STYLEMOM

Finally! What so many women have been waiting for, Sex And The City 2! How excited was I to be invited by SJP NYC perfume to a special Wednesday night screening! I decided to show off a little ‘Sex and the City style’, and wore my Carrie meets Charlotte dress – a Taylor melon colored jacquard sheath complete with roses and gold studs , then grabbed one of my Jersey style mom bff’s, Jenny from the block, and hopped on a train. (Thank the lord we lucked out to got on a new double-decker NJ Transit train, I loathe the old trains!)

We arrived at the AMC theater just in time, totally “sfitzing” from the heat and in need of a serious snack. How ecstatic were we to be greeted by the SJP NYC team with a much needed drink, SJP popcorn, and the famous “Carrie” cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery !

(Me & Jenny from the block strike a pose outside the theater)

The day before I read a pretty harsh review of SATC 2 at USAToday.com, so unfortunately, I went having very low expectations but I didn’t let it tarnish the excitement of getting see Patricia Field’s latest wardrobe creations. I was pleasantly surprised that the movie overall was pretty good, not great, but good enough for me to get my fix of fantasy, fashion, and female camaraderie and worth a girl’s night out. I laughed, I cried, I said “WTF is wrong with you Carrie!” – all worth the price of a movie ticket.

Claudia Puig at USToday.com wrote:

Tasteless ‘Sex and the City 2′ Stumbles Badly

“An insult to the memory of the cleverly written show and its celebration of friendship, it’s a slap in the face for the four gal pals (often photographed at unflattering angles) and an affront to Muslims….

The premise has always trafficked in the superficial. But the TV series dipped beneath the surface and interlaced the fashion forays with honest, wry discussion about relationships. Carrie may have had a fairy-tale wardrobe, but her love life endured the ups and downs of reality. And the bond among the women felt authentic. Very little in this second movie feels genuine.”

An “affront to Muslims”? Seriously? No. First of all, Samantha has historically been offensive to anyone and everyone in any other location other than NYC (remember the trip to Atlantic City as an example). If you really want authenticity in her character, how could you possibly put her in another country and expect her to be politically correct? She’s not politically correct in her OWN country, and that’s a major part of her character. Furthermore, Miranda was more than PC and promoted respect of the culture continuously throughout the movie, so I think Ms. Ping went a little overboard on this criticism. Yes, the cultural differences were acknowledged, but as a woman of color, I tried hard to find something offensive, and I did not. You can also flip the coin on this one and say the movie depicted American women as pompous, insensitive, egotistical jerks with a cultural superiority complex. If you’re an American woman, would you be offended to be portrayed that way? Sounds far fetched in my opinion, so let’s not judge a light-hearted movie as if it were an HBO documentary.

The “critics” didn’t like the first SATC movie and most certainly didn’t like the sequel, but let’s keep it in perspective – the movie was NOT made for YOU critics! It was made for the fans of the show, fashionistas, mommies, cougars, etc. – viewer categories in which most critics don’t even fit in! I personally, majored in film in college, and have worked on film sets, and I always wonder, how many of these movie critics ever actually worked in film production? hmmm….  Women around the world will always share a common bond of motherhood and the continuous struggle of redefining gender roles in ALL cultures. And by the stats we review on Stylemom.com, Arabic women, and women from predominantly Muslim countries, have an affinity for style and fashion just as much as many other women in the world. So I say to the “critics”: take a chill pill and put a double-shot in your cosmo, it’s not that deep. **Shout out to our readers in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and the middle east! xoxo!!

Now, regarding the authenticity and the question of being genuine, mommies, the scene with Charlotte and Miranda discussing mommy issues and stress, has happened to almost ALL of us (I cried as did other mommies who attended). We have mommy meltdowns on a regular basis, and sometimes it calls for a chat with our BFF, a good cry, and a few martinis – been there done that, that’s real life – i.e. genuine. I cried again when Miranda became so excited and emotional to make it on time for Brady’s science fair. That scene pulled at the heart-strings of my working mother’s guilt – i.e. genuine.

I won’t give too much away for those who still have not seen the movie, but was it worth a girls’ night out? Totally! The performances, the fashion, and the fabulous soundtrack! Ladies make sure you check out Carrie’s Closet and join Stylemom.com as we continue to get “Carried” away with a “fantabulous” SATC2 prize pack!

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