Sex and the Sand Dunes

Last week, thousands of women slipped into their six-inch Manolos, grabbed their Vuittons, and met the girls for a cosmopolitan before heading to the theatre in groups of four to see the much-anticipated sequel to the first Sex and the City blockbuster.  As for me (and yes I'm going to brag about this), I happened to be in Las Vegas for Memorial Weekend and saw SATC2 in true Vegas VIP style - in a private screening room that resembled a home theatre complete with large, cozy reclining chairs and the kind of leg room that makes you wish your legs were six inches longer just to take advantage of all that extra space!  Oh yeah, and I even got to munch on bottomless popcorn.  For an amateur critic, there was nothing amateur about this movie-going experience.

The movie, which takes the gals out of their beloved NYC and places them in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (another city synonymous with extravagant spending), was all kinds of couture cheesy but what else were you expecting?  Note to SATC fans: PLEASE don't see this movie if you have difficulty getting past the fact that the fab four don't always bend to Middle Eastern culture and gender roles.  For crying out loud people, it's Sex and the City for heaven's sake!  If the ladies weren't dripping in couture while riding camels, I would have been sorely disappointed.  As writer-director Michael Patrick King brilliantly puts it, "It was 110 degrees and they're out there in their Hermes and Chanel.  I mean it's crazy!  And it should be.  This movie never stops being big."

Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, Samantha, and... Liza?  Yes, Liza Minnelli guest stars in the sequel as the officiant of Stanford and Anthony's nuptials and even performs her own rendition of Beyonce's "Single Ladies."  Penelope Cruz, Miley Cyrus, and Tim Gunn also have cameos.  And then of course there's Aidan.  If the producers were intent on making this movie bigger than Big, they sure pulled out all the stops!

SATC2 picks up two years after Carrie and Big (finally!) tied the knot.  Carrie's (Sarah Jessica Parker) about to publish her fourth book and ponders what it means to be a married woman.  Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is struggling with the challenge of raising two young children (and then there's the braless-brogue speaking nanny...), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is dealing with a new boss from hell, and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is fighting the onset of menopause.  Each woman, in her own way, is resisting traditionally defined roles.  In the words of Cattrall, "To transport these emancipated new-millennium women to a world that has not changed, in a lot of ways, since biblical times was a fascinating idea... Using that kind of tension to comedic effect was very clever."

And just like Miranda's character was in this film (refreshing!) so too was the idea to put a movie about a lavish, exotic, five-star vacation on the big screen in the middle of a recession.  Hasn't escapism been the main draw of cinema throughout the generations?  I mean, who wants to see Carrie & Co. wearing polos from Target and shopping in thrift stores?  Boring!!

Sure SATC2 may not be as popular among the legions of extremely loyal female fans as the first movie, but I guarantee that you'll leave last season's Havaianas at the door in favor of this season's more fashionable Jimmy Choo's.