The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)May 29th, 2005
THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2005 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
It would be easy to list the shortcomings of THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS, based on Ann Brashares's popular novel, but, by creating some endearing and genuine teenage characters, the movie really gets to you by the end. The type of movie that is certain to be written off as just a chick flick by some, THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS touched this male critic who is certainly not the right sex or age for the film's intended demographics of tween and teen girls. I cried several times in the last act, which fulfills the promises that you barely realize that it ever made in the first place.
The most obvious problem in the picture is that the scripting is sometimes paper thin. The story's central premise is that four girls agree to share a pair of jeans one summer. They get this idea after the pants somehow fit them even though their body types are quite different. They figure the pants must possess some kind of magical powers. And, since they are all going through some kind of family difficulty, they need all of the help they can get.
These 17-year-old best buds have known each other since their moms shared a prenatal aerobics class. With performances that are all dialed down a notch or two from what you might expect in such a film, the young actress playing these plum parts, run the gamut from A to B, Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, and Blake Lively.
Lively plays Bridget, whose mother recently died. Bridget is the wild blonde who throws caution to the wind in trying to attract a slightly older soccer coach at a camp in Mexico. This is a movie filled with innocent kissing and is correctly rated PG. She is an über-athlete who runs literally and figuratively away from her problems.
Bledel (TUCK EVERLASTING) plays Lena, Bridget's opposite. Lena, currently off to Greece for the summer, is painfully shy, even when a hunk of a local lad sets his eyes on her.
Ferrera (REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES) plays Carmen, a full figured Latina who is spending the summer in another state with the dad she normally sees only a couple of days a year. Although she expects to finally bond with him this summer, her plans are upset by a whiter than white, extra perky family her non-Hispanic dad is marrying into. She really resents how she is treated, but, like most of the story, the hurts and snubs are subtle.
The only one staying at home this summer is Tibby (Tamblyn). Since her mom decided to start having kids again late in life, Tibby feels out of place. She spends the summer working at a Wal-Mart like store called Wallman. A "pain-in-the-ass" 12-year-old named Bailey (Jenna Boyd from THE MISSING), starts hanging out with her. They eventually become friends around the time that Tibby learns that Bailey has her own set of problems.
At first, whoever has the pants -- they mail them to each other after wearing them for a week -- has bad luck befall them. But, upon further examination, what at first appears to be bad luck turns out to have been good.
I found the movie merely passable until the last act, when there were lots of tears on the screen and in the audience. The trick is that by underplaying all of the characters, they slowly work their way into our hearts. These are real kids, not the overacted ones we've come to expect in movies. By the end of the film, I was no longer sure what the right age group was for the film. Although it would be completely acceptable for tween and teens, I am not at all sure that they are going to appreciate it. I guess we'll see. The book is popular with that age group so perhaps the film will be as well.
THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS runs a little long at 1:58. It is rated PG for "thematic elements, some sensuality and language" and would be acceptable for kids around 7 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Wednesday, June 1, 2005. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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