Sex and the City 2 (2010) * *

Directed by:  Michael Patrick King

Starring:  Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, Chris Noth, John Corbett

I enjoyed the HBO series Sex and the City and the first movie somewhat, which was released in 2008 and continued the stories of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda and their escapades.    Three of the four are married now with Samantha being the lone, proud holdout.     She'll pretty much have sex with any guy with a pulse.     The other three deal with varying degrees of marital difficulties, with Carrie facing the biggest crisis.     There is even a wedding between Anthony and Stanford, two gay men from the series and previous movie.    This is some wedding.   There are ice sculptures, decorations, a gigantic hall complete with a small brook running through it, an orchestra, a chorale, and Liza Minnelli performing both the ceremony and Beyonce's "Single Ladies".   Who on Earth paid for this shindig?     For all we know, Stanford's father is Warren Buffett.     He had better be to afford this wedding. 

Sex and the City 2 really has no reason to exist, except to press the franchise's luck with its target audience and built-in fanbase.     It trumps up subplots which don't add much excitement to the proceedings.     Things go awry for Carrie and her husband, Mr. Big after they come home from the wedding.    Mr. Big doesn't like to go out much while Carrie wants to attend fashion shows and movie premieres.     This creates enough of a strain on their marriage that the two agree to live apart a few days a week.    Samantha is approached at one of these premieres by Arab film producers who agree to put her and her three friends up in $22,000 a night rooms at their Abu Dhabi hotel in exchange for "publicity for the hotel."     The rooms come complete with servants.     My question is, how much publicity does this hotel really need?   It looks like it is at full capacity when the girls arrive.   Are they going to run ads in USA Today and knock $1,000 off a night if you arrive on a Tuesday?  

Charlotte is jealous of her family's nanny (Alice Eve), a sweet, sexy Irish girl who doesn't wear a bra.    She believes her husband Harry (Evan Handler) will be a target of the lass' seduction.    Handler is bald and once played Larry in a Three Stooges TV biopic.    Honey, she's not seducing him.   Period.   Miranda has issues with a sexist boss who treats her poorly.    This subplot is handled within the first 30 minutes and is never referred to again.    

When the girls get to Abu Dhabi (they get there by a lear jet), then Sex and the City 2 turns into porn for materialists and fashion enthusiasts.     The girls are even rescued by Arabic women when they are accosted in a bazaar because they dress like hookers.     These Arabic women turn out to be dressed in the latest fashions underneath their black robes.     Isn't that special?    Carrie also meets former love Aidan (Corbett) in Abu Dhabi and comes ever-so-close to cheating on Mr. Big.    Samantha hooks up with a suave blond, tan guy whom she meets in the desert.    She dubs him, "Lawrence of My Labia" (groan).  

If I sound less than enthusiastic about Sex and the City 2, it's because there is nothing more that can be done with these characters.     I enjoyed the girls once.   I liked their freshness, spunk, and frankness.   They were likable.    Now they are just tired.     There are a lot of clothes on display which few women watching would be able to buy.     Abu Dhabi seems like a nice place to visit if you like 120 degree temperatures, but I doubt even Sarah Jessica Parker herself could afford one night in that hotel.     I don't think there will be any room for a Sex and the City 3, unless you want to see the same women pushing 50 with the same problems they had when they were 40 or even 30.