Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) - Stars flare up in breezy romcom

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The three stars stand in a fix on top of a cardcastle in a stylized Las Vegas landscape on this poster for Andrew Bergman's Honeymoon in Vegas

Our hero is a private investigator in New York with a mother complex, who wants to keep his marriage-lusting girlfriend; so he invites her with him to Las Vegas, but he soon winds up in a real jam!

 

Honeymoon in Vegas is written and directed by Andrew Bergman (So Fine (1981)).

Sarah Jessica Parker (Failure to Launch (2006)), Nicolas Cage (Valley Girl (1983)) and James Caan (The Godfather (1972)) give charismatic performances that make this light-legged matter an if not exactly bubbly then at least entertaining and occasionally funny and sweet film. With Peter Boyle (Steelyard Blues (1973)) and Pat Morita (The Stoneman (2002)) in laughable satirical Hawaiian parts plus plot unlikelihood and Elvis impersonators galore, - all helping to save Honeymoon in Vegas from ever taking itself seriously.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 25 mil. $

Box office: 35.2 mil. $ - North America only

= Uncertain but likely a flop (projected return of 2.16 times its cost)

[Honeymoon in Vegas was released 28 August (USA) and runs 96 minutes. Shooting took place from August - November 1991 in New York, California, Las Vegas, Nevada and in Hawaii. The film opened #1 to a 7.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend at #1 and then one more in the top 5 (#2), grossing 35.2 mil. $. The international gross numbers are regrettably not public. With a projected international gross of 19 mil. $, the total gross of 54.2 mil. $ gives the film flop status. It was nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Bergman returned with It Could Happen to You (1994). Caan returned in The Program (1993); Cage in Amos & Andrew (1993); and Parker in Hocus Pocus (1993). Honeymoon in Vegas is fresh at 66 % with a 6.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Honeymoon in Vegas? 

Sex and the City (2008) - Parker & Co. return with delightful gusto in King's great debut

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In giant, glittering pink types, this simple poster for Michael Patrick King's Sex and the City promises more of the unabashed feminine escapism that was the TV-series' trademark

  
Carrie and Big, the New York society writer's long-time on/off handsome boyfriend, negotiates their way to a wedding, which is prepared by Carrie; but something goes wrong, and both of them and friend couple Miranda and Steve break up.

Sex and the City is written and directed by feature-debuting Michael Patrick King (Good Advice (1994, TV-series)) and is the movie continuation of the same-titled 1998-04 hit TV-series, which King also wrote for and executive produced.
Yes, this is fluff and totally ridiculous in many ways, but if you stick with the film past its first twenty minutes, I bet you won't want to leave it for its following two hours.
The four regular stars are all back in enthusiastic top shape in a fine, rousing, ultimately touching story, which seems to round off two of the most important relationships from the series perfectly.
Kim Cattrall (City Limits (1984)) is fabulous and delivers several of the film's funniest moments as Samantha, who also seems to move on somehow as a character, although whereto is unclear. Sarah Jessica Parker (Miami Rhapsody (1995)) is simply wonderful as Carrie and acts every moment real and to-the-bone.
The production is fittingly flamboyant and delicious to behold in terms of cinematography, design and locations. - But it is especially the costume department that deserves praise, headed by Patricia Field (He's My Girl (1987)), because the outfits contribute in making Sex and the City extra exciting, wild, funny and worth seeing.

Related posts:

Michael Patrick King: Sex and the City 2 (2010) - F the haters, love the fantasy 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  

Mr. Big proposes to Carrie in this clip from the movie

Cost: 65 mil. $
Box office: 415.2 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 6.38 times its cost)
[Sex and the City premiered 12 May (London, UK) and runs 145 minutes (a 151 minute extended cut also exists.) Cattrall was critical of a film immediately after the series' conclusion. HBO co-financed the film with Time Warner sister company New Line Cinema. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, and in New York from September 2007 - January 2008. More than 300 outfits were used in the film. It opened #1 to a 57 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#4) and grossed 152.6 mil. $ (36.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 52.2 mil. $ (12.6 mil. $) and Germany with 27.1 mil. $ (6.5 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to 3 notches harder than this one. King returned with Sex and the City 2 (2010), the hit movie's sequel, which also featured the 4 stars. Parker returned first in Did You Hear about the Morgans? (2009); Cattrall in The Simpsons (2004-09) and theatrically in The Ghost Writer (2010); Cynthia Nixon (Little Manhattan (2005)) in Lymelife (2008); and Kristin Davis (Mann & Machine (1992, TV-series)) in Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends (2004-09)) and theatrically in Couples Retreat (2009). Sex and the City is rotten at 50 % with a 5.55/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Sex and the City?

Sex and the City 2 (2010) - F the haters, love the fantasy

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1 Film Excess win:

Best Costumes: Pat Field  

1 Film Excess nomination:

Best Costumes: Pat Field (won)

 

Financial crisis, what...? One of the delightfully escapist posters for Michael Patrick King's Sex and the City 2

 

Two years have passed since the events of Sex and the City (2008): Carrie and Big are married, but they are still getting used to the new situation, when Samantha gets an offer she can't refuse from a sheik from Abu Dhabi. 

Sex and the City 2 is the sequel to the 2008 film, both based on the successful Sex and the City TV-series (1998-04)), which was based on the same-titled 1996 novel by Candace Bushnell, written and directed by great Pennsylvanian writer-director Michael Patrick King (The Comeback (2005-14)).

It is in many ways a totally ridiculous film; it runs an astounding 146 minutes, and any of the crises of the real world are light-years away from the on-screen portrayal. Liza Minnelli (Cabaret (1972)) performs (and wed) at the film's big gay wedding. The costumes, headed by Pat Field (Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)), are once again Oscar-worthy and delicious to behold. They are a major part of the film's spectacle but are also so over-the-top that they inhibit any attachment with reality. For a fan, however, this matters little, because the film is packed to the brim with frivolous (albeit extremely materialistically minded) fun and the four returning stars, who once again show their undeniable qualities and charm. Kim Cattrall (The Ghost Writer (2010)) has the film's best moment when she goes crazy in rebellion in an Arabian bazar. - It is a positive surprise that in spite of the film's swooning over the palaces of the desert city, (made possible, no doubt, through modern slavery which we never see), it ultimately hasn't got much positive to say of this proclaimed "New Middle East." Many ridiculous critics attacked the film vehemently and unfairly, calling it both racist, misogynistic and anti-Muslim, when it is in fact more accurately pro-Western, feministic pro-capitalism.

SPOILER Of course, the women's lib sup-plot has its own laughable exaggerations, (the burka-dressed women reading the same book as their liberated New-Yorker peers would be one), but these are also part of the infectious, honest and optimistic blow the film strikes for Western liberalism. 

Sex and the City 2, while not being as affecting or similar to the show as the first film, is still great fun. So break open a bottle of wine with friends or alone, blow a raspberry to the grumpy critics and just enjoy this enormously happy fantasy.

 

Related posts:

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a video about the fashion trends in the film here

Cost: Reportedly between 95-100 mil. $

Box office: 294.6 mil. $

= Box office success

[Sex and the City 2 was released May 27 and runs 146 minutes. The Abu Dhabi-centered plot was chosen due to the place's conceived high-fashion position and recession-free environment, however, the emirate withdrew its shooting permission, and shooting thus had to take place in Marrakech, Morocco instead. Filming took place in New York and Morocco from September - December 2009. The Moroccan shoot was supposed to take 13 days but ran for almost 6 weeks. Sarah Jessica Parker was paid an astounding 45 mil. $ (nearly half the total budget) for her work as producer and lead actress. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Shrek Forever After, with a 31 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for two more weeks and grossed 95.3 mil. $ (32.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 33.3 mil. $ (11.3 %) and Germany with 25.3 mil. $ (8.6 %). The film was nominated for 7 Raspberry Awards, 'winning' 3. The DVD/Blu-ray release of the film went #1 in North America and the UK with sales numbers not made public. Sex and the City 2 is rotten at 15 % with a 3.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Sex and the City 2?