I am a straight male and I like Sex and the City. Maybe not as much as my business colleague who has the theme song as his ring tone, but I like it. I even liked the first movie, as overly long as it was. Sex and the City: The Movie was a fitting end to the stories established in the television show, wrapping everything up in a nice little bow. So why oh why is there a Sex and the City 2? Cash. And it shows.

After the success of the first movie, it was inevitable we'd see Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha once again, even if audiences and critics alike really didn't ask to see them again. Unfortunately, as expected, Sex and the City 2 is an aimless, unnecessary sequel with an uninteresting plot and a disastrous third act.

Despite its pitfalls, Sex and the City 2 is moderately entertaining for the first hour and 45 minutes. The main characters do what they've always done. Writers Michael Patrick King and Candace Bushnell work in a few clever jokes and maintain the spirit of the television show.

And then the movie crumbles apart into a steaming pile of Charlotte excrement. The film is mildly offensive and racist throughout as the girls - especially Samantha - are taken aback by the conservative nature of Abu Dhabi citizens. Half the conversations in the picture feature the characters complaining about not being able to show cleavage or not being able to kiss in public. But in the last thirty minutes, the movie spirals out of control into a goofy, absurd and racist piece of crap that destroys any goodwill it developed over the first two acts. The ladies run into one conflict after another that is quickly resolved; luckily for them, their crowning achievement in the entire movie is the discovery that a few fully cloaked residents are actually fashion lovers. Seriously.

Racism isn't the only problems with Sex and the City 2. Besides the third act being patently horrible, the movie lacks a compelling reason for it to exist at all. Amidst a massive recession, you'd think it would be more interesting to inject some economic conflict into a story about four fashion-conscious New Yorkers. Instead, the screenwriters give the women all the decadence in the world and almost no romantic conflict whatsoever, other than a "cameo" appearance by Aiden (John Corbett) that provides a 15-minute dilemma for Carrie.

Sex and the City 2 is a huge disappointment thanks to its third act and middling plot. Even big fans of the show will struggle to make it through to the ending.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.