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In 2005’s The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, four high school friends stayed connected during a summer apart by passing around a pair of jeans that fit all four girls perfectly. Now, three years have passed, and the girls have kept their traveling-pants tradition for three summers—and through their first year of college—but they’re about to face new challenges that not even their lucky jeans can fix.
When the girls return home at the end of the school year, Carmen (America Ferrera) is disappointed to discover that they’ll be spending yet another summer apart. Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) is taking a summer class at NYU, Bridget (Blake Lively) is heading to Turkey on an archaeological dig, and Lena (Alexis Bledel) is taking a summer class in figure drawing. So, with her friends leaving town, Carmen decides to join the crew of a summer theater in Vermont.
During their summer apart, Bridget tries to come to grips with her mother’s suicide. Lena tries to get over her ex-boyfriend while starting a new relationship with the nude model from her art class. Tibby breaks up with her boyfriend, Brian (Leonardo Nam). And Carmen gets a role in a Shakespeare production—opposite gorgeous Brit Ian (Tom Wisdom). And although they half-heartedly continue their summer tradition, the four childhood friends start to grow apart.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is an honest—though perhaps a bit optimistic—look at ever-changing friendships among women. As the four friends grow and change and face grown-up challenges on their own, they struggle with their old friendships. Like many female friends, they start to bicker. They compete, they keep secrets, and they grow apart. Unlike other female friendships, however, at least these girls have an old pair of pants to keep their relationships from completely falling apart. If only the rest of us were so lucky!
Since the four main characters are in separate places, living separate lives and growing apart from each other, the film’s greatest challenge is to keep the stories connected…yet separate. There’s a lot going on here—new relationships, old relationships, new challenges, old hurts—and very rarely are even two of the girls in the same scene. As a result, some stories get extra attention, while others are barely developed. In fact, only Carmen’s story seems to have much depth—and the others are left with weak, forgettable storylines. Meanwhile, characters and plots seem to come and go without warning, and viewers are left with plenty of loose ends.
If you loved the first Sisterhood movie, you’ll be interested to see where the girls end up three years later. But while this uplifting story about childhood friendships facing the tests of time, separation, and adulthood is a cute movie for a night in with the girls, don’t bother turning down a date with the hot guy from your art class to see it.
DVD Review:
For the most part, the DVD release of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 just covers the basics. There’s a four-minute gag reel (featuring a bunch of messed-up lines, a confused tourist in Greece, and lots and lots of giggling), along with a few deleted scenes (with commentary by director Sanaa Hamri). Like many new DVDs, it also includes a digital copy, which you can download to your computer or your favorite handheld device.
The cutest extra, however, is a behind-the-scenes feature, called Go Jump Off a Cliff. It shows the four girls on their adventure in Greece—and it explains how the actresses inspired the film’s cliff-jumping scene. This one’s worth watching for the gorgeous views of Santorini alone. If you happen to be watching Sisterhood 2 with your own set of girlfriends, however, proceed to this feature with extreme caution—or you might end up maxing out your credit cards to book your own flights to Greece.
