A couple weeks ago, I saw Sex and the City 2. (It wasn’t my choice, but my date had been a good sport about watching the Hawks playoffs). Don’t worry, I am not going to spoil anything major in the movie, but there is a large part related to travel.

An Arab sheikh hires Samantha to produce a PR campaign for his business. This translates to an all-expenses-paid trip for the four women to Abu Dhabi.

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Abu Dhabi is shown in the best possible light from the minute the women board the super-luxurious plane. The next 15 minutes or so seem like an ad. We see Abu Dhabi in all of its beauty.

The odd thing is that later, as the plot progresses, we are shown a different side of Abu Dhabi. The women experience a culture clash. I didn’t see it was a point-counterpoint either. It seemed more against the ways of the Middle East. The whole thing struck me as an odd juxtaposition.

Just as I was starting to be annoyed at how much the movie seemed to be showcasing Abu Dhabi (sort of like product placement), I was hit with how different it is from America. This left me confused as to what message they were trying to deliver to the audience. Then it left me confused as to why they needed to leave any message in this manner at all.

The trip to Abu Dhabi seemed like a forced plot contrivance. Couldn’t the writers have been creative enough to write this movie without taking this side trip? On the other hand, bad (or at least mixed) publicity is better than no publicity. I guess Abu Dhabi should be happy about that.

— John Wroblewski, distribution specialist