I know people feel strongly about Sex and the City. It was one of those shows in which the characters became more of a social circle than something you have on in the background as you’re paying bills. You could plop down in a conversation as someone muttered, “Do NOT get me started on Carrie’s choice in men. With Big she’ll get nothing but heart-ache and grief. At least with Aidan she’d get a decent credenza.” But as passionate as they love the show, people can also be passionate in their disappointment. After a huge public demand for a movie to follow up the long running TV show, fans got one. And then they got another… and boy did it suck. Full disclosure, I’m basing that off word of mouth as I did not see it. But the 15% on Rotten Tomatoes suggests my assessment is fairly accurate. So the question is: is longtime SATC2 defender Sarah Jessica Parker ready to admit this? It turns out that yes, finally, she is.
Sarah Jessica Parker, patron saint of running in heels on the Upper East Side, totally understands why the second Sex and the City movie didn’t land with fans and critics. In a wide ranging conversation at Vulture Festival in her beloved New York City on Sunday, the actress touched on the second movie, which was criticized largely for its Abu Dhabi plot line.
“I understand, I actually get it,” she told host Adam Moss, New York magazine’s editor-in-chief. “I can see where we fell short on that movie, and I’m perfectly happy to say that publicly.”
However, she personally hasn’t soured on the 2010 movie after all these years. “The experience of making the movie was supreme,” Parker said. “We were in Morocco . . . for almost two months.” It was a “meaningful time” for the cast, who essentially lived together throughout filming. “I found [Morocco] to be haunting, beautiful, unforgettable. Like no place I’ve ever been,” Parker continued.
In the second film, the core four—Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte—take a lengthy girls trip to Abu Dhabi. However, the film clumsily tries to critique the city’s culture and the treatment of Muslim women, a plot point that irritated viewers. Critics tore it apart for its tone-deafness and condescending spirit.
As an aside, Parker also wanted to remind everyone that even though critics hated it, the film was still a box office success. “I will say, I also understand how much frickin’ money it made,” she said as the audience laughed. The film grossed about $288 million worldwide. “I feel like that is forgotten in the discussion.”
So a couple of things. First of all, I never truly blame a star for defending a film they are in. It’s admirable to stand by your work or the work of someone you trusted. I don’t think actors look at their terrible films and think they are brilliant but glossing over their disdain for the end-product is a mark of a professional, in my opinion. Second, glossing over is exactly how I’d describe SJP’s comments. “I can see where we fell short,” is a very diplomatic way to frame a movie about which one review said, “Even in the context of that lumpy, overpriced Birkin bag of stuff we call Hollywood product, Sex and the City 2 hits a new low of idiocy and crassness.” And I love that she threw the bottom-line in as an exclamation point about the movie’s critique. Who cares if the movie was a culturally offensive mess, big bucks, baby! But yeah, she’s not wrong – that’s what Hollywood looks for when it’s deciding on sequels. Speaking of sequels, SJP said she didn’t know if number three would be coming our way. Let’s just pretend it’s not.
One thing SJP doesn’t have to defend is the longevity of her marriage. She and husband Matthew Broderick celebrated 20 years of marriage last Friday. In honor of that, SJP posted this picture from their wedding day:
I still love her black cocktail wedding dress. I‘ve always thought Sarah and Matthew found safety in each other, and I mean that in the good way. They married the year before Sex and the City started its six-year run. That must have been a hell of a time for SJP – her whole life changed in an instant. Good for her – I’m always rooting for Sarah.
Photo credit: WENN Photos and Instagram
I thought the first SATC movie was a nice companion piece to the series. But, of course, because it was a success they had to squeeze more money out of the franchise. SATC 2 was a complete mess, but SJP doesn’t need to apologize for it 7 years later.
I thought the first movie was unnecessary, but it was an obvious choice for the studios, and it was a decent movie. Personally I was happy to see Charlotte pregnant. The second one…what a mess, I started watching it but I didn’t do it to the end. It was awful.
For the record: I am a die-hard Miranda and Steve fan, Cynthia Nixon is such a good actress.
Yes, I thought the series ended well–Carrie and Big were together, I didn’t think they needed to get married. All the women seemed happy. But it was nice to see them all on the big screen.
I loved the Series and The first SATC Film, it worked Great with the series, I loved it. Even the honeymoon trip in one part of Movie 1. made sense. It was fun, it all worked.
I still watch the Series and first SATC movie.
Movie two just had no real authentic connection to SATC series, Movie2 seemed forced and why go on a roadtrip for the WHOLE Movie, for a series based on life of these people in New York City. They took the entire Movie2 OUT of NYC, It made no sense, I didn’t like Movie2.
I won’t go near movie 2 again….it’s awful.
Yes it was terrible but who cares? Ive been watching re-runs of SATC and they stand the test of time and remain fresh, contemporary and topical all these years later.
I am actually watching reruns now 🙂
Me too !!!!
Agree…even the fashion still looks good!
Has your view point changed at all from when you watched them originally?
I watch them now and think of each character so differently. When I first watched it I felt man blaming everything and now I realize some things were just crazy and Carrie was neurotic as heck.
Mine has, my favorite character used to be Carrie, now it is Miranda…oh how age changes your opinion.
My favourite was and remains Samantha..
The same as Mellie: I was watching it in my 20’s, I liked the glamourous part, the dresses, the fun, but anow in my 30’s everything is so different: I see how these women change through the years, Samantha she is AMAZING, but as I stated before: I love Miranda, with all her fears, and insecurities… and God the scene at the mall where she has to buy a bra for the funeral of her mother is such spot on…
My view of the show changed from its original run to re-runs. I realized I didn’t like them at all and what I saw before may be attributed to the fact that I was in my mid-twenties.
My older self now cannot bear to watch like I used to.
The Series was Fantastic, Movie 1 was fantastic. I still watch.
but…..Movie TWO , Was horrible. I can’t rewatch movie 2.
Agreed, fantastic as a show. Not good as a movie.
SATC2 was filmed during the recession. Times were hard and I think they were going for the escapist vibe, they just fell short by a million miles.
I agree with SJP, there is no where like Morocco, it is a magical place.
That’s what I was coming here to say. I think they tried to make it escapist but it ended up looking like gross excess in a time where people were losing their homes left and right.
For me SATC was always unrelateable but the second movie took it to a new level.
I never noticed this before, but in the movie poster doesn’t it look like Cynthia Nixon is trying to step out of the poster? Almost as if she doesn’t want to be associated with this movie? Lol
Ha! I didn’t notice that, smart woman.
They are all photoshopped into their spots on the poster, It’s manipulated. Sometimes the ladies are even individually photographed and then placed together on the poster.
I only like the show, I thought the movies were horrible, even the first one.
Agreed! Painfully awkward movies in my opinion.
ITA, I actually didn’t love the first movie. It was two and a half hours of Carrie, my least favorite character, whining and acting like an a-hole. At least the second movie — which I’m not defending, it was a total disaster — tried to be funny and light?
I didn’t like the first movie either! I didn’t like how he left her at the alter and then she takes him back like wouldn’t that be a deal breaker?!?!? He humiliated her in front of everyone!
Also in the first movie they made Charlotte a cartoon character. Seriously. I can’t believe no one else talks about that but the movie really dumbed her character down into this 2-dimensional being there for comic relief.
My two besties love SATC and Gilmore Girls, neither of which I’m really that into, but I try because I love them. As such, I’ve seen this movie, and it was really bad. I’m not sure 15% bad, but I don’t remember much of it at all except the women whipping off their hijabs and coverings to show their couture to the SATC girls.
It made about $120 million less than the first movie after originally being projected to top it, so not quite the huge hit she’s painting it as. It really suffered from word of mouth.
Wasn’t cheap either at $100 million before marketing.
Well excuse me! The movie did big bucks bevmcause we all went into a cinema with the expectation created by the show. I am sure I speak not only for my self when I was that if I knew what crappy movie that was I would bot have payed for it. And so the big bucks it made is not a valid argument. It rather shows to what extent they robbed people off with their offensive and totaly not enterntaining piece of entertainment. At leas she had a few months of fun at our expence
This!!!! My fan girl friends and I felt completely ripped off.
You mad, huh?
The first movie was a good companion piece to the tv show even if i was offended by the choice to make Steve do something out of character and illogical given their history, but movie no 2 was bad from start to finish. Only one good note, Liza Minelli singing Single Ladies, that never gets old.
YES I hated that Steve cheated on Miranda just so they could squeeze out a plot. Steve would never!!!!!!!
SATC2 was just a money-grab. I felt like it was just a bunch of scenes put together. There really wasn’t a plot. There wasn’t a need for a 2nd since it was really good and really ended plotlines. There’s no point in a 3rd since there’s no place to go with it.
SJP is putting out feelers for a third milking of the cash cow – maybe a Netflix series.
I’m a SATC fanatic. Loved the series, enjoyed the first movie, but hated the second one. It was all so far fetched (running into Aiden in Abu Dhabi??) and the women were the same as always. No real evolution of their characters. The best and most realistic scene, to me, was the one with Miranda & Charolotte confessing all their mommy guilt to each other. It was the only thing in that whole movie that had any basis in reality. I pretty much pretend the second movie didn’t happen.
The show had it’s problems, but I still enjoyed it. I think mostly because of the friendship between the four women.
However, Carrie was always my least favorite and I HATED that she ended up with Big. He treated her so terribly for the entire series and she just kept going back to him like a total doormat.
+1, and Carrie came across as extremely self-absorbed; everything had to be about her.
My favorite was Samantha.
Carrie was my least favorite, too, which was odd because I like SJP. But Carrie was a selfish narcissist.
Co-sign. I ended up liking Charlotte the best because she exhibited the most growth (IMHO). Or perhaps it was because I loved Harry so.
ETA: in the series. I hated the first movie and didn’t see the second.
Carrie’s my least favorite. She’s self-absorbed, selfish, and immature. Her behavior doing SATC2 (which I hate too) demonstrated that she showed no growth and is incapable of doing so.
As for the character with the most growth, Miranda demonstrated the most growth. She grew more patient and open. She didn’t follow the black and white mindset she displayed throughout the series and SATC1. Charlotte pretty much remained stagnant. She wanted a family. She got what she wanted. That’s about it.
I never got this show. Was it supposed to be about women not needing to be attached to a man to be a complete and yet as I hear it ends with them all happily tacked to a “prince Charming”? And then its a gay friendly show that used gay men as accessories? Were there any gay women other than the one time when Kim Cantrall experiments? Based in New York and none of the recurring cast were POC? If Hill Street Blues could manage multiple recurring POC two decades prior, why couldnt this show?
And my biggest SATC pet peeve; the primary four were written as weird girl group carricutures. “The bubbly one, the serious one, the chaiste one and the sexy one”. Just terrible. I am not surprised the films sucked.
I didn’t like the movies but I have to confess that I still watch reruns since I was too young to be able to watch the show the first time and I enjoy them.
Congrats on SJP and MB on their wedding anniversary. 20 years is an eternity in Hollywood years and they seem to have founded a nice and strong family.
I watched the series for the first time in reruns while going through a divorce. I don’t remember if it helped me cope with being single again or terrified me. I loved the show and first movie. I remember reading SJP saying that film 2 needed to be a “romp” and this is exactly what it was. But a stupid one.
I love SJP, she just seems like a truly nice person : )
She is great in Divorce…..HBO, I think?
There were articles from some of her male co-stars, and they said he’s a royal biotch!!!! I can totally believe that.
this issue with the movie was the cultural tone deafness and how that played into the micro aggression that white people engage in (SJP talking about magic carpets in SITC2—wth LOL)
Had they placed themselves in Italy, Florence or even Spain (the movie would have a been maybe a critical win too and even moreso a box office hit)
Sometimes it just seemed like the cast needs to be where there isnt any other culture for them to offend LOL.
I am rewatching the series too and ,just like some of you have already said, age definitely changes your perspective. Carrie is more self absorbed than I remembered but not selfish; she was quite often there for her friends. And Big wasn’t quite as bad as I remembered, certainly in comparison with Carrie. (Maybe I have grown up to be more like Big 😉.) In the end, I thought they deserved each other.
I actually hope a 3rd movie happens. That way they can address how they all came to NYC (IIRC none is a native NYer) and how they all met and became friends.
I know that people want to say that Big was this horrible, horrible person, but he never lied about who he was or what he did. He was who he was and was upfront about it with Carrie. She seems to turn into who she thinks she wanted him to be instead of just being herself. Even Miranda said something to her about it. Then he met and married Natasha who was capable with him at the time. Then they made Natasha a villain and I never understood why they went that route.
The second movie was terrible, Rotten Tomatoes does not lie. The whole subplot with Muslim women wearing designer clothes under their burqas and giving burqas to Carrie and her friends to escape (I don’t remember what they were escaping from) was so offensive to the Arab world I don’t even know how that got approved before the film was made.
Off topic: All her kids look like Matthew Broderick!
They were escaping from a mob of men who were outraged at Samantha’s short shorts – she then fell over and a bunch of condoms fell out of her bag so she decided to further antagonise the crowd by throwing condoms at them. She’d been warned not to wear the shorts but refused – and this was after she’d been picked up by police for making out with a dude in public despite AGAIN being warned not to and effectively booted out of the country. Of course somehow it’s the silly country’s fault even though Samantha had been told again and again AND was a guest in that country on a work contact’s dime.
That part still aggravates me obviously lol.
Sarah and Matthew make a great couple. I’ve always been a fan of Matthews and never really paid that much attention to Sarah until SATC. I do remember her character in L.A. Story because it was so goofy.
I can’t watch SATC now without getting irritated. Their obsession with needing men is embarrassing. I did like the second movie, but the third was a waste of time. What really disappointed me was Big’s and Carrie’s apartment. It was so boring. I liked the mid-century look, but everything was so beige. Even her closet was boring.
I just don’t get SATC. It’s comprised of stories about women that were written by people who hate women. I mean, if I wanted to show women in a bad light, this is exactly how I would do it! I can’t believe there are women out there who are NOT offended by the show.
SATC was written by Candace Bushnell (born December 1, 1958), an American novelist and television producer. She wrote a column for The New York Observer (1994–96) that was adapted into the bestselling Sex and the City anthology.
The writers’ room on the series was 90% women. If i recall a Q &A i attended, they were encouraged to bring in their own stories, particularly dating ones, and research was from women’s magazines.
Therefore if you think the show hated women, blame the women who wrote for the show.
Movie 2 was DOA because the writer / director didn’t consult with any woman on it. That’s why it had so many wrong notes. The tv show and movie 1 resonates with women because women were consulted on it.
I think I’m the only one who loved the series and loved the second movie too.
I don’t remember the plot being bad at all, I was just so happy to see these 4 cool characters on screen again. It was like reconnecting with friends.
And then it’s been such a commercial success, I believe a lot of people agree with me.
I think the media just decided they didn’t like it, and somehow the public agreed but still went to see it en masse.
I’m thinking there’s so many ridiculously bad movies out there, like the Fast & Furious suite that do get great commercial success. But yet the media don’t seem to dwell on these. Why?
I think SATC had ridiculous expectations because it was a show about women, driven by women’s stories, starring older women, doing things women hadn’t done before. I can clearly remember how much it influenced society to think of single, dating women as cool rather than dried up old botter spinsters. A show and movie about female friendship. What an idea.
As with all movies that are female led or driven, impossible standards are created and if they fall short, no 2nd chances. The combined horror of older actresses who weren’t beauty queens misbehaving and having fun was too much for some people and the movies weren’t given a chance.
I think the second movie tried too hard to live upto those expectations and it tinkered with the formula / template to disastrous results.
Fast and Furious is a film about cars, car chases, and girls in bikinis. It’s essentially a beer + car ad gone wild. It works because lots of men and boys like that. Ditto Transformers.
I enjoyed the first movie since I believe that’s what season 7 would have been if the show had continued on…but the 2nd movie was dreadful. All fashion, no substance. And bringing Aiden back was a cheap ploy. That plot was fully resolved on the show and didn’t need to return.
Call me crazy but I loved both movies. They’re just fun, silly movies. Not meant to be taken too seriously.
I want that dress in the last photo!!
Strangely, I have the CD for Sex and the City 2 and occassionally watch it for escapism but it is a shame it was so contrived. There were a couple of funny moments..but that is it.
However, I first saw it in a movie theater..it was packed with women..everyone was laughing and everyone loved it. Not sure why..but seeing it the movie theater was fun..and the bits with the four of them seeking refuge with the Arab women then sneaking out dressed in their clothing was so vaudeville camp. It was funny.