Old Friends Fail To Entertain With Sex And The City 2!

The Good: Moments of cinematography, Moments of humor
The Bad: Characters are stalled, Not terribly funny, No great acting, Overly familiar
The Basics: A droll sequel that feels like one, Sex And The City 2 is a series of recycled plots and character moments that only the die-hard fans are likely to endure.


The very best cinematic follow-ups to television shows ought to either continue the adventures and character development from the small screen or tell a completely new story that utilizes the characters in a way that the small screen never could. Some of the best series’­ avoid the temptation to tell more story (Lost’s recent series finale, for example, left plenty of story opportunities open that one may only hope never get ruined by a sub-standard cinematic sequel) and let the series rest where it ended. Sex And The City is not like that. Sadly, almost as soon as it was off the air, the film was announced and shortly thereafter, Sex And The City 2 was announced. This, alas, could have been a fan-loved film that brought new fans to the series, but instead it has the feel of being an entirely cheap sequel.

Truth be told, I did not see the first cinematic Sex And The City, but the film catches viewers up very quickly before launching into the “new” story. I write new in quotes because the story has been done to death on the television show, it is just done in a different setting in Sex And The City 2. I gave up on Sex And The City after Season 3 and not only did I not feel at all lost with where Sex And The City 2 went, but I didn’t feel like I was watching anything I had not already seen before. Indeed, all but one of the major characters in Sex And The City 2 were present in the television series by season three (the holdout being Charlotte’s husband Harry).

Sex And The City 2 opens with what one has to assume is a favorite bit of fanfic, which finds Carrie Bradshaw meeting Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda in the early 1980s. After they befriend one another, the film shifts gears to the present day (two years after the first movie). Carrie is in a rut with Mr. Big, who wants to stay in when she wants to go out at night and Charlotte’s life is overrun by her children. An old beau of Samantha, a movie producing sheik, asks for Samantha’s help on a movie shoot and offers to fly her and her friends over to Abu Dhabi to consult on his film. This getaway for the four friends seems perfect.

But while in Abu Dhabi, temptation rears its ugly head. Carrie meets up with her former lover, Aiden and sees his being there as a sign. When they kiss, Carrie has a crisis of conscience and debates on whether or not to tell her husband. Charlotte’s eye wanders while away from Harry and Miranda enjoys the sun and tries to advise Carrie on how to handle her situation. But soon, Samantha’s sexual antics have the quartet on the run from the more conservative elements in the Middle East.

Basically, it’s Sex And The City before it degenerates into “ethnic mismatch comedy” of the most generic sort. Most of the movie is spend in Abu Dhabi and while this initially seems like it might shake up the Sex And The City formula, it fails to. Running into Aiden in Abu Dhabi is much the same as it was when Carrie randomly ran into him in New York City in season three of the television show. In fact, the whole movie ultimately has the feel of the Los Angeles arc that the television show did, just in a different sunny city.

The problem, of course, is in a formulaic plot that keeps the characters ultimately stagnant. This is not Married Life (reviewed here!), it’s Sex And The City and as such, there has to be sex, melodrama and moralizing in an over-the-top way about decisions most people are actually smart enough to avoid by not putting themselves into the initial, problematic situations that force the decisions. Miranda is a virtual nonentity in this film, which makes one wonder why Cynthia Nixon bothered to come back. Sure, Nixon and Miranda have a sage-like quality and is fun to watch, but there are no great character leaps for Miranda in this outing. Similarly, Samantha is still a hornball and Charlotte is still trying to be the faithful “good girl” long past when she last actually was one (in the series her character loses her initial path ridiculously quickly).

But then there is Carrie. In Sex And The City 2, Carrie is a homogeneously uninteresting character. She spent years hunting Mr. Big and now that she has him, she doesn’t know whether or not she wants (or how) to keep him. Their sexual magnetism - which some would have argued was more assumed than shown on-screen anyway - is largely drained and whether or not Carrie feels it, it is hard for the viewer not to feel like she has made the wrong decision. That is, until Aiden appears. The appearance of Aiden could have been a huge thing for the fans, but the truth is, when he appears, the result is more of a groan than an excited gasp. Aiden’s appearance feels contrived and Carrie’s debating on how improbable his appearance is makes it feel more contrived, not less.

Ultimately, Sex And The City 2 does not add to the acting range of Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristen Davis or Cynthia Nixon, it simply allows them to once again step into the familiar shoes (metaphorically) of the characters that they embodied for years. There is nothing truly new here and too many of the moments in the film have the principles looking bored with the material, like they know they have said similar lines before. I know I’ve heard the lines from them before, so that reaction is absolutely no surprise.

For other Sex And The City reviews, please visit:
Sex And The City - Season 3
Sex And The City - Season 2
Sex And The City - Season 1

3/10

For other film reviews, please check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Yes, I Watch Two Broke Girls, But Try As I Might, I Can’t Recommend Season 1!

The Good: Some very funny lines, Good cast
The Bad: Very predictable plots, Terrible acting, Very forced humor.
The Basics: While I enjoyed the first season of Two Broke Girls, objectively it falls to the lower spectrum of average comedies on television today.


Some people have a notion of a “guilty pleasure.” I no longer do. Instead of “guilty pleasures,” I simply acknowledge the difference between things I like on an emotional level and works that are actually qualitatively good. So, when I both admit to watching Two Broke Girls whenever it comes on and to not recommending the DVD boxed set of Two Broke Girls, there is actually startlingly little contradiction. I enjoy Two Broke Girls, but I know that it is not good.

Before there comes a pile-on of nasty comments, let’s backtrack. Two Broke Girls is very funny. The show is usually very well-written for one-liners and zingers. But, the acting is terrible and the humor is telegraphed and until the second half of the season when Sophie entered the mix, something was missing. Why did I so enthusiastically watch the first season of Two Broke Girls? Quite simply, I’m a fan of the works of Kat Dennings. She’s smart and funny and yeah, there’s a little crush there on my part. But in Two Broke Girls, the directors do not hold her to any sense of standards; they don’t push her toward the greatness she has exhibited in other works. How do I know? In Charlie Bartlett and Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Kat Dennings doesn’t crack up on screen at her own wit. In Two Broke Girls, she does with unfortunate consistency. The only member of the cast less able to keep a poker face on screen is Dennings’ costar, Beth Behrs.

I wish I could find a way to blame Whitney Cummings. Cummings is a comedian who seems to be very vogue all of a sudden. She is one of the two co-creators of Two Broke Girls and a terrible actress in her own right, laughing through much of her own material on her own sitcom, Whitney. In fact, for me, the two biggest, least pleasant, surprises of the 2011-12 television season were that Whitney mysteriously got renewed for a second season and that she was a co-creator of Two Broke Girls. I can’t complain too much; it is virtually assured that as soon as Whitney gets shitcanned, Cummings will appear on Two Broke Girls as Max’s mother.

Regardless of her similar acting style (or failure to act and simply be amused by her own creations) and her influence in Two Broke Girls, Whitney Cummings is not to blame for the show’s problems. CBS, who airs Two Broke Girls enjoys reinforcing conventions, as opposed to defying them. So, Two Broke Girls exists as a string of back-and-forth lines of dialogue that stop for a telegraphed laugh track to tell viewers that what they just heard was funny. Some of it is, but Two Broke Girls forces the humor far too much, making it feel like the show is trying way too hard to amuse its audience (who is pretty much predisposed toward comedy anyway).

Two Broke Girls is, as the title suggests, the story of two young women who represent the working poor. Max works at a crappy diner in New York City and takes care of babies for an ultra-rich woman (at least until a mid-season course correction for the show). Caroline Channing is a down-on-her-luck heiress who suddenly finds herself cut off in the world when her father’s massive white collar crimes leave the family out on the street. Determined to survive in the City, she gets a job at Han’s diner with Max and she moves in with Max as well. The arrangement takes on positive spin for both when Caroline begins to apply her expertise in business to Max’s small-time cupcake-making business.

Over the course of the first season, Max and Caroline try desperately to save up the money needed to truly grow their cupcake business. However, they are frequently hampered by being forced to spend money on things like a new stove, artwork whose destruction might bring about a catharsis, a Murphy bed, and an ice cream cake. The comedy frequently comes from zippy, sarcastic one liners from Max that acknowledge her terrible childhood, promiscuity or poverty or poke fun at Caroline’s abrupt change in social status and the differences between being rich and poor.

The season has a number of sitcom standards. The two young women are trying to build their own business, but in the process, they are navigating relationships in New York City. Max flirts with a very cool artist and Caroline largely remains in a state of forced chastity. So, it is unsurprising when – after a few months of being poor – Caroline starts looking for a one-night stand. Pretty standard plots come when the pair breaks into Caroline’s father’s townhouse for a few hours, Caroline must sell some designer rings, and the pair has a dramatic misunderstanding over what the new neighbor upstairs does for a living.

The essential characters in the first season of Two Broke Girls are:

Max Black – A young woman who has no idea who her father is and whose mother was a crazy alcoholic, she is on her own getting by as best she can. She makes cupcakes from a mix and sells them as a premium product at Han’s diner where she works as a waitress. Despite showing compassion toward Caroline and the twins of a New York socialite, she is deeply sarcastic and jaded. Very quick with a sarcastic remark,

Caroline Channing – The daughter of a now-imprisoned billionaire, she is on her own in the real world for the first time in her life. Cut off from all she knew, she learns how to waitress and coupon from Max, while teaching Max to enjoy sushi and the finer things in life. She comes with a horse, Chestnut, who she is forced to give up over the winter. She takes over running the business end of the cupcake business, including getting her and Max enrolled in classes at a local bakery to learn how to make the cupcakes nicer looking,

Earl – The old host of the Williamsburg Diner, he used to be a jazz musician. He and Max are pals. He has a heart attack, which makes Max realize just how important he is to her,

Oleg – The cook at the diner, he is obsessed with sex and spends each interaction with Max and Caroline making a crass remark. When he meets Sophie, he becomes determined to hook up with her and, despite being from very different ends of the social spectrum, he succeeds,

Sophie – Max and Caroline’s new upstairs neighbor, she runs a cleaning service. She is impressed with Max’s work ethic and Caroline’s sense of style. Despite being ashamed of herself, she continues to hook up with Oleg. She has a cottage she is having built in Europe,

And Han – the short proprietor of the Williamsburg Diner, he tries desperately to be hip and cool, and usually fails horribly. He ignites a war with the women of the area when he dramatically raises the price of tampons sold in the lady’s room at the diner.

While the show focuses heavily on Dennings’ Max and Behr’s Channing, they are well-supported by Jonathan Kite, Jennifer Coolidge, Matthew Moy, and Garrett Morris. Kite is relegated to the lowest form of sidekick until the appearance of Coolidge on the staff. As Oleg, Kite is mostly responsible for seeming smarmy. Moy, similarly, is given the role of appearing constantly uncool and he plays that well. Garrett Morris – who it’s always nice to see getting work – does a decent job as Earl, though he is given astonishingly little to do, but appear in the background and make the occasional one-liner. Jennifer Coolidge, then, explodes into the series as Sophie and her appearance brings a spark that had been missing. Far more active than the male cast members, Coolidge brings a zany quality to Sophie that feels fresh and fun.

Even so, it’s impossible to recommend a season that is largely contrived and features talented actors constantly failing to act. Perhaps the second season will be more disciplined and worth adding to the permanent collection, instead of just watching, enjoying, and forgetting about.

For other situational comedies, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Happy Endings - Season 2
The Big Bang Theory - Season 4
30 Rock - Season 4

4.5/10

For other television reviews, be sure to check out my Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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