By Jennie

Sex and the City 2 was released this past Friday, and has apparently taken the second spot at the weekend box office, after Shrek Forever After. I’m glad SATC2 has been released, if only because maybe now I won’t have to hear about it any more. I confess I don’t get the hype over a (reported) crappy sequel to a (reportedly) crappy movie based on a cable television show that was pretty much played out by the end of its run.

Don’t get me wrong; I was once a fan of the HBO series. Not a “best show evah!” kind of a fan, but I caught most episodes and enjoyed them at the time. By the last season or two of the show, I was pretty sick of Carrie; Sarah Jessica Parker’s characterization seemed to have devolved into “Aren’t I cute?” mugging much of the time, and her navel-gazing was in my opinion, less fitting and appealing once she passed 40 (not to be ageist, but come on, we do expect people to grow up at some point, right?). By the time Carrie reunited with Big, I felt that the show and characters had said all that they really had to say, and that was fine. 

But then came the movie. And for some reason it was a big deal. I mean, I already think 99.9% of movies based on television shows are evidence of the dearth of new ideas in the film industry. I think the last TV-show-based-movie I saw was Starsky and Hutch, at least five years ago, and that had the advantage of being a silly but affectionate parody of 70s cop shows. I really don’t understand the point of movies based on television shows that haven’t even been  off of the air for five years. Nevertheless, there was lots of buzz when the first movie came out: Cosmos, shoes, girls’ night out at the theater blah blah blah. Okay, I know I sound cranky, but the whole thing did make me a bit so, the way cultural phenomena that I Just Don’t Get are wont to do. (Especially cultural phenomena that I’m supposed to get by dint of being female.) Then the second movie went into production, and I swear we had movie stills every other day of Charlotte or Samantha in character in some fabulous outfit. I don’t know when I’ve seen a movie in production get so much continuous coverage. So I’m just hoping that now that the movie’s out I won’t have to hear any more about it (at least until they start shooting the next one).

How about you? Do you plan to see SATC2? Are you a fan of the series, of movies based on television shows, and of sequels? Share!

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