SILVER screen sensation Sex And The City is given a second celluloid outing this week with the fabulous foursome swapping NYC for the Middle East.
As Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) begins to settle in to married life with Mr Big (Chris Noth) she soon finds living happily ever after doesn't quite mesh with her party lifestyle. But she's not the only one with problems.
With Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) suffering work worries and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) struggling with motherhood, an escape for the gang is needed.
Enter Samantha (Kim Catrall) who secures an all-expenses trip to Abu Dhabi courtesy of a hotel owning Sheikh for her and her friends.
But with ex-boyfriends, Danish architects and - of course - plenty of shoes, will the dream holiday become a nightmare?
Fall from grace
Sex And The City was more than just a TV show - it was a cultural phenomenon splicing together comical, heart-wrenching and dramatic moments while a renaissance of confident female independence bubbled furiously away throughout the six seasons.
How the mighty has fallen.
Writer/director Michael Patrick King falls headfirst from his pioneering pedestal to offer a bland shadow of the show's former glory.
Following a colourful start - complete with OTT gay wedding and a head-scratching appearance by Liza Minnelli which will either entertain or incite a walk-out - the film falls comfortably into the women's recognisable and celebrated clique with the problems which must be overcome quickly identified.
New York needed
It is once the ladies are taken out of 'The City' is becomes apparent how crucial New York is to the dynamic. It is not just a setting, it is a character; and without it, the film struggles.
While Samantha's brash moxy may be hilarious on home soil, her 'outrageous' behaviour is just bad taste on foreign shores; making her more like the embarrassing elderly relative who doesn't know any better rather than an empowered 50-something.
Poignant and intelligent commentary on relationships are replaced by Pink Panther-esque disguises, and with no real insurmountable obstacles to face the film casually drifts from beginning to end.
Like the forced karaoke song sequence, Sex And The City 2 brims with 'hen party' appeal and a gaggle of easy, predictable one-liners.
A far cry from the ground-breaking HBO series, fans should prepare to be disappointed while resistant boyfriends and husbands should prepare to run.
Women : 5/10 - More Debenhams than Dior.
Men : 2/10 - Fashion-filled folly.