Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Every once in a while I like to see a completely forgettable “cute” movie. It’s like food: sure you could have prime rib all the time, but every once in a while it’s great to have some meatloaf. I chose this ground beef over so many other similar options for its young stars: America Ferrera (Real Women Have Curves), Alexis Bleidel (Gilmore Girls) and Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia). Besides, I heard it was actually pretty good, even if you weren’t a twelve-year-old girl. After watching the movie last week, I submit that it’s an enjoyable little movie for everyone, even adult males (and not just for the eye candy).

Focusing on four very different personalities—and four very different types of beauty—in a group of teenage girls, Sisterhood tracks a pair of pants which travels (fancy that!) through their divergent lives during one fateful summer. The life of each character is filled varying degrees of angst. Shy and repressed Lena (Bleidel) is well, shy and repressed. Curvy Carmen (Ferrera) has a loving but still deadbeat dad she longs to be close to. Young documentarian Tibby (Tamblyn) is generally anti-society, anti-hope. Soccer babe Bridget (newcomer Blake Lively) is dealing with the recent suicide of her mother. These lifelong friends split up for the first time one summer and learn about life, themselves and the value of friendship.

If it sounds a well-tread plot with stock characterizations, that’s okay. This coming-of-age story doesn’t break new ground and is a tad melodramatic, but it’s executed and acted with such conviction and honesty that none of that matters. The movie is a bit long but never boring. Veteran TV director Ken Kwapis wisely cuts back and forth between the four plots often (and with ease), never allowing the audience to tire of one character or setting. Bleidel’s story is a bit weak, but the gorgeous Greek island setting makes up for it. Set in a rural Mexico soccer camp, Bridget’s tale, while borne of the most painful circumstances, doesn’t really rise above a summer fling. The best tales are left to Ferrera and Tamblyn, who transcend what could’ve been some sappy dialogue and mushy “hope for the future” propaganda.

By the end of the movie, I was fully invested in these characters and their devotion to each other. Not even some forced happy endings (Bridget running into her summer flame a few blocks away from her house, for example), could make me dislike this movie. It didn’t move me to tears of joy, but then again I’m not a twelve-year-old girl.

Grade: B