Last night, Gloria and I had the opportunity to attend the screening of Sex and the City Two at Bloor Cinemas. The opening reception was giddy with excitement, high heels, Trojan men (handing out condoms), and ladies with pink boas. But who cares about all that, it’s time for us to take two, on the sequel.

AH: To put it mildly, Sex and the City Two was an unfortunate end to a boundary pushing franchise, which promoted the idea of female empowerment and the search for great love. The conclusion of the first film- Sex in the City (2008) in my opinion, had already provided the perfect conclusion to a series with the union of Carrie and Big. After all, we all know that in Hollywood film, marriage is a synonym for THE END, happily ever after.

GC: I think it was a continuation of what we were hoping would be a feature film that embraced all the highlights of what SATC stands for – female empowerment, clothes, idolization of a put-together woman. Think head-on collision of too much of everything. Not pretty, and not pink.

AH: The premise of the second film, abeit a very ‘thin’ one, revolved around the deconstruction of the traditional norms of marriage.

GC: The plot was rippling with self-indulgence. Things we probably didn’t need to see, or had already seen in the first. Fool me twice…well, you know.

What was the movie actually about?

AH: It felt more like a two-hour Patricia Fields look book, choke full of slow styling montages, labels, and the promotion of excessive consumption.

GC: Was there dialogue? I’m sorry, I was too distracted by the cleavage and beautiful clothes.

AH: Much like the dimming ‘sparkle’ in the relationship between Carrie and Big, the Sex and the City franchise felt tired. Glamorous wardrobe aside there was no more drama to be created within this group. Prior to SATC2 all the characters had already reached their final destination. Therefore, Charlottes struggle with motherhood, Carrie’s struggle with married life, and the other micro-plots simply felt forced and pity.

SATC2 pushed the foursome from aspirational to perspirational. Literally, with Samantha’s hot flashes. SATC2 unintentially pulled back the curtains and showed us the reality…everyone gets old.

GC: It was like that kid in the corner that tried too hard in high school and had something to prove when they grew up to be a hotshot from doing something nerdy. Like selling the domain name stamps.com (yeah, yeah. Lifted from Entourage, I know)

AH: Yes, I agree. Singing about being an empowered woman in the Middle East, really doesn’t make you one. Surely, I do not agree with the repression of women’s rights in the ‘modern UAE’, but the cultural insensitivity shown by Samantha demonstrated through her American-centric behavior is embarrassing and hyperbole. Whatever happened to the intelligent women who could adapt and thrive?

GC: I enjoyed how over the top everything was in both settings – nothing like being consistent?

AH: The movie felt wrong in many ways, but for me, two ways in particular. Firstly, New York was missing from the whole film and felt strangely empty without it. Secondly, the movie was like watching your mom party. And in Miranda and Charlottes’ case, it would be true.

GC: You can’t open a movie with “Empire State of Mind” and abandon the theme! It’s half of the charisma they promised.

AH: John Corbett looked great. Enough said. I was grateful for his return, and with him the nostalgia I had for the far superior SATC series.

GC: My favourite part was when Samantha did so many horrifically mortifying things that I couldn’t even manage to sum up how many. Genius! Nothing like acting indecently and dressing indecently.

AH: I hope for the sake of the characters, that this is the last film from this franchise. Any further storylines would diminish the last of the fantasy that might still exist in the viewers’ minds. But I guess the point of this movie is to unite with old friends, on-screen and off, and if that’s the case, then Carrie on.

GC: Please, oh please. Not another one. Third time’s not the charm.