Sex and the... Jonah Hill?

This is primarily going to discuss "Sex and the City 2" and "Cyrus". If you want to skip the garbage of "Sex and the City 2", just scroll down.

I had to see it. I had to know why everybody was slamming this film, walking out, and eventually becoming incredibly outraged. So I did it. I saw it. And I find that this film would be an incredible example for psychological case studies of damaged pre-menopausal women. Warning: As I dive into this movie, there will be plot spoilers. I assume at this point that you have either already witnessed this disaster or never had the intention and after all the talk, you won't be running to the theater anytime soon.

I have to admit. I did laugh a number of times throughout the movie. There were still witty moments that I found to be enjoyable and the movie has my personal investment of these characters to bank on. And every twenty minutes or so, it worked. That being said, I've never had so many "What the hell?" moments. In the end, "Sex and the City 2" just proves to be a highly unethical, amoral, and degrading movie for not only successful middle-aged people everywhere, but also the characters themselves that so many people have grown to love over the past decade or so.

The women of the HBO series always had a weakness for material goods, high fashion, and a rather extravagant lifestyle. That's nothing new. However, in the series, the girls were always eager to admit that these weaknesses were actual guilty pleasures. They valued love, success, freedom, thought, and definitely companionship above all else. Thus whenever one passed by a shoe store and sighed, it was endearing and not offensive. Besides the massive amount of expensive dinners, the girls on "Sex and the City" didn't lives all TOO differently from many women in Manhattan.

However, that was until their lives entered "Sex and the City 2". Very slowly and creepily the movie starts to show hints of materialism on a seriously unhealthy level. The opening credits themselves are full of sparkle and shimmer, which tends to be Carrie's primary desire. Before 2010, Carrie Bradshaw's definition of sparkle involved romantic excitement and thrilling adventures with her three gal pals. But that definition of sparkle slowly transforms by the time Mr. Big reveals to her his anniversary gift. When he reveals the digital and plasma TV (1. Expensive) that's in a white furnished desk (2. Slightly fashionable) so they could watch black and white movies together (3. Romantic), Carrie is left bereft of the sparkle she so heavily desires. She even goes so far to say that "Jewelry couldn't have hurt." And with a bizarre score and editing, we are supposed to sympathize for Carrie (after so many years of understanding Michael Patrick King's style, nobody should be expecting satire). And there we have it. Carrie Bradshaw, now Preston, has morphed into a materialistic and self-righteous woman that is hard to care about. This continues with Charlotte York's trials and tribulations with her two daughters. When she is baking cupcakes while her daughters are finger painting, she has a nervous breakdown and screams at her daughter for ruining her vintage pants (and Carrie sympathizes over the phone). I repeat, she was baking over 100 cupcakes while her daughter was finger painting and she was wearing expensive vintage pants.

Thus we get to the real result of this film. It's a bonafide tragedy. After a couple of self-discovering seasons, "Sex and the City" blossomed into a farcical series with serious intellect for a demographic and age that wasn't getting intelligent attention. The show didn't fully acheive its success by having Kim Cattrall spit out sex joke after sex joke. In the midst of all of Carrie Bradshaw's awful puns, she had a rather fascinating question or thought every once in a while that would catch viewers off guard. It's tragic how this sequel very well could come back to those intellectual ideas and questions. These women are aging. Yet, the only treatment age has on any of these women is Samantha Jones' fight against menopause. When she starts panicking about losing all of her pills, the girls tell her to shut up as if it isn't an actual concern. I personally don't believe that menopause is a concern for women, I have definitely come to the understanding that menopause is a subject that most women in this country do not handle lightly. Yet, the girls of this film are more terrified about flying Coach than they are about growing old. And no, it's not treated admirably.

The film explodes on many other levels. The character of Adin proved to be a truly significant role in the saga of Carrie Bradshaw. It proved a very valid and necessary concept; women can mess up too. For a show that supports the courage and liberation of women, it seldom shows how the woman can be the fault of relationships ending. Women were finally liberated from the burden of always having to be perfect in relationship. Adin as a primary character created that. He was a genuinely decent and honest man. That was until he came along and strolled into Abu Dhabi which happened to get hit by hurricane SATC2.

There's also the matter of that slightly controversial scene between Miranda and Charlotte at their private bar. Finally, I thought, this movie was not going to be about veranda's and limousines but about a friendship that supports each other through the trials and tribulations of middle-aged women. It actually opens up the conversation about the struggles of motherhood for working women. When Charlotte says the line, "And there are women out there who don't have help! I don't know how they do it!", it would traditionally be seen as a sarcastic and silly comment. But in the context of this film, it goes from cute to unsettling.

Oh how the mighty have fallen. I missed their friendship. I missed their true problems and issues that they had to overcome as successful women. And most importantly, I miss their value system. I don't know whether or not to pray for a 3rd film or not. And after an appalling ending that proves how cheating, whining, and self-centeredness can all be remedied by a diamond, I think the followers of these four women deserve an explanation.

That's enough of that. The series deserves such a long blog... not this film...

Anyways, I want to move on to a movie that I find to be extraordinary and it's my hope that everyone sees it.

"Cyrus" opened this weekend in New York and L.A. and I can't wait for it to expand across the country. It stars John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill, and Catherine Keener (each one giving a four star performance in highly original and psychologically complex characters). Long story short, loser John (playd by Reilly) meets the woman of his dreams in Molly (Tomei) who happens to live with her 21-year-old son, Cyrus (a daft Jonah Hill). Obviously problems are bound to arise, but they do in the most heartfelt of places.

This movie stands out for a number of reasons. For starters, these characters have issues that are incredibly evident. Yet, it's completely understandable why they aren't fully discussed. They are the kind of problems that we see in the people of our own lives but never fully confront. Molly and Cyrus' relationship is anything but conventional. This is clear five minutes upon seeing them in a room together. They're both likable. And in a way, their mother/son relationship is very endearing. But how does John play into this relationship? And for a man who has had no luck with women since his ex-wife (an always delightful Catherine Keener) left him for someone else seven years ago, you can't blame the poor guy for not wanting to bring up the sore subject of Cyrus to his newly beloved Molly.

Mr. Reilly deserves much gratitude. From the moment you meet John, you immediately want things to go right for him, even though he hasn't done anything to deserve that sympathy. It's because he's a fully fleshed human being that every audience member has encountered at least one time or another. This makes the very first meeting of Molly and John all that cathartic, and practically intense. We've seen the trailers, the posters, and the articles. We know that something happens between Molly and John. But we know that at any moment, John could drop the bomb once again, shattering any ray of hope that we had felt the minute before.

Another surprise was Mr. Jonah Hill, and a truly layered performance. I can never tell when an actor adds layers to his performance, but something about Mr. Hill separates this from others. Every time we learn a new fact about the odd Cyrus, it makes sense. Instead of adding a complication to the character (which is the traditional choice for most films), we see a layer that was there since the beginning, only that layer has become slightly clearer. The complications lie in the choices he makes as a troubled young man.

I don't want to reveal too much of what happens. But there's one final trait I have to bring up that is entirely due to the genius work of directors Jay and Mark Duplass. Every moment comes for what it's worth, good or bad. Predictability is irrelevant in this film. Even if something happens that you expect to happen, it feels entirely new or somewhat shocking. Marisa Tomei revealed in a recent interview that there was a strong improvised nature to the shooting of the film, and that every day of production had a different script. The script kept evolving according to how the filming was progressing (since they shot in sequence). I didn't learn of this until after I saw the film, but it makes sense. Moments that we've seen before in other films feel entirely special and unique for this film, because we're constantly reminded that these events are happening to these particular people, and that alone makes it unique.