把影迷拋諸腦後的慾望城市2
Sex and the City 2 Leaves Fans Behind
By Mary Pols Wednesday, May. 26, 2010
在慾望城市2中，「與大明星共舞」能在一個庸俗的電影裡看起來如此莊嚴無比，凱莉布雷蕭 (由莎拉潔西卡派克飾演)製造了一個令人難忘的新詞彙，這四名摯友坐在阿布達哈比的游泳池旁，但夏綠蒂 (克莉絲汀 戴維斯飾演)並沒有一起「渡假中」。根據凱莉的說法是，她需要「進入友情狀態」，才能忘掉在紐約的老公和兩個女兒，以及那個辣到不行，不穿內衣的愛爾蘭正妹保母。如此一來她才能和凱莉、莎曼珊，和米蘭達享受好友假期。
In Sex and the City 2, a movie gaudy enough to make Dancing with the Stars seem dignified, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) coins a memorable phrase. The four girlfriends are sitting around a pool in Abu Dhabi, but Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is not relaxing. According to Carrie, she needs an "inter-friend-tion" to make her forget about her husband and two daughters — back in New York City with their hot Irish nanny, whom the girls dub Erin Go Bra-less — so she can properly enjoy her vacation with Carrie, Samantha (Kim Cattrall) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon).
女孩們，讓我們一起回顧過去，回到1998年，當慾望城市以電視影集之姿在HBO頻道播出，想必妳一定很滿意這麼美好的影集內容，以及女孩們的友情。一般來說，我們覺得女孩隨時都應該有個美好時光，但是慾望城市第二集長達146分鐘，實在令人感覺壓迫。觀眾甚至不確定是不是應該這麼快又看到慾望2再度上映。在2008年的第一集電影，還有這系列影集中，慾望2討論了極具意義且糾纏不清的感情、友情，且以一針見血的剖析這些堪稱為美好時光的話題。 但慾望2這時卻將重點投向沙漠和文化衝擊的中東國家，整部電影看起來像Bob Hope的電影一樣令人感到不舒服。我們知道一起將這兩個平行敘述很不容易，但是就在俏皮話(例如「駱駝腳趾頭」)，和音樂劇碼 (海倫蘭蒂的「身為女人」卡拉OK版) 中，慾望2新電影開始轉向「末路狂花之阿布達哈比」。(註:Bob Hope，1993-2003，是美國著名歌手、主持人、諧星、另外也演出電影，他最為人所知的是為美國軍方製作專屬娛樂節目。是的！他活了100歲，算過確認後嚇到我了！)
Ladies, we go way back — all the way to 1998, when the TV series Sex and the City premiered on HBO — so presumably you'll appreciate our loving intent in staging an inter-friend-tion of our own. Generally, we consider any time with you a guaranteed good time, but Sex and the City 2 is a long 146 minutes. It feels forced, as if you weren't sure you should have invited us over again so soon. In the series and the 2008 movie of the same name, you managed to intertwine frivolous good times with significant and sometimes tart truths about love and friendships. Now you're running off to the Middle East for some sand dunes and culture shock in what seems uncomfortably like a Bob Hope movie. Drawing such parallels is upsetting, we know. But somewhere between the wordplay (like the one about having "camel toe" on a camel) and the musical number (a karaoke rendition of Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman"), your new movie starts turning into The Road to Abu Dhabi. (See pictures of movie costumes.)
雖然花了點時間才上路，電影以一場盛大的同志婚禮開場，這個史丹佛和安東尼的誇張婚禮在康乃狄克州舉行。由Lisa Minnelli當見證牧師，另外還非常值得的請她表演了碧昂絲動感歌曲──單身女郎(Single Ladies) 導演身兼編劇的麥可金派翠克為曼哈頓島塑造了個普遍形象，米蘭達代表標準的中年工作者，她們是個工作狂而且不被看重；夏綠蒂，她正被小孩的龐大壓力壓得喘不過氣來，而且還對保母可能引誘老公的窘境感到十分焦慮。(若以凱莉所說的巧妙雙關語笑話「猶太法」(裘德洛) 或許還能夠預防) ；莎曼珊，現正為了逃過女人更年期而過度使用維他命和面霜。
(註：Lisa Minnelli是美國著名歌手、百老匯舞者，也曾拿過奧斯卡最佳女演員獎，並且致力於愛滋病防治，她也在石牆運動周年紀念演唱會獻聲，因而在此續集中請來作為同志婚禮牧師，被視為對同志友善的名人。)
It takes a while to get on that road, though. First there's a big fat gay Connecticut wedding for Stanford (Willie Garson) and Anthony (Mario Cantone), officiated by Liza Minnelli, who earns her keep with a divinely slurred, honking rendition of Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)." Writer-director Michael Patrick King gives the lay of the land, with all the classic middle-aged stuff: Miranda, you're overworked and underappreciated; Charlotte, you're overwhelmed by your tyrannical toddler and anxious that Harry (Evan Handler) will inevitably sleep with the nanny (in accordance with "the Jude law," as Carrie nicely puts it); Samantha, you're overdosing on vitamins and creams, hoping to stave off menopause.
至於凱莉，出版了一本談論婚姻的新書，叫作「I Do, Don't I?」 但是跟被稱為大人物的約翰一起生活依舊讓她不滿意，慢慢步入軌道的兩年婚姻生活開始顯得有點無趣。就像大人物說的，他已經花了30年的時間在紐約的花花世界裡頭閒晃，現在的他只想好好地坐下來翹著腳，看電視，吃外賣食物。他們決定不生孩子，那也就代表了，必須在接下來的餘生裡生活得非常燦爛有情趣，所以為了這樣的燦爛、有趣的生活，大人物建議，一周裡他到凱莉的舊公寓分居兩天。感謝紐約的萎靡房地產，這樣的一個舊公寓可以成為女人的單身聖地，而大人物也能重溫在床上看電視的懶男人壞習慣。觀眾都能了解大人物的想法；凱莉，我們一直都站在妳這邊，不過這次，妳已經有點中毒摟，還有什麼事情能讓妳滿意的？
As for Carrie, you have a new marriage book out, titled I Do, Don't I?, but life with John, a.k.a. Big (Chris Noth), is vaguely dissatisfying: two years of being settled is starting to feel staid. As Big points out, he spent 30 years going out in New York City, and now he'd like to put his feet up, watch TV and order in. You've decided to remain childless, which means, as you put it, you'll "have to work on the sparkle for the rest of our lives." So he suggests, as a means of keeping the sparkle alive, that he spend two nights a week in your old apartment — left unoccupied, thanks to the lousy real estate market, as a shrine to your single womanhood and a dubious plot device. There, he'll be able to indulge slothful male habits like watching television in bed. We can understand his thinking. Carrie, we've always been on your side, but the fact is, you're kind of a drag now. Will anything ever make you happy?
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