The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
Rated PG-13 for mature material and sensuality.
reviewed by Steven Harrell
Most of the anticipated summer releases this year have been aimed at the male species. The huge success of "The Dark Knight" is sure to further fuel the latex-and-complicated-backstory frenzy. But "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" is a movie built just for you, ladies, and without nearly as much sex or city (but even more product placement) as the summer's other movie about four female friends.
The Story
"Sisterhood 2" picks up three years after the first movie left off. They girls have graduated high school and just finished their first year of college. Carmen (America Ferrera) is looking forward to returning home and spending the summer catching up with her three best friends, especially after her busy year working behind the scenes at Brown's theatre program. Alternative Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) spent the year in film school at NYU; pretty Lena (Alexis Bledel) has been at the super-exclusive Rhode Island School of Design; and athletic Bridget (Blake Lively) was on a soccer scholarship at Yale.
But when she gets home, Carmen discovers that each of the girls has already planned to spend summer apart. Frustrated, she goes to Vermont for a theatre program and is forced to deal with her shyness when she accidentally becomes the star of a major production opposite a super-cute British guy. Bridget goes on an archeological dig in Turkey and begins to cope with her mother's suicide from the last film. Lena takes a summer drawing class and is heartbroken to discover that her former love Kostos is married, but she feels better when a figure-drawing model notices her. Tibby has to make up a class in New York, but things get complicated with her boyfriend Brian after they spend a night together.
Despite having sort of grown apart, the girls still send their magic pants to each other in the hopes that the one-size-fits-all patch worked jeans will somehow bring them luck as they each deal with the struggles life brings them this summer. Do the pants still have a few more miracles in them, or will the girls continue to drift apart?
The Verdict
"The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" is an enjoyable movie. All four girls are excellent actors on their own, and their individual stories are compelling. America Ferrera's great performance is not surprising since she's had plenty of practice in front of the camera as the star "Ugly Betty." The Emmy winner is convincing as the shy girl initially afraid to act on stage who grows into a strong actor, culminating with her commanding Shakespearean performance in the Vermont theatre. Blake Lively has also found television success as the star of "Gossip Girl" and is sufficiently emotional as she deals with the loss of her mother.
The acting drops off, however, when the actresses are forced to appear on screen together. They remain on fairly independent story lines for most of the film, but when they are forced to appear in the same room it becomes obvious these are not at all best friends. Maybe it was because they only had a short time to create chemistry, but the two scenes featuring the foursome together are the most painful I've seen in a long time.
New director Sanaa Hamri maintains the tricky balance between keeping things playful and dealing with the real-life issues the girls face. "Sisterhood 2" isn't really a serious movie, but it does deal with both a pregnancy scare and a mother's suicide with care; I bought into both plotlines a lot more than I would have expected in a movie about a pair of magical pants.
Unfortunately, for every well-handled serious moment, a far-from-reality silly one hurts the movie. Four 19-year-old girls can't fly to Greece with zero notice to search for a pair of pants, even if one of their dads does have "tons of extra frequent flyer miles." A girl can't fake being pregnant for almost a year in order to trick someone into marrying her, unless the guy is very stupid and skipped a large portion of freshman biology. And so on. As much as the movie tries to be more, it ends up as your average chick flick without much real substance.
The tone of the film has definitely aged along with the girls, and the PG-13 rating is deserved. Nothing particularly graphic is shown, but a broken condom is discussed in detail and a figure drawing class features a nude model and lots of cleverly obstructed camera shots.
Worldview
As in the first movie, the major theme of the film is that relationships can overcome any amount of distance and trial. Somehow, something as seemingly trivial as a pair of pants works to keep the girls close together even though they are at times on opposite sides of the planet -- or their relationships are fractured beyond being on speaking terms. The pants become a symbol of the bond between them.
When we become Christians, we enter into a relationship with Christ that is one of the most exciting and important relationships we will experience in our lives. Sometimes, however, it can also feel very lonely. Maybe we're going through a difficult time and our prayers feel more like talking to a ceiling than the God who hears us. Maybe we're faced with a major decision and aren't sure what to do -- and instead of God's guidance all we feel is silence. We might start to wonder whether or not our relationship is even real.
I can imagine the disciples might have felt this way after Jesus was crucified, and again when He ascended into Heaven and left them to continue the work He started. They were separated from each other, and they each faced trials like prison, stoning, and even death. Maybe there were tempted to feel that the God they'd entered into a relationship with had left them all alone.
But they were not alone and neither are we. Just before Jesus was taken up into heaven in the first chapter of Acts, He said: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:7-8). We're not alone; the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives within us (Romans 8:11) and gives us the power to do everything God asks of us (Philippians 4). I'll take that over a pair of jeans, any day.
Questions:
- Who are your best friends? Have you ever had to spend a significant amount of time apart? How did that affect your friendship?
- What is the farthest away any of your friends have ever gone?
- After watching the movie, do you have an uncontrollable urge to ship things with Fed-Ex or buy the latest in cellular technology?
- Can you think of a time when you felt alone? What does Paul have to say about the Holy Spirit in Romans 8?
