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Sex and the City 2

2/10

Stars: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, John Corbett, Chris Noth, David Eigenberg, Evan Handley, Jason Lewis, Willie Garson, Mario Cantone, Liza Minnelli, Art Malik, Omid Djalili, Alice Eve, Penelope Cruz, Miley Cyrus

Director: Michael Patrick King

Success spawns sequels. And so this second big screen venture into TV series territory was inevitable. And unfortunate, too.

The ‘girls’ are back – Parker as Carrie, finding marriage to Noth’s Mr Big a tad constricting and Cattrall as sex-mad Samantha, with her ripe libido battling the menopause. Davis’ marriage is under stress because her husband appears to fancy their nubile and bra-less nanny, and lawyer Nixon is being ‘dissed’ by her male colleagues.

So, after subjecting them to a largely pointless and overlong gay wedding (with Liza Minnelli caricaturing herself in hyper camp cabaret) and to clichéd discussions over their problems, director King dumps the quartet on a freebie in a luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi, where the whole show turns into a sad sandstorm of witless comedy and drama adding up to very little indeed.

Even series fans might find themselves wondering why they bothered to waste time and money watching this sad spectacle. The stars seem jaded (you cannot really blame them, given the witless, pointless material - the drama's dull, the humour crass - they're stuck with). The plot, such as it is, runs out long before the overlong affair limps to a stop and the last time the Arab world appeared on screen this stupidly was when Abbott and Costello met The Mummy. (The best performance is by Morocco which plays Abu Dhabi).

What I found really extraordinary is that King – who doubles as director and producer – ever agreed to go ahead with such a limp, lumpy and lifeless screenplay. Oops, I forget – he also scripted the show.

Alan Frank

USA 2010. UK Distributor: Warner Brothers. Colour.
146 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 2, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 1, Swearing 1.

Review date: 29 May 2010