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"SEX AND THE CITY 2"
(2010) (Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall) (R)

Alcohol/
Drugs
Blood/Gore Disrespectful/
Bad Attitude
Frightening/
Tense Scenes
Guns/
Weapons
Heavy Minor Extreme Minor None
Imitative
Behavior
Jump
Scenes
Music
(Scary/Tense)
Music
(Inappropriate)
Profanity
Extreme Minor None None Extreme
Sex/
Nudity
Smoking Tense Family
Scenes
Topics To
Talk About
Violence
Extreme Moderate Heavy Extreme Minor


QUICK TAKE:
Comedy: Four female best friends from Manhattan travel to Abu Dhabi for a girls-only week of fun in the sun only to run afoul of local customs.
PLOT:
Four successful best friends from Manhattan - newly married author Carrie (SARAH JESSICA PARKER), feminist lawyer Miranda (CYNTHIA NIXON), promiscuous PR exec Samantha (KIM CATTRALL), and supermom Charlotte (KRISTIN DAVIS - are given the opportunity to take an all-expenses-paid trip to Abu Dhabi for a week and indulge in Middle Eastern food, culture, and men. This follows a gay wedding of friends Anthony and Stanford (MARIO CANTONE and WILLIE GARSON) and a star-studded movie premiere back in America.

The vacation comes at just the right time. Carrie has been feeling stifled in her marriage to Mr. Big (CHRIS NOTH). Miranda just quit her job at a law firm where her male boss was openly hostile towards her. Samantha is trying to stave off menopause and maintain her legendary sex drive. And Charlotte is being driven crazy by her two small children, even though she has the help of a full-time nanny, Erin (ALICE EVE).

Once over in the Middle East, the women's sensibilities clash with the traditionalist Muslim views of women. Carrie has a chance meeting with her former fiancé, Aidan (JOHN CORBETT), and allows a subsequent dinner date to go a bit too far. Samantha tries to hook up with a dashing playboy named Rikard (MAX RYAN). And Miranda and Charlotte plan their next phase of life.

The trip changes their lives in ways both expected and unexpected. And their return to New York is one of change and acceptance.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
Older female teens may be attracted because of the show's legacy and its fixation on designer clothes and shoes.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R
For some strong sexual content and language.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
  • SARAH JESSICA PARKER plays a published author and journalist who made a career writing about dating and now marriage. She is nearing her two-year anniversary and has become bored in the marriage and misses some of the excitement of her single life. She is tempted to cheat on her husband after running into her former fiancé in the Middle East, but stays loyal. She is a compulsive shopper and a frequent drinker.
  • KIM CATTRELL plays a Manhattan marketing whiz whose promiscuity is near legendary. She is in her early 50s and is trying to stave off menopause via a system of vitamins, estrogen, hormones, and other supplements. She is the most profane character in the film, looks for casual sex pretty much everywhere she goes, is an exhibitionist, thumbs her nose at the customs and traditions of the Arab worlds, and is a frequent drinker.
  • CYNTHIA NIXON plays a New York attorney who believes she is being sexually harassed on the job and opts to quit. Still, she doesn't yearn for full-time motherhood and can't wait to return to the working world. She loves to shop and drink too, and is a casual smoker. Of the four characters, she is the most respectful of the Arab world's customs and traditions.
  • KRISTIN DAVIS plays the fourth friend, who is having a hard time being a mother to two adopted children despite having a full-time nanny. She is threatened by this younger woman in her house, though, thanks to her large breasts and penchant for not wearing a bra. She is the most conservative of the four leads, believes in traditional marriage, and is ashamed she doesn't miss her kids more when away from them. She is a casual drinker who does get drunk in the film.
  • CHRIS NOTH plays Carrie's husband, a Wall Street bigwig who has come to enjoy the quiet life of marriage. He wants to go out on the town less and stay home, watch TV, and eat in. He is a social drinker.
  • JOHN CORBETT plays a former boyfriend of Carrie's who runs into her in Abu Dhabi. He has since married and fathered three sons, but he clearly wouldn't mind having an affair with Carrie.
  • WILLIE GARSON and MARIO CANTONE play a committed gay couple who are getting married at the film's beginning. They have a deal that Stanford gets his dream wedding if Anthony is allowed to have extra-marital sex in any of the states that allow gay marriage.
  • ALICE EVE plays Charlotte's young, buxom nanny who never wears a bra and is frequently ogled by men and women alike for her large breasts. She is generally unaware of this power, though, and we ultimately discover that she is a lesbian.
  • MAX RYAN plays a globetrotting entrepreneur who becomes attracted to Samantha and shares sexual innuendo and eventually intercourse with her. Unfortunately for them, they both get arrested for a public display of affection on an Abu Dhabi beach. He is a social drinker and smoker.
  • CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

    HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE


    Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
    Then read OUR TAKE of this film.


    (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).


    OUR WORD TO PARENTS:
    The following is a brief summary of the content found in this comedy that has been rated R. Profanity consists of at least 10 "f" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. A lot of sexually related dialogue is present.

    Sexual material is present throughout, including two scenes of loud intercourse, multiple shots of men's genitalia bulging beneath pants or swimsuits, suggestive dialogue, innuendo, and euphemisms. A wedding between two homosexual men is featured in the first half-hour. There is also much talk of menopause and women's sex drives changing as a result. Nudity consists of two sets of male buttocks and a woman's breasts in a see-through wet T-shirt.

    Bad attitudes are present throughout, especially the main characters' disrespect for traditional Middle Eastern culture. There is also much potentially imitative behavior , various thematic elements and tense family material. Drinking is present throughout and there is some smoking as well as some drug-related comments.

    If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.


    ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE
  • Multiple guests, as well as the main characters, drink multiple glasses of champagne and various cocktails before and after a wedding.
  • Anthony recalls one summer when he was hooked on cocaine.
  • Samantha takes at least a couple dozen vitamins, estrogen, hormones, and other supplements she claims are all-natural each morning to stave off menopause.
  • Carrie and Mr. Big have glasses of wine over dinner.
  • Abu Dhabi customs believes Samantha's vitamins are drugs and confiscates them.
  • Carrie pours Big a glass of liquor and then orders him to go with her to a glitzy movie premiere.
  • Multiple guests, along with most of the main characters, are shown consuming various cocktails at the after-party to a movie premiere.
  • Carrie describes Abu Dhabi to Charlotte's young daughter as "like Jasmine only with cocktails," referring to the lead female character from the animated Disney film "Aladdin."
  • Samantha, Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte are immediately given cocktails once aboard a private plane bound for Abu Dhabi.
  • The ladies' lavish hotel suite in Abu Dhabi has a fully stocked bar.
  • Miranda, Charlotte, Carrie, and Samantha consume multiple cocktails in a karaoke bar. So, too, do numerous background extras.
  • Before heading up to the stage to sing "I Am Woman," Carrie grabs an alcoholic beverage from a waiter's platter and downs it in one gulp.
  • Aidan confesses he once did "some peyote" and saw mirages in an Arizona desert.
  • Miranda and Charlotte have numerous cocktails at the bar in their hotel suite. Charlotte eventually gets drunk and has a hard time keeping a stream of thought.
  • BLOOD/GORE
  • A street butcher in Abu Dhabi is briefly shown chopping up a dead animal carcass.
  • DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE
  • Samantha brings her small dog to a wedding.
  • Samantha jaywalks across a busy Manhattan street.
  • Big tells Carrie he doesn't want to look "too good" for the wedding between two gay men they are about to attend.
  • Miranda texts at the wedding.
  • Miranda's boss holds his hand up close to her mouth to quiet her during a meeting with fellow law associates. He then reassigns a case she has been working hard on to a male attorney.
  • Charlotte's daughter puts messy handprints on the seat of Charlotte's expensive, vintage pants.
  • Big forgets that he was supposed to escort Carrie to a Manhattan movie premiere and doesn't want to go after a long day's work. He asks her to go with her gay friend, Stanford. She ends up browbeating him into going.
  • Once there, Big pays more attention to the attractive vice president from a Spanish bank than to Carrie.
  • A twenty-something sales woman asks Samantha, "Aren't you a little old for that dress?" in reference to an outfit Samantha is considering for a movie premiere.
  • Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte all stare at an Arab lifting her veil to eat French fries.
  • Samantha claims to be able to tell whenever a man is a gay, but openly wonders if her assigned Arab butler is a homosexual. She then refers to him as "Paula Abdul" for the rest of the film.
  • Samantha generally thumbs her nose at Arab customs, wearing outfits that reveal her cleavage and flirting with men in public. The others are also more open and forward than Abu Dhabi society generally accepts, causing some of the minor Arab characters in the film to bristle and react with discomfort.
  • After falling off her camel, Charlotte's friends point to her pants being bunched up in her crotch area and Samantha notes, "You have an actual camel camel-toe!"
  • Carrie reads a negative review of her latest book on marriage and immediately dismisses it because it was written by a man.
  • Carrie insults Charlotte by telling her that just because she is insecure in her marriage doesn't mean she is having the same troubles with Big.
  • Samantha asks to wear "something that is sexy that doesn't show t*ts."
  • Charlotte is embarrassed to admit that she doesn't miss her children while in Abu Dhabi. She also confesses that her first thought when entertaining the notion that her husband could possibly cheat on her with their nanny was: "I can't lose the nanny!"
  • Miranda confesses that motherhood is not enough for her and she needs to work outside the home. Both women then wonder how other women do it with no help from nannies.
  • Carrie shares a long good-night kiss with former boyfriend, Aidan.
  • Samantha's contact in Abu Dhabi refuses to meet with her after her indiscretion on the beach. He stops paying for the ladies' lavish hotel suite and offers them no help in returning to the United States.
  • Samantha gives the middle-finger gesture to a crowd of Middle Eastern men.
  • Big, hurt that Carrie kissed Aidan, does not pick her up at the airport upon her return to New York.
  • FRIGHTENING SCENES
  • The four main female characters visit an open-air market in Abu Dhabi where they are lured into a secret store where some mildly threatening Arab men try to sell them black-market goods.
  • An angry crowd of Arab men surround the four main female characters in an open market, shouting at them and posing a brief physical threat.
  • GUNS/WEAPONS
  • None.
  • IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR
  • Phrases: "Did I f*ck up?" "I may throw him a f*ck if I like the movie," "I am fifty-f*cking-two!" "I have no f*cking idea," "He would be better advised to go f*ck himself," "F*ck you look good!" "Aw, f*ck!" "Where the f*ck is she when you need him" (Samantha referring to her effeminate butler), "We have an hour to pack and get the f*ck out of Abu Dhabi!" "I'm going to f*cking kill her," "This bullsh*t economy," "I get to do the sh*t I want to do," "So, her t*t s never came up?" "No, her t*ts never came up," "Something sexy that doesn't show t*ts," "Look, it's Erin-Go-Braless," "Just like a virgin … touched for the very first time," "We're all virgins," "Who ordered the Aussie sausage?" "I'm not feeling anything down under!" "So, your name is Dick Spurt?!" "Did they also bring their balls?" "I've had four people in my bed," "He could be Lawrence of My Labia," "Bite me!" "You used to do me," "I'll try to keep it up for you," "You just don't want to get your ass off the couch," "He rides her ass nonstop," "New Middle East, my ass!" "Bitch," "What's one more bitch with an attitude?" "Is this because I'm a bitch wife who nags you?" "That sneaky bastard," "Buy them some crap at the airport!" "Hell just froze over," "Hell to the no," "Hell, yeah!" "Here come the gays," "Could this wedding get any gayer?" "Eight years later and she's finally a Jew," "She's the hormone whisperer," "Ah, shoot!" "I can't be in menopause and coach!" and "Holy moly."
  • Throughout the film, the four lead female characters display an obsession with expensive clothes, pricey jewelry, lavish trips, food, and sex.
  • Samantha brings her small dog to a wedding.
  • Samantha jaywalks across a busy Manhattan street.
  • Miranda texts at the wedding.
  • Miranda talks with her mouth full of food.
  • Big irritates Carrie by putting his feet up on their new couch with his shoes still on.
  • Charlotte's daughter puts messy handprints on the seat of Charlotte's expensive, vintage pants.
  • The women command their butlers to make an obscene amount of breakfast food that they can't possibly all consume.
  • Rickard is shown standing up in a Jeep as he is driven at an excessively high speed through the desert.
  • Before heading up to the stage to sing "I Am Woman," Carrie grabs an alcoholic beverage from a random waiter's platter and downs it in one gulp.
  • Miranda steals a plethora of hotel toiletries in her haste to pack and leave.
  • Samantha gives the middle-finger gesture to a crowd of Middle Eastern men.
  • JUMP SCENES
  • Carrie goes to her hotel suite's kitchen to make some warm milk late one night, and her butler surprises her from behind.
  • MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)
  • None.
  • MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)
  • None.
  • PROFANITY
  • At least 10 "f" words (1 used sexually as is the term "do" ), 2 "s" words, 2 slang terms for male genitals ("d*ck" and "sausage"), 3 slang terms for breasts ("t*ts"), 4 asses, 3 hells, 2 craps, and 1 use of "Oh my God."
  • SEX/NUDITY
  • All four of the main female characters wear dresses and outfits throughout the movie that show varying degrees of cleavage and also frequently feature exposed backs. There are wardrobe changes seemingly every five minutes, and basically at least one of them has a low neckline in every scene. Almost all of Samantha's outfits are of a sexual nature. Carrie's dresses are frequently tight-fitting and show some cleavage. Charlotte is the most demure.
  • Almost finished dressing in their matching tuxedos, Carrie and Big figure they have only an hour before the wedding. So, they begin to kiss, then fall onto a bed, and off-screen sex is implied.
  • Carrie observes that Stanford wore white for his wedding because he wanted to be "just like a virgin." To which, Stanford replies, "Touched for the very first time!"
  • Anthony agrees to Stanford's dream gaudy wedding in return for being allowed to commit adultery once they are married.
  • Steve laments about Miranda's boss "riding her ass non-stop," but it's more a description of his domineering ways and less a sexual reference.
  • Samantha has loud sex with a man she met at the wedding, and her cries of ecstasy can be heard by dozens of people within earshot mixed in with Charlotte's baby crying. We see the man on top of Samantha thrusting repeatedly into her, his entire backside exposed including his bare buttocks.
  • A shirtless Big and Carrie listen to the sex for a while in bed, then watch the classic scene from "It Happened One Night" where Claudette Colbert sticks out her exposed leg in order to hail a cab.
  • Carrie repeats the gag later in the film to hail a cab in Abu Dhabi.
  • The first time we see Erin, Charlotte's large-breasted nanny, she is running towards her from out in a field. Braless but wearing a blouse, we see her breasts bouncing up and down in slow motion from underneath the shirt, complete with obviously erect nipples.
  • Playing with Charlotte's kids, Erin jumps up and down repeatedly while Big and the other two husbands watch her bouncing cleavage in wide-eyed amazement.
  • Charlotte asks if Samantha can fit all of the vitamins she takes each morning into her mouth at one time, to which Charlotte scoffs and asks suggestively, "Have we met?"
  • Because of the various supplements, Samantha says her sex drive is "back to where it was."
  • Erin gets sprayed with water while helping Harry give his and Charlotte's daughter a bath. The water makes her white blouse see through, and we see the woman's breasts and nipples in plain view underneath that.
  • Samantha is shown at her desk at work with her panties down around her knees and she is massaging her inner thighs with a special cream.
  • Jerry calls Samantha while shirtless. When she can't quite place his name or voice, he replies, "You used to do me."
  • When Big tells Carrie that he has a gift for her in the bedroom, she coyly replies, "There better be something in there I haven't seen."
  • Referring to Jerry, Samantha says she may "throw him a f*ck" if she likes the movie he is starring in.
  • Carrie unhooks her dress and then walks around the rest of a scene with Big in only a bra and the dress around her waist.
  • Big and Carrie share a long kiss in the backseat of a limousine. Carrie's voiceover narration implies that they later had sex.
  • Big and Carrie later share another long kiss before she leaves for Abu Dhabi.
  • A magazine is shown and its lead story is titled "Cheating With the Nanny."
  • When the four main characters are asked if they have been to Abu Dhabi before, Samantha replies, "We're all virgins."
  • The Australian rugby team is shown at the hotel pool.. They strip down to skimpy swimsuits, with the camera showing several lingering shots of their genitals bulging. Samantha asks, "Who ordered the Aussie sausage?" She also asks if they "brought their balls."
  • Off her vitamin supplements, Samantha is sad to recognize that she is not feeling any sexual arousal when looking at the various men. She laments, "I'm not feeling anything down under!"
  • Samantha later brags that she has had four people in her bed before.
  • Numerous people are shown in swimsuits lounging around the pool, but the Arab women are in glorified full-bodied suits.
  • After falling off her camel, Charlotte's friends point to her pants being bunched up in her crotch area and Samantha notes, "You have an actual camel camel-toe!"
  • Samantha asks to wear "something that is sexy that doesn't show t*ts."
  • One male rugby player lifts up his shirt while Samantha, Charlotte, Carrie, and Miranda sing "I Am Woman" at a karaoke bar.
  • A dashing European man introduces himself as "Rikard Spirt." Samantha deduces that Rikard is Danish for "Richard" and exclaims, "So, your name is actually 'Dick Spirt?!'"
  • Samantha coos that Rickard could be "Lawrence of My Labia."
  • Belly dancers perform suggestively on stage, their mid-sections exposed and some cleavage is shown.
  • Carrie shares a long good-night kiss with former boyfriend, Aidan.
  • Samantha is shown in a bubble bath. She is clearly nude but the bubbles cover her breasts and the rest of her naked body.
  • Miranda briefly recalls her husband's adultery.
  • Samantha suggestively sucks on a hookah, or water pipe, that she shares with Rikard.
  • Rikard clearly sports an erection in his trousers, which Samantha briefly massages, angering one nearby Arab and his wife. She and Rikard then walk away, with him undoing the back of her outfit. We later learn that the two were arrested for kissing on the beach - a no-no in Abu Dhabi.
  • A condom drops out of Samantha's passport as she is being interrogated by a local authority.
  • A number of condoms fly out of Samantha's purse after she and an Arab vendor get in a tug-of-war over the bag.
  • The sight of the condoms outrages the crowd of Arab men nearby to which Samantha picks up some of the condoms, waves them in the air, and starts yelling, "Yes! I have sex!"
  • Erin turns out to be a lesbian.
  • Charlotte kisses her husband upon her return home from Abu Dhabi.
  • Big and Carrie share several kisses after reconciling.
  • Samantha is shown having loud, vigorous, outdoor sex on an American beach with Rickard on the hood of an SUV while fireworks go off overhead. He is on top and you see his buttocks.
  • SMOKING
  • Samantha shares a hookah, or water pipe, with Rikard. Both take long drags and exhale. Some people are briefly shown in the background also smoking.
  • An Arab cab driver is shown smoking as he puts luggage into the trunk of his taxi.
  • A street vendor is shown smoking as his associates try and sell Charlotte some watches.
  • TENSE FAMILY SCENES
  • Carrie and Big quarrel over how mundane married life has become, with Carrie wanting more spontaneity and nights out on the town and Big wanting quiet evenings at home, ordering food in, and watching TV.
  • Miranda disappoints her son by having to work instead of going to his science fair at school. She eventually shows up after quitting her job.
  • Charlotte is intimidated by her attractive, young nanny who has large breasts and never wears a bra, and fears leaving town for a week should her husband cheat on her with the nanny.
  • Charlotte is overwhelmed while making cupcakes as one child won't stop crying and the other child won't stop demanding her attention. She goes into a pantry where she breaks down crying, after her older daughter leaves messy handprints on the seat of her vintage, designer pants.
  • Big suggests that he and Carrie take two days off from their marriage a week to keep the relationship fresh. The idea first offends her, then she starts to consider it but is met with skepticism by Samantha, Miranda, and especially the traditional Charlotte.
  • Charlotte has problems throughout the film trying to get a clear cell phone signal to call home and check on her husband and kids. By contrast, Miranda doesn't seem to have a care in the world about her husband and son while away.
  • Carrie agonizes over telling Big about kissing Aidan. She eventually calls him and tells him to which he replies that he is at work and can't talk and then hangs up.
  • Big, hurt that Carrie kissed Aidan, does not pick her up at the airport upon her return to New York. He eventually comes home, tells her that she hurt him, but forgives her and presents her with a formal wedding ring to remind her of her vows.
  • TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT
  • Gay marriage.
  • The consumer culture and materialism
  • Promiscuity.
  • Menopause.
  • Changing gender roles in today's society.
  • Middle East traditions and customs.
  • The place of women in Muslim society.
  • VIOLENCE
  • Charlotte accidentally falls off a camel and lands hard on her butler in the desert.
  • Samantha briefly scuffles with a vendor who thinks she has stolen a purse from him. They pull on the purse from both ends until it breaks, dumping the contents out in the open.



  • Reviewed May 25, 2010 / Posted May 26, 2010

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