My Mom's Favorite Movie

Sex And The City 2 (2010): The story begins with a flashback to how Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) first meets Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) in the heyday of Studio 54. The movie then jumps to the present, two years after the events of the first film. At the Connecticut same-sex wedding of Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson) and Anthony Marantino (Mario Cantone), Liza Minnelli appears in a cameo and sings Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". The four friends now have lives that are more stressful than before: All are married except for Samantha, who is now 52 and trying to keep her libido alive while dealing with menopause; Charlotte's two children are a handful; and Carrie's marriage to Mr. Big (Chris Noth) has settled down, though they differ on how to spend their spare time: she always wants to go out, he would prefer to stay home and watch television some evenings. Samantha is approached by an Arab sheikh to devise a PR campaign for his business, and he offers to fly her and her friends on an all-expenses-paid luxury vacation to Abu Dhabi. While in Abu Dhabi, Carrie runs into her former lover, Aidan (John Corbett), and agrees to a dinner date. In a moment of passion, the two kiss. Carrie deals with the question of whether or not to tell Big. Samantha tells her to sleep on it while Miranda reflects on the events of the previous film, when her husband, Steve (David Eigenberg), told her about his affair and how, while it helped clear his conscience, was something that she was not so sure she wanted to know in retrospect given the months it took her to recover. Carrie opts to call Big from Abu Dhabi to tell him. Previously, in the television series, Carrie had an affair with the then-previously-married Big while dating Aidan, ending their relationship. Meanwhile, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda run up against a culture clash in the Middle East, as their style and attitudes contrast with Muslim society. This clash, and comedy derived from their defiance, makes for "comic relief." The sheik stops paying the bills and they have to return prematurely.

By Richard Moody