The Rating:  R

The Marquee: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Chris Noth, Evan Handler, John Corbett

The Synopsis:

"Sex and the City 2" brings back the fun and fashion as Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) take another bite out of The Big Apple--and beyond.

SATC 2 explores what happens after you say "I do"?  Life appears to be everything the ladies ever wished it to be, but it wouldn't be "Sex and the City" if life didn't hold a few more surprises...this time in the form of a glamorous, sun-drenched adventure that whisks the women away from New.

The Review: 

SATC is a bit over-the-top and much too long, but somehow "Sex and the City 2" works as its audience gets a little older with the characters.

Obsessed with Suzanne Summers’  “Breakthrough,” Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is devouring vitamins, wearing hormone patches and doing everything she can to fight off menopause, while Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is going through a "midwife" crisis that finds boycotting TV to recapture the "sparkle" of her single days.

Meanwhile, we very briefly find Charlotte (Kristin Davis) suffering through a baby with the Terrible Twos, and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is facing sexism in the workplace.

Carrie, as always, is the central focus here, although Samantha gives her a run for the money, with the other two girlfriends circling about.

The odd thing about  SATC is that there isn't really all that much sex -- there's more talk than actual action -- and the city of New York is pretty much replaced the Arab emirate city of Abu Dhabi – and here is where we make a couple of mistakes.

Instead of a continuation of the plot, the movie becomes a long commercial.  We watch the girls vacation at a $22,000-a-night Abu Dhabi resort.  It becomes a spoof of Middle Eastern women wearing the latest couture beneath their burquas and long camel rides and closely borders on bad, bad taste. 

The Conclusion:  SATC fans will love this film because they’re “friends in their head” with Carrie and all her fashion sense faux pas.   Meanwhile, critics will hate it for its excessive swag and extensive camel and dance scenes.