What Do The Critics Say?

"A flagrant insult to the audience that made the first film a phenomenon. Shame on the writers of this soulless drivel for trying to pass this Canal Street bootleg sow's ear off as a genuine Alexander McQueen silk purse." Diva Velez THEDIVAREVIEW "Amid the luxury of Abu Dhabi, the New Yorkers soon butt up against tradition, and their outrageous antics are no longer funny and harmless but offensive and dangerous." Annlee Ellingson MOVING PICTURES MAGAZINE "The film's tone-deaf cultural awareness extends to a boozy karaoke rendition of "I Am Woman" which is equal parts naïve/patronising." Fiona Williams SBS "It's a marathon of shopping, eating, oooh-ing, and gasping. Or, for the viewers, retching and dozing." Tricia Olszewski WASHINGTON CITY PAPER "Though the sequel is a welcome return of the four women we know and love, it's tough not to acknowledge that if we were all friends in real life, at this point we'd probably stop taking their calls." Amy DiLuna NEW YORK DAILY NEWS "When the best scenes in a movie feature Liza Minnelli singing "Single Ladies" and the foursome singing "I Am Woman," you know the concept has lost its sparkle." Lori Hoffman ATLANTIC CITY WEEKLY "An enervated, crass and gruesomely caricatured trip to nowhere [that] seems conceived primarily to find new and more cynical ways to abuse the loyalty of its audience." Ann Hornaday WASHINGTON POST

"Any emotional intelligence or investment made in the television series is crushed into dust under a signature Louboutin sole, and then cast into the 'Arabian' desert along with any shred of the actresses' dignity." Alice Tynan THE VINE "It's like a magic carpet ride for Barbie dolls in which designer fashion and life's frustrations play on a bed of friendship. It ends up with little sex or city, falling short of its promise." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE "Vapid, overlong, painfully unfunny, preposterous and, worst of all, boring. It's so bad that it's gone past good and back to bad again." Avi Offer NYC MOVIE GURU "Not sexy, no story, ugly clothes, the women look horribly aged." Victoria Alexander FILMS IN REVIEW "Not that Sex And The City has ever been lauded for its subtlety and grace, but this really is the closest to a Carry On film that the franchise has come so far." Catherine Bray FILM4 "Carrie is presented as some kind of empowering female image. That's scary because she's really more of an old school stereotype as she chases romantic clichés while pretending to write her own rules." Beth Accomando KPBS "Disposable, glitzy fun lacking depth or staying power, Sex And The City 2 is the cinematic version of karaoke: a giddy, silly hoot best enjoyed in tipsy groups." Jane Crowther TOTAL FILM

The Inside Story on Sex And The City 2 Twelve years, six seasons and one hugely successful feature film. Since its inception, "Sex and the City" has grown into an international phenomenon, with audiences around the world feeling so close to Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda that they practically consider them more like personal friends than fictional characters. "When the first movie opened," writer, producer, director Michael Patrick King recalls. "I would see lines of women at the theaters all dressed up as if they were going to a party, not just a movie. It felt to me like they were excited to celebrate this special time with their girlfriends: both the ones in the seats and on the screen. So when I thought about the sequel, I knew I wanted it to be the continuation of the party. I wanted the movie to be the party." Four time Golden Globe winner Sarah Jessica Parker (2000, '01, '02 & '04), who not only reprises her role as Carrie Bradshaw but is once again a producer on the film, says, "It’s very moving and truly thrilling to be part of something that people have connected with and have strong feelings about, something that they’ve welcomed into their homes every week and then gone to the theatre to watch. So we gave a lot of thought as to how we’d take them into the next phase, two years down the road." Despite the resolution of the first film's major plotlines, there remains plenty to say about these four women and the loves in their lives. Producer John Melfi who picked up Emmy Awards for "From the Earth to the Moon" (1998) and "Sex and the City" (2001) offered: "It’s exciting to go to the next chapter, to see what happens next." As King began to reflect on how far the characters have come, and to explore where they might be after we last saw them two years ago, a theme began to emerge: tradition. Though he didn’t want "Sex and the City 2" to be a conventional comedy, the various forms and facets of tradition played right into King’s hands, and he turned the genre on its ear. "These four women are not traditional and never have been. Miranda had a baby out of wedlock, then got married late, and she’s the alpha spouse. Charlotte converted to Judaism, adopted an Asian daughter and had another daughter. Samantha has tried relationships and decided she’s always going to be single. And Carrie is somebody who has tried everything she can to make her relationship work with Big and still be a self-employed writer. King revealed: "At the start of this movie, each of these four characters has found herself beginning to feel boxed in by one of those 'female' roles. Carrie Bradshaw, the eternal single girl, now finds herself struggling with the title of wife. How does the title of 'Mrs' affect a woman whose identity, not to mention career path as a writer, has been tied to the idea of being single? Miranda, a partner at a prestigious New York Law firm, has discovered that despite all her years to prove otherwise, there can be a glass ceiling for women who work. Charlotte, who always dreamed of being the perfect mother to a loving family, now has the loving family and is discovering just how far out of her reach being the ‘perfect’ mother really is. The outrageous and outspoken Samantha takes on the taboo of menopause and aging by fighting the idea that when a woman goes through the 'change', she should have to change." Still playing with their theme, the filmmakers found a way to amp up the level of fantasy in this film by taking the four friends on a vacation to one of today’s most exotic, sought-after locations in the world, a place at once completely modern and yet, stilL entirely traditional: the United Arab Emirates. In bringing "Sex and the City", in any incarnation, to the screen, King, Parker and the rest of the filmmakers and cast felt a great sense of responsibility to their characters, especially Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda, because each of the women is reflected somewhere in the audience. Therefore, in the sequel, even though they vacate their daily lives and take an exhilarating romp in a stunning locale, the women continue to face very human, true to life concerns, as voiced by the ever-questioning chronicler, Carrie a.k.a Mrs John Preston. "Carrie is truly the heart and soul of it all," says King. "Even when the story focuses on the other women, we hear and see it from Carrie’s perspective to some degree." Miranda Hobbes, having gotten past Steve’s infidelity in the last film, finds herself finally comfortable and secure at home. It’s her job that’s causing her grief. She’s grown increasingly frustrated at work, where her obvious talents are being thwarted by her arrogant and clearly chauvinistic boss. "Miranda has always defined herself as a career person," says two time Emmy Award winner Cynthia Nixon ("Sex and the City" & "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"). "Men might come and go; maybe she would be a mother, maybe she wouldn’t, but she was a lawyer." Her work life isn’t the only thing about Miranda that’s changing. "I think the most exciting thing about returning to the character is the way Michael Patrick always keeps her evolving." Also a wife and mother, Charlotte York-Goldenblatt has spent the last two years in the midst of her growing family, and now finds herself in the middle of the 'terrible twos' with her daughter Rose. "Things are not going smoothly for Charlotte," two time Screen Actors Guild Award winner Kristin Davis (2002 & '04) notes. "She still really wants everything to be perfect, and it’s hard for her to accept the fact that it’s not: and that she’s not perfect either. It’s been her ongoing struggle throughout the life of the character." While Charlotte is mired down with the challenges of parenthood, a single Samantha Jones, back in New York and back on the prowl, once again represents the epitome of freedom. "Samantha is back in her seat of power, back in her town with her girlfriends (her family) around her," the Liverpool, England born Kim Cattrall says. The most outgoing of the foursome, Samantha is a smart hedonist who lives life on her own terms. However, this time around, life is throwing the sexy blonde a few curveballs. She is forced to deal with the idea of aging and what locking horns with the first symptoms of menopause means for her liberated lifestyle. Cattrall says she looked forward to approaching this fact of life from a comedic point of view. "For me, incorporating comedy into a menopausal storyline was incredibly gratifying, because you hear so many negative stories about what women have to go through at that time of their lives. I feel we’ve taken that subject and mined gold out of it by making it human and funny and accessible." "These four actresses embody something very special, something everyone relates to," King notes. "Whether people feel that they are like Carrie, or Miranda, or they have a friend who is like Charlotte or Samantha, the audience has an investment in these actresses and their characters, and in the emotional journeys they take." Not to be outdone by the ladies, Stanford and Anthony: Carrie and Charlotte’s best gay friends, respectively; have each found the love of their life: Anthony and Stanford, respectively. And though Carrie may have ultimately opted out of the big wedding, nothing can compare to this movie’s black-tie gala nuptials: complete with swans, an all-male chorus and none other than Liza Minnelli herself officiating; all arranged by Stanford, not his wedding planner fiancé, Anthony. "I’ve been on a lot of movie sets, but I had never seen anything like this," Willie Garson ("The Perfect Catch") declared. "It was reminiscent of a Busby Berkeley musical of the 1930’s and '40s, with hundreds of extras and an orchestra and two camera cranes. It was probably the biggest thing I’ll ever be part of." Mario Cantone, who played Geoffrey in the critically acclaimed "Happy Hour", turned the occasion into a true family affair. "I got my sisters, Marion and Camille, to walk me down the aisle, so it was actually very emotional. And for my character to have this great sequence at the beginning of the movie was really thrilling and magical, something I’ll never forget." "Stanford Blatch and Anthony Marantino are polar opposites," King says. "Anthony’s an opinionated, bossy, prickly, hilarious man, and Stanford’s sweet, vulnerable fussy and emotional; but, as they say, opposites attract, so really they’re just like any other couple. And now they’re having this over the top wedding, and Anthony is uncomfortable with the tradition of it all, so he fights off the wedding emotions: until the vows." The wedding itself occurs about ten minutes into the film and, while set in Connecticut, was filmed at Brooklyn’s Steiner Studios, on an elaborate set created by production designer Jeremy Conway ("The School of Rock" & "Friday the 13th") and his team. "Michael said it was important that this sequence was white," Conway revealed. "I think the line he used was that 'it should look like a snow-globe had exploded', which was a funny, really great image for me to work from: brilliant! Then he told me about the swans and a water feature, and it was off to the races." Perhaps the most obvious means by which the filmmakers chose to break with tradition was to break out of the series’ traditional setting, New York City. Though the ladies had been to a resort in Mexico together, King really wanted to go much further afield this time. He was particularly interested in the United Arab Emirates. Morocco, with a seventy five year history of filmmaking, would stand in for Abu Dhabi, and the bulk of shooting there took place in Marrakech. However, the first few days of filming took place several hundred miles away, at the edge of the Sahara. After all, no trip to the desert would be complete without a camel ride across the sand. The sequence, which includes lunch on the dunes, was shot in the same location as seven time Oscar winner, "Lawrence of Arabia". Moving into Marrakech, the production faced new challenges. Some of the movie’s key moments take place in the souq, which is the commercial quarter, or market, in a Muslim city. Marrakech, comprised of both an old fortified city known as the medina, and an adjacent modern city, has the largest traditional souq in Morocco. A major tourist attraction, the medina is comprised of a very tight, narrow series of alleyways and streets containing small stalls, workshops, craft shops and the like. While in Abu Dhabi, the women live in the height of luxury in a grand suite of rooms. The exquisite Mandarin Oriental Jnan Rhama Marrakech, with a breathtaking view of the Atlas Mountains was still several weeks away from its grand opening when the production became its first 'guests'. What's It All About?

Stanford Blatch and Anthony Marantino have decided to tie the knot and Carrie is the best 'man'. Their wedding ceremony is a glitzy hollywood musical production complete with a male choir, swans and a glitzy number, performed by Liza Minnelli. For Carrie, married life is about to change as Mr. Big becomes housebound, prefering to dine-in on takeouts and watch old movies on his new gift to Carrie: a flat screen TV in their bedroom. So, what happens after you say "I do"? Life is everything the ladies ever wished it to be, but it's about to throw them a few surprises. This time, it comes in the form of a glamorous, sun-drenched adventure that whisks the women away from New York to one of the most luxurious, exotic and vivid places on earth, where the party never ends and there’s something mysterious around every corner. It’s an escape that comes exactly at the right moment for the four friends, who are finding themselves in: and fighting against; the traditional roles of marriage, motherhood and more.

The Verdict "Let me make it abundantly clear right from the outset so there can be no comeback from those ardent fans who show a real adour for what up until now has been a highly rewarding, fantastic experience. And feel free to quote me! "I am a big fan of both the TV series "Sex And The City" and, the highly successful movie edition it spawned." But that doesn't mean I have to like its successor, "Sex And The City 2". And my opinion of Michael Patrick King's sequel, should not be clouded by fanatical SATC female fans who want to vent their rage at me because I'm a mere male and therefore wouldn't have a clue as to what SATC2 is all about. And don't worry, I'm not homophoebic, even if I do bat on the same team as 'Mr Big'. Sitting through the premiere screening was an arduous affair, probably because, unlike most in the 99.5% female audience, I hadn't swilled down a welcoming glass of champers. It's one of the few times I wished I wasn't a teetotaller. There's little to recommend about the film, but here's some salient points. Loved the gay wedding choir: hated the croaky performance by Liza Minnelli. Loved the take on meeting the 'girls' when they first met each other: hated what they have now become. Loved the location (even if it was Morocco): hated the way the film sends up Muslum women. Loved the old Samantha: hated the new 'slutty' version. Loved the generousity shown to the girls: hated the blatant 'slap in the face the film gives by disregaring local customs. Loved the soundtrack. Loved "Sex And The City": hope they never make another film. The verdict? Inane, puerile, crap! 1 1/2 STARS." The Production Team

Director Writer Characters TV series Producers D.O.P Film Editor Casting Production Design Art Direction Set Decoration Costume Design

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Michael Patrick King Michael Patrick King from the book by Candace Bushnell created by Darren Star Michael Patrick King/John P. Melfi Sarah Jessica Parker/Darren Star John Thomas Michael Berenbaum Bernard Telsey Jeremy Conway Miguel López-Castillo Lydia Marks & Lee Sandales Patricia Field/Jacqueline Oknaian/Molly Rogers Jessica Replansky/Danny Santiago

Who Is Playing Who?

Sarah Jessica Parker Kristin Davis Cynthia Nixon Kim Cattrall Chris Noth Mario Cantone Willie Garson Alice Eve Minglie Chen David Eigenberg John Corbett Evan Handler Alexandra Fong Parker Fong Max Ryan Noah Mills Liza Minnelli Billy Stritch Nadine Isenegger Natalie Lomonte Art Malik Dhaffer L'Abidine

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Carrie Bradshaw Charlotte York Miranda Hobbes Samantha Jones Mr. Big Anthony Marantino Stanford Blatch Erin Bergdorf Salesgirl Steve Brady Aidan Shaw Harry Goldenblatt Lily York Goldenblatt Lily York Goldenblatt Rikard Spirit Nicky Herself Band Leader Liza Dancer Liza Dancer Shiekh Khalid Mahmud

Run Time 146 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2010 - Warner Bros & HBO - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2010 The Movie Pages & impact Internet Services. All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian and International Copyright. Trademark Laws and Intellectual Property Rights apply.