Media – both traditional and digital – have been chattering about the failure of Sex and the City 2, the movie that should have saved cinema, the world of entertainment, and maybe even the whole world, period.
Well, my dears, it’s no wonder that they are disappointed. I mean, do you read Vogue to get the same feeling you would from reading say, Kafka? Not likely, ‘innit?
It’s a movie. It’s a movie about friendships and fashion. And for me? It delivered both in truckloads.
Of course, I went with B. Not being a fashion writer who lives on freebies we bought our tickets a few weeks in advance, so that we could see it on opening day.
For a couple of weeks prior to the premiere, everyone and her sister had been blogging, tweeting, writing and telling me how terrible the film was. Hey, I watched that first show before anyone in Canada knew what HBO was, ne’er a bandwagon in sight, so there was no way I was going to give up on the girls, now.
Off we went, B and I – the full evening, ours and hours to enjoy. If you are like us, your life is busy. There are kids (well, one of us has them), jobs, errands, commitments and more to fill our BlackBerries, Moleskines and the mental to-do lists that are constantly running like Type-A ticker tape in our heads. So an evening out with my fave fashion friend to see a movie about friends and fashion? It was like having a play date when you were 10 years old – soooo excited!
We started off with lovely French pastries and tea at La Boheme Cafe Patisserie – the flakiest fare a girl could share with a friend, this side of France. It will become a regular haunt, for sure. Loaded up on sugar and caffeine, we walked to the uptown theatre, more than an hour in advance to ensure we had a good seat. I was already having a good time.
We arrived to a short line, filled with girls and women and the occasional male. Whether gay or straight, he got a nod of approval from all the other women in the line. What a doll for sharing this girl’s night out, we thought.
Something lovely was happening in that line. There were no rude stares, no shoving, no pushing, no competition of who was dressed better (remember the original movie premiere downtown) – there was just a wonderful display of friendship.
Just ahead of us was a group of young women clad in shorts and t-shirts, sitting on the ground chatting, waiting for another friend. When she arrived (coming obviously from work given her attire), one of the others reached into her jute tote and pulled out a Tupperware container and some cutlery for just that friend. It contained the most beautiful looking homemade salad, which jute bag girl had obviously prepared for her friend. Both B and I noticed the love.
Another two girls directly in front of us did a burger and fries run and had a little picnic in the line-up, picking up a meal for a friend who arrived late (okay, she drove us a bit nuts because they ended up sitting beside us and eating said meal during the first part of the movie). But still, it was such a girlfriend thing to do.
And from the minute the movie started, I lost myself, coming back occasionally to share a laugh or a nudge with B. Carrie was wearing a skinny black and white suit. B knew that I would not be able to get away with one of my fave looks for years now, without someone saying I was inspired by Carrie.
We sighed over Abu Dhabi.
I gushed at the pants, pants, pants (see Samantha’s Ralph Lauren gold ones above, for one). B buzzed over boyfriend jackets. We both relished the rare stones.
While we are not ones to talk during the movie (how rude!), I knew we were both making mental lists to answer the question that would come over post-movie dinner analysis.
“What was your favourite outfit? Wait, that’s too hard. Top 5 outfits?”, B queried as we ordered pasta and petite burgers at Coquine, which offered the “scene” we had so delightfully avoided the rest of the night (we were too chilled and hungry to relocate now, though).
We both agreed on Carrie’s dress and jacket combination for her dinner with you-know-who (trying to avoid spoilers for you lot that haven’t seen the flick as yet).
One of my faves – which didn’t come to mind until now – was the harem jumpsuit/dress that Carrie wears to the premiere. B is now saying “Whaaaaaa? A jumpsuit? A-HA!!!”. It wasn’t really a jumpsuit, though B. It was an evening gown split in two at the bottom and cinched at the ankles – not sewn in the middle, so there!
To the naysayers, I say lighten up! One of the many lovely things about this film was the use of colour – figurative hues in the camaraderie woven amongst women of the world to the jewel tones of the couture they wore.
The film offered me a night of laughter, fashion frivolity and friendship.
What more could a girl ask for? (Okay, maybe a bigger closet needs to be on that list, too.)
If you want Kafka, leave the Lanvin at home and go to the library.
Watch the trailers if you haven’t seen them already:
Sex and the City 2 Teaser Released
Sex and the City 2 – Trailer 2
There was also an excellent chat with the four women on BBC on Friday, which was in line with my take of the film.
Film stills courtesy of New Line Cinema.
