Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 2: Can a contractual obligation movie be good?

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I’m not the manliest guy in the world.  I don’t watch sports.  I cook.  My wife changes my wiper blades.  But even with all that, the least manly thing I’ve probably ever done was to enjoy the first Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants movie.  (Perhaps not as much as I enjoyed its Cinemax equivalent Sisterhood Of The Traveling Panties…but that’s a review for a totally different website.)  Of course, I’ve always been a big believer of judging a movie on its own merits.  If every movie has to be a Citizen Kane then you can never enjoy an Animal House.  And the first SOTTP movie was very good for what it was.  And I honestly don’t intend that as a backhanded compliment.

For those of you unfamiliar, allow me to lay out the premise.  The movie follows four teenage girls that have found a pair of magical pants.  Even though they all have different body types, this pair of second-hand jeans somehow fits each of them perfectly.  So the pants “travel” from girl to girl as they share them.  The first movie follows each girl in essentially separate stories as they embark on different adventures for the summer.  In order to keep the “sisterhood” alive, they Fed Ex the pants to each other.  Each girl faces a hardship and learns a valuable lesson that summer.  Carmen (America Fererra) learns to deal with her father’s new family as he remarries and, in the process, learns about life and love.  Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) makes her own documentary and bonds with a girl that has terminal cancer and, in the process, learns about life and love.  Lena (Alexis Bledel) goes to visit relatives in Greece and falls in love with a boy that comes from a family her family has been feuding with and, in the process, learns about life and love.  Bridget (Blake Lively) goes to soccer camp and seduces an older camp counselor and, in the process, learns about life and love.

SOTTP2 finds the girls three years later as the wind their way through college.  Another summer is upon us and they are again split up and Fed Ex-ing pants to each other.  Carmen has gone to do summer stock in Vermont.  Tibby is in the middle of a pregnancy scare.  Lena is taking art classes in New York and trying to forget her summer love from Greece.  Bridget is off to Turkey on an archeological dig (I believe this brings to roughly 648 the number of movies featuring archeologists this summer).

These movies take place in a “teen lit” world where all boys are cute, polite and romantic…even the ones that just want to get into your traveling pants.  Hearts get broken, but not for long.  It can seem like unrealistic wish-fulfillment at first.  But, when you consider how many sitcoms feature fat, dorky guys with smokin’ hot wives, who am I to question anyone else’s wish-fulfillment? 

Even though it’s clearly targeted at tweens and teen girls, the main characters are sexually active (or at least not adverse to it).  But it’s handled in very subtle way.  They aren’t out clubbing or picking up guys.  The “action,” as it were, takes place discreetly and largely off-screen.  But it’s definitely taking place, or characters wouldn’t be having pregnancy scares, right?  Typically in movies, girls are either treated as goals to be achieved or the storyline just completely pretends like this part of their lives doesn’t exist.  It’s refreshing to see a movie that shows girls having input in the decision making process.

This movie is interesting in that it probably wouldn’t exist were it not for the show Ugly Betty.  When the first movie was made, Alexis Bledel (who was on Gilmore Girls) was the biggest name in the cast.  What a difference an Emmy can make.  This time out, America Ferrera (Ugly Betty herself) is the star with Blake Lively a close second (thanks to Gossip Girl).  The first movie was a hit but not enough to typically warrant a sequel.  However, the stars all had an option in their contracts for a sequel and once Ugly Betty became a breakout hit, the filmmakers utilized that option.  In light of that, what could have felt like a contractual obligation is actually a pretty good movie.  It’s not as good as the first one but it’s close and if you enjoyed the first one, you’ll almost certainly enjoy this one.  All of the leads turn in fine performances although Amber Tamblyn is perhaps a little too broad in spots. 

The film drags a bit in the middle third but it picks back up in the end as all four girls reunite in Greece (I had brief panic attack when they all ended up in Greece but I quickly realized that it was just having Mamma Mia flashback).  It was nice to see all of them together, as it’s a rare occurrence during either of the two films.  It’s a shame we couldn’t see it more as they had good chemistry together.

Interestingly, unlike most movies these days, this one seemed to have a definite ending with no room for a sequel.  It will probably be somewhat controversial among fans of the series.  My guess is, girls will debate this ending in much the same way boys debated Rick Deckard being a replicant after watching Blade Runner. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Terms Of Endearment and 1 being Glitter, Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 2 gets a 7.

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