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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Friendship is in Their Jeans, August 7, 2008
The impression that "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" gives is that it's a bubbly, bright, and--for all intents and purposes--meaningless sequel to the first film. To my relief, it follows the example set by its predecessor, a surprisingly levelheaded friendship story. Four years after discovering a magically fitting pair of jeans, best friends Tibby Tomko-Rollins (Amber Tamblyn), Carmen Lowell (America Ferrera), Lena Kaligaris (Alexis Bledel), and Bridget Vreeland (Blake Lively) have returned for a second chapter that remains on perfectly equal ground with the first, focusing on coming-of-age issues like maturity, self-discovery, family, and love. Unoriginal ideas? Maybe so, but that doesn't mean they're any less effective. If anything, they make the film's message that much clearer. It helps that many of the girls' problems are based in reality--high school issues, like being pretty and popular, are pushed aside in favor of adult issues, like pregnancy scares and family crises.
If there's anything we learned from the first film, it's that the magic of the titular jeans was symbolic; by in large, the girls worked through their own ups and downs on their own, with no miraculous intervention other than their friendship with one another. We learn pretty much the same thing in this film, which sees each character facing new, more mature challenges. Let's begin with Carmen, who doubles as the film's bookend narrator. She now attends Yale, working as a stagehand for the theatre department. Her mother (Rachel Ticotin) has since remarried and is now pregnant with her second child. When Carmen's hopes of spending the summer with her friends are dashed, she decides to join a Shakespearian theater company in Vermont with a prima donna named Julia (Rachel Nichols). Once there, a British actor named Ian (Tom Wisdom) coaxes Carmen into auditioning for "A Winter's Tale"; to her shock--and to Julia's horror--she's cast as Perdita. As rehearsals continue, she begins to fall in love with Ian.
Next, there's Bridget, who plays Soccer at Brown University. Lately, her interests have shifted to archeology. While on an expedition in Turkey, her instructor, Professor Nasrin Mehani (Shohreh Aghdashloo), opens her eyes to the fact that she's only running away from her past. Bridget, it seems, is still haunted by the suicide of her mother. And her relationship with her father (Ernie Lively) is worse than ever; before leaving for Turkey, she discovered a box full of letters her grandmother had written her, letters her father wanted to keep hidden. Returning to the United States, Bridget takes a bus to Alabama and finally meets her grandmother, Greta (Blythe Danner), an accommodating woman with a matter-of-fact outlook on everything, including her daughter's mental illness.
The next in line is Tibby, who continues to pursue her filmmaking dreams at NYU. Forced to stay in New York for the summer to rewrite her screenplay, she gets a job at a local video store. She's now dating Brian McBrian (Leonardo Nam), who was introduced in the first film as the "Dragon's Lair" champion. When their relationship is threatened (for reasons I won't reveal), Tibby begins to wonder if she was meant for happiness. She does put up a wall every time she gets close to someone, and that's because, deep down, she believes that those you love the most will eventually abandon you. Her attempts to get sympathy from Carmen are flatly rejected; she doesn't appreciate how uncommunicative Tibby has been all summer.
Finally, there's Lena, who attends an art college in Rhode Island on a scholarship. Heartbroken after breaking up with her Greek boyfriend, Kostos (Michael Rady), she reverts to her old timid ways. She then meets Leo (Jesse Williams), the male model hired to pose nude in her art classes. It isn't long before they fall in love, although we suspect it's for all the wrong reasons. All she really knows about Leo is that he's a nice guy, and he's incredibly handsome. But does she know what she wants out of life? Does she even know who she is? How can know she when she's torn between two men?
Naturally, the pants themselves have to play a part in this story, and indeed, they're continually FedEx-ed from friend to friend. The question is: Do any of them need the pants anymore? You'd think that, at this point, a pair of old jeans traveling the world would reveal itself as a big metaphor. They may realize that by the time the film ends. I'm not entirely sure, though.
Moments of this movie are perhaps a little too sentimental, and the general plot may be a little too formulaic. At times, the dialogue is a bit contrived. Consider this conversation: When Tibby says drearily, "I suck at relationships. I should have been a guy," Lena calmly responds, "A guy wouldn't care about sucking at relationships." Only best friends in a coming-of-age story could get away with lines like that. Then again, I never expected a reinvention of the wheel. Movies like "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2"--and its predecessor--are aimed at a very specific audience, namely teenage girls; if they can get something out of it other than the sight of four young women looking pretty, if they can leave the theater understanding the more complex aspects of the story, then the filmmakers can include all the predictable dialogue they want. I think this movie will get the job done, not merely for teenage girls, but for anyone open to the idea.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants grows up pretty quickly in this sequel, August 7, 2008
First of all, it is certainly an interesting experience to be the only guy in the theater for a movie like "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2." At least I was not the oldest person there, and while that person was my date at least we could take comfort in knowing that we have both read all four of Ann Brashares' novels about the "Sisterhood," and therefore were entitled to be there with all the young folks. Screenwriter Elizabeth Chandler ("What a Girl Wants") is working mainly from the final book in the series, "Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood," which means that Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) has a pregnancy scare in New York City, Carmen (America Ferrera) is doing a Shakespeare play in Vermont, Bee (Blake Lively) is on a archeological dig in Turkey, and Lena (Alexis Bledel) is drying to figure out how to draw a nude male model. However, some key elements from earlier novels are worked in the story, specifically Lena finding out Kostos is married and Bee meeting her grandmother from "The Second Summer of the Sisterhood," and Carmen's mother having a baby from "Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood" (to be clear, the movie tie-in paperback being published as "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" is the fourth book, "Forever Blue" and not the book about the second summer).
Having read the books can be a key factor in enjoying the movie because things move really quickly and fans of the series will constantly be filling in gaps. The best indication of how fast things move is that when Bee goes to Alabama her grandmother (Blythe Danner) immediately reocgnizes her, so they forgo the entire bit about Bee pretending to be Gilda. The biggest element missing from the final book is Bee's romance in Turkey, but the decision to create a new character, Shohreh Aghdashloo as Professor Nasrin Mehani, is a good move because it places the emphasis on Bee coming to terms with her mother's suicide, which was arguably the most important thing that happened to her in the four books. Additionaly, following Tibby's pregnancy scare with having to be in the delivery room with Carmen's mother added an additional resonance to Tibby's story.
Circumstances have certainly changed for the four actresses since the release of "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" three years ago can simply be expressed by noting that when the first movie came out Tamblyn was doing "Joan of Arcadia" and Bledel had "Gilmore Girls," and now those shows are done and Ferrera with "Ugly Betty" and Lively on "Gossip Girl" are currently in the front seat of American pop culture. There was reportedly some reluctance to get the band back together for this second film, but at least everybody got to go to Santorini this time around and watch Bledel freckle. However, the main thing I noticed in this second movie is that Amber Tamblyn is clearly the best actress in the bunch, which is saying something if you have seen Ferrera in "Real Women Have Curves." But this is Tamblyn's movie and most of the best moments (and virtually all of the good lines) belong to her.
The other thing I noticed is that the guys in this movie are all good guys. Brian (Leonardo Nam) is everything Tibby is not, which is exactly what she needs, Ian (Tom Wisdom) is the proverbial Prince Charming for Carmen, and the only downside for Lena choosing between Leo (Jesse Williams) and Kostas (Michael Rady) is that one of the two does not believe there is one person who everybody to love, which is not exactly a deal breaker. The only really villain in the proceedings would be Carmen's supposed friend, Julia (Rachel Nichols), but that just underscores the point that the girl's are in many ways their own worst enemies. Their faults, dear readers, lie in themselves more in than others, and for the Sisterhood actualization truly comes from within. Again, because the film is covering so much, flipping from character to character as the Traveling Pants make their appointed rounds, there is a sense of sketching characters and connecting dots. Not knowing the back stories, which are necessarily reduced to assumptions without the benefit of actual exposition, can put viewers at risk for enjoying this summer of 2008 film. Director Sanaa Hamri made her mark directing music videos, so at least she has an appreciation for having to be concise in her scenes. The net result is not a great film, but certainly a satisfying one for the Sisterhood readership.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Forever in blue jeans, August 8, 2008
This is actually the title of the fourth and last Ann Brashares book, which this film is in part based upon. The four friends who've been kept united through first a summer of separation and now college are now doing their first college summer apart. Their interests have also diverged and each member of the sisterhood but one has a love interest (or two) now.
Carmen (America Ferrera), who was hoping that the girls would all be together again for the summer, spent her year lost at Yale. When she realizes that everyone else has plans they hadn't told her about, she opts to go to a summer stock camp for young actors with her 'friend', Julia (Rachel Nichols). One of the Shakespearean actors in the company, Ian (Tom Wisdom) urges her to try out--and the former backstage girl actually gets a part.
Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), who was at NYU has to return for the summer because she didn't get her romantic comedy done. She and Brian (Leonardo Nam) take things to the next level with some interesting consequences.
When Lena (Alexis Bledel) attends her Bapi's funeral in Greece, she learns that Kostos (Michael Rady) is married. Devastated, she comes back to the RISD to art school despite her parents' wishes otherwise. She gets involved with Leo (Jesse Williams) a young male model.
Bridget (Blake Lively) is looking into the past. Before heading off for an archeology camp in Turkey, she discovers letters from her grandmother. She never knew the woman wrote her and this haunts her during the dig. She eventually returns home early to meet the woman she doesn't remember (Blythe Danner).
Overall, this is definitely a chick flick. But it's aimed at the younger crowd, the YA readers of this series. Still, being 'forever in blue jeans' myself, I love these stories and have read every one.
The coda for this series is excellent and a good testament to the stuff that binds friendship together. It's not all blue jeans, but the shared memories and continued communication between friends.
Rebecca Kyle, August 2008
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