Love, life, and lovely ladies in 'Sex and the City 2'

The girls are back! But this time, instead of being steeped in familiar glamour, they are pretty much stumbling about in unfamiliar territory.

In “Sex and the City 2,” we catch up with Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) as a married couple on their second anniversary. Now known as Mrs. John Preston, Carrie is characteristically unsettled in her settled-down life, wondering what comes next after “I do.”

After 10 years of their passionate, dramatic, and turbulent courtship, and a much-deserved "happy ending," she now finds that she has to face what "home sweet home" truly means.

“Carrie has spent her career writing about being single, and for the first time, she’s writing about a different topic, being married,” Parker observes. “The truth is, she doesn’t know a lot about it yet. But she’s learned that there’s a difference between having a wedding and being married. She’s been married for a very short time, and she’s not quite wearing it as comfortably as she wants to.”

According to Parker, what the outgoing Carrie is secretly struggling with is the idea of staying in—the ‘shackles’ that she has projected onto herself. With these expectations and how she’s dealing with them, Parker explains, “For Carrie, it becomes a story about ‘Yes, I had a wedding, but am I married? Am I married?’”

With Big, a.k.a. John James Preston, Carrie is trying to find a common ground in their unique definition of marriage. “This movie’s a wonderful example of where it’s possible to go, because a relationship doesn’t end with the wedding, or the party and laughs afterward,” Noth comments. “There is the next day, the next series of moments between people, the next series of challenges. You have a life together and all the ups and downs of that, and that’s what we deal with in this film. Once you get what you think you’ve wanted for so long, what happens then?  There’s a whole new set of questions. It’s always a work in progress.”

Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) is likewise going through her own marital journey. In the past film, she’s had to deal with Steve’s infidelity; in this follow-up, she’s finally comfortable and secure at home. However, she’s also becoming increasingly frustrated at work.

Nixon points out, “Now she’s made partner in a great law firm, she has a terrific salary, but she has a new boss who can’t stand the sight or sound of her. We all have our breaking point, and Miranda is reaching hers. To all of a sudden be set adrift and to try to figure out, ‘If I’m not a lawyer, who am I? What else is left of me?’ That would be a big deal for anybody, but particularly so for someone who has defined herself through her career for her entire adult life.”

Also a wife and mother, Charlotte York-Goldentbatt (Kristin Davis) has her own crisis to deal with. “Things are not going smoothly for Charlotte,” says Davis. “She still really wants everything to be perfect, and it’s hard for her to accept the fact that it’s not…and that she’s not perfect either. It’s been her ongoing struggle throughout the life of the character.”

To her grief, Charlotte inadvertently hired a new attractive nanny, Erin (Alice Eve). While Charlotte is mired down with the challenges of parenthood, Samantha’s observations make things worse for her.

“Charlotte begins obsessing over how gorgeous her nanny is, something she originally didn’t notice because Erin is so wonderful with Rose (Charlotte’s daughter) and Charlotte so desperately needs her,” Davis says.

And as a constant reminder of the epitome of freedom, a single Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) is back in New York and back on the prowl. “Samantha is back in her seat of power, back in her town with her girlfriends—her family—around her,” Cattrall says with flourish.

But beneath the surface, there’s more going on with Samantha that the film deftly tackles. A smart hedonist who lives life on her own terms, she is, however, forced to deal with the idea of aging and what locking horns with the first symptoms of menopause means for her liberated lifestyle.

Cattrall looked forward to approaching this fact of life from a comedic point of view. “For me, incorporating comedy into a menopausal storyline was incredibly gratifying, because you hear so many negative stories about what women have to go through,” she comments. “I feel we’ve taken that subject and mined gold out of it by making it human and funny and accessible. Samantha has a tremendous lust for life and she’s a powerhouse about her sexuality; she enjoys it and integrates it into every aspect of her life.  So when that part of her is challenged, she fights back with all she’s got.”

As each woman continues to run after what their true "happily ever after" is, they truly step out of their comfort zone—in this case, New York—and land themselves in a whole new world, the new Middle East. But at the heart of the movie remains the strongest bond that has seen them through all their emotional journeys: the fabulous foursome’s enduring love and friendship.

“Sex and the City 2” opens locally on June 2, 2010.