(Contains spoilers!!)
I love the SATC girls. As someone who lives in the midwest and who has never been to NYC, my fantasy of what life in Manhattan is like for a girl is basically Carrie Bradshaw’s story. Great apartment, writing for Vogue, a closet full of Manolos, and nightclub openings or movie premieres every night. And of course, Mr. Big. People tell me this is incorrect. Struggling writers live in crappy apartments and probably cannot afford designer shoes. I prefer to believe the fantasy. So, I love Carrie. And of course Charlotte (I love her wardrobe and her doting, sweet husband), and Miranda (amazing career and another sweet, doting husband – well besides that whole cheating thing from the first movie), and yes, Samantha. Samantha is my complete opposite but I admire her confidence and comfort in herself. She is who she is and she has a lot of fun. She makes no apologies.
I loved the first movie. I loved the elaborate wedding dress (sure, obviously Vivienne Westwood would just give send it to her for free!). Loved the girl bonding in Mexico during Carrie’s dark time. I love the friendship. When Carrie asks ‘Will I ever laugh again?’, Miranda answers immediately, ‘Yes.’ Carrie: ‘When?’ Miranda: ’When something’s really, really funny.’ I love that conversation. I love that Mr. Big sends her emails of famous love letters. I love that she forgives him in the end. I love that instead of an engagement ring, she asks for a ‘really big closet.’ I love that in the end, they get married in the courthouse. I love the fantasy.
So, I have been very excited awaiting SATC 2. This next chapter begins with Carrie and Big realizing they are stuck somewhere between wild sex and babies. Then Big does a really stupid thing that anyone woman in the world could have warned him against. For their second anniversary gift, she buys him a vintage Rolex. He buys her….a TV in the bedroom. I loved her reaction: ‘A piece of jewelry might have been nice.’ This confirms Carrie’s fear of becoming the old, boring married couple. She escapes to her old apartment (of course. Carrie must never get rid of the iconic apartment) for two days of writing (an article for Vogue!). Eventually Big shows up in his limo just like the old days and takes her home. Swoon!
Charlotte is juggling two kids, including baby Rose who is in the midst of the terrible two’s. Charlotte has a nanny who is blond, 20-something, and doesn’t wear bras. Somehow Charlotte never noticed this until the girls ask her about it. After that, she becomes paranoid that Harry will Jude Law her with the nanny. I guess Charlotte has never watched the SATC show because Harry is maybe the greatest TV husband around.
Miranda is dealing with a new senior partner who does things like hold up his hand to silence her in meetings. What I love about Miranda is that she is such a type A, take charge girl. She would never take such treatment. Plus, she has mom guilt. So, she finally quits. Career-driven Miranda is unemployed.
Samantha is now 52 and starting menopause. She is now obsessed with the Suzanne Somers’ plan of creams and vitamins and hormones. Jokes about hot flashes and estrogen follow.
The girls end up at a movie premiere (Smith’s movie!), and Samantha gets offered a trip to Abu Dhabi to meet with a shiek (obviously) to perhaps do PR for his new hotel venture in America. So, the girls make plans to go.
In the meantime, Big decides it would be okay to ask his wife for two days off per week from marriage. Not to cheat, but to ‘do all the things that annoy you, like watching TV.’ Carrie pretends this doesn’t bother her. I’m not sure single Carrie would have reacted quite so calmly.
Then the girls are off. This is where the movie turns from something I was truly loving and enjoying, to something that I started wishing I could fast forward. The movie is around 2 hours, 30 minutes long. I would guess something like 1 1/2 hours of that was this Abu Dhabi trip and had not much to do with the storylines started at the beginning of the film. The girls dress incredibly inappropriately for a Muslim country. The girls ride camels in the desert. The girls somehow get a gay butler (I thought that was worthy of a death sentence in the Middle East?). Carrie is amazed to find shoes for sale in a market for $20 (proof that Carrie doesn’t shop at Target like I do).
This is where Carrie runs into Aiden. Yes, Aiden, in a market in Abu Dhabi. You just never know where those exes will show up. He grabs her and hugs her and spins her around (I’m pretty sure PDA is frowned upon there). They eventually have dinner and talk about their spouses and his children (when did Aiden have time to have three children?). Then they kiss. Carrie freaks out and runs back the hotel. Samantha tells her not to tell Big. She calls him anyway. Silent treatment ensues.
Around this time, one my favorite scenes happens. Miranda and Charlotte decide to have drinks. I don’t know that I can remember another scene where just these two are spending time together. They are the two with kids and it stands to reason that they would lean on each other. Miranda convinces Charlotte that it is okay to speak her mind, they are 6700 miles from home after all. So the two of them drink and talk about how hard it is to be a mom. And they both have live-in nannies. ‘How do women do it without help??’ Charlotte asks. I read in a review that some people thought this was a condescending statement, but I didn’t take it that way. I thought it was kind of nice that they realized that most women don’t get days off and help from live-in nannies. But it was fun watching the two of them bond.
Eventually the girls are forced to get out of dodge after Samantha is arrested for making out with a man on the beach. There is a wacky trip to the airport and another trip to the market (Carrie forgot her passport at the shoe booth). This is where Samantha offends Muslims everywhere by parading around in a tank top and shorts. She spills her Birkin bag and out comes a giant pile of condoms. The men freak out and start screaming at her and she screams back things like ‘Yes I have sex! What are you going to do about it?’ Well, probably they would stone her to death but not in this movie. Instead some veil-covered women help the ladies get out and then declare their love for Louis Vuitton (so that’s whats under those robes!).
The movie ends with Carrie coming home and Big punishing her for almost cheating with her ex-fiance’ by buying her a very large and expensive black diamond. Well sure. That will teach her.
And that’s that. Miranda gets a more fulfilling job. Charlotte learns to take time away from the kids. Oh and the hot nanny turns out to be a lesbian. So problem solved there.
All in all, it was an enjoyable movie. There was a lot to smile at. I think if you love the girls, you’ll enjoy it. If you don’t, you’ll hate it. If you’re an Aiden fan as I know many girls are, you will be very happy to finally see him show up.
On a scale of 1 – 5, I give SATC 2 a solid 3 out of 5 Manolos (yes, this is the shoe that Big proposed with!):
