not having any of O'Hagan's drivel and fed up with all the patrionising and male chauvinistic reviews, she hit back with a blog post of her own which made a excellent points and put a few things in perspective.

Liz Jones in The Mail on Sunday
Oh what would a great cultural slagging off be without good old Liz Jones chipping in. She added her two cents worth in The Mail on Sunday and was her usual contentious self. The heading for her piece is ‘Go on savage Carrie and the girls – they’re the only safe target left’. Says it all really.

Melissa Silverstein in The Huffington Post
This piece takes an interesting slant and talks about how gay men seem to be teller of stories about women using S&TC2 and Mamma Mia as sources. She discusses how these films are gay men fantasys and how women would never get away with making these films. I think the lady has a point.

Edible Glitter
This blog post really sums up in words what S&TC2 is - a really disappointing movie and a huge let down.

Rex Reed in The New York Observer
This article rips ten shades into Carrie, Michael Patrick King, the script and just about everything to do with this movie

Amy Diluna in the New York Daily News
Amy just echoes what most people are thinking, that the S&TC brand has well and truly been rinsed out and should be left to rest in peace. Amen to that.

Hopefully Sarah Jessica Parker and Michael Patrick King will take the hint and not make a S&TC3. If you come across any other reviews that take your fancy then please feel free to post the link.

9 cool comments:

Kwana said...

I saw it over the weekend and will be right a bit about it this week. I don't have any rage just disappointment. A lot of disappointment.

Unknown said...

Likewise - no rage, just disappointment after being so excited for it. I'm over it and feel no need to comment further.

Moni @ CL Journal said...

Honey the first thing that ticked me was the location....BRING IT BACK TO NEW YORK!

Second, these women (san Samantha) are now boring wives. As a 40 something myself, I don't want to spend two hours and 27 minutes of them trying to re-create their single selves by going through the desert, IN HEELS no less, whining about how hard married life is.

I hated Aidan in the series, could have done without him in the movie.

The only good thing was the wedding....

I'm over it! Please do not make another movie...please.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Moni, Aidan was pointless. Yes, the film was slightly boring, but it served its purpose: glam. At this point, isn't it all about the glamour?

'Lanre said...

Thanks for putting all the reviews up. I likesd Melissa Silverstein's take on it.

Brandy Shaloo said...

OMG, your story reminds me of myself. I didn't like the movie very much but the other girls loved it. So I'm alone with my point of view here :D
I was disappointed that most of it played in Abu Dhabi and this fake emancipation thing went on my nerves. Also the outfits were not as great as they used to. I missed New York in that movie, the city was like the fifth character of the show. But Liza Minelli rocked at least ;-)

Beauty Is Diverse said...

I liked the movie.

Heather said...

I'm now on the fence about seeing this movie. But again, another tv shoe being made into a movie, so the results are always hit or miss.

Personal Injury Lawyers said...

I dont like the movie as much as their tv but still...love all of them