Movie Review: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2

Four friends connected by a shared pair of jeans spend the summer following their respective first year of college at four different places on four different emotional adventures

GENRE: Comedy-drama

RELEASE DATE: August 6, 2008

RUNNING TIME: 117 minutes

VIOLENCE FACTOR: None

RACY? Not really, although there is some mild, gracefully handled sensuality connected to the pregnancy theme

This is a one-size-fits-all dramedy about four appealing characters connected by one-size-fits-all jeans.

The sequel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, follows its 2005 predecessor, which was based on the 2003 novel by Ann Brashares and was a modest hit in theaters, then hit its commercial stride on DVD.

The follow-up, like the original, celebrates female friendship and empowerment.

The central plot device — the four main characters mail a seemingly magical pair of jeans to one another that somehow fits all four of them despite their physical differences — has been reduced in importance, but remains as connective tissue.

The quartet of 19-year-olds has completed freshman year at college. But despite their desire to spend the summer together, each has a more pressing involvement. Carmen (America Ferrera), a theater major at Yale, feels the pressure to come out from backstage and take center stage as a performer at a Vermont theater festival. Brown soccer-scholarship recipient Bridget (Blake Lively), on an archaeological dig in Turkey, focuses on her late mother’s suicide and decides to reconnect with her maternal grandmother. Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), an aspiring New York University screenwriter, faces a crisis in her relationship with her boyfriend. And Lena (Alexis Bledel), an art major in Rhode Island, has an embarrassment-of-riches romantic dilemma.

This warm, accessible comedy-drama pays somewhat of a price in narrative momentum by cramming four mini-movies into one package. Occasionally, we feel that one story is interrupting another, which did not happen in the original.

Director Sanaa Hamri’s sometimes sluggish pacing notwithstanding, strong acting by the four skilled and engaging focal performers carries the day.

This sequel isn’t quite equal to the original but, coming from the same jean pool, it’s close enough to please SOTTP fans for a second time.

GP Rating System:
Four Grands = Bravo, don’t miss it
Three Grands = Pretty good, short list it
Two Grands = Just okay, don’t dismiss it
One Grand = Yeah, we dissed it