While some women obviously dress to impress and/or lure men to them, a growing sentiment appears to be that a fair number of ladies actually choose what they wear to stand up to the scrutiny of other women's eyes when not otherwise helping boost their own self-image and esteem.
It's no surprise then, that the Wonder Bra and its bosom-enhancing abilities became a big hit, followed by the inevitable enhancements for other body parts, including pants designed to do all sorts of things from making one look taller or shorter to appearing thinner or even lifting one's derriere.
But few could match the magical jeans found in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." For not only could a group of friends of vastly different body shapes share that denim and enjoy the perfect fit, but the pants also managed to keep them connected while spread across the globe and thus help them get through their various ordeals.
They first appeared in Ann Brashares' popular novel of the same name, followed by the big screen adaptation in 2005. While obviously a "chick flick" through and through, the pic also had its share of storytelling issues. Beyond the young estrogen-heavy travails of the heart and soul that sent many males running for the hills, it was structurally fragmented, thus stymieing any sort of dramatic momentum regarding the four girls' individual or collective stories. Even so, the overall pic mostly worked, thanks to solid to strong performances from the engaging leads, Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively and America Ferrera.
Although the film didn't light up the theatrical box office, it was generally well-received, and gained a following once on video and then TV. And with Bledel finishing up her run on the popular "Gilmore Girls," Lively becoming a star with "Gossip Girl" and Ferrara really hitting it big in "Ugly Betty," few will be shocked that their characters and those magical jeans have traveled back to the big screen once more in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2."
Coincidentally or not, their return this summer parallels that of another quartet of friends, albeit much older ones, in the movie version of "Sex and the City." Both are about close friends who go through the ins and outs of friendship, but always come together in terms of dealing with crises, most of which naturally involve members of the opposite sex.
And while they and the pic aren't slaves to fashion (notwithstanding those well-traveled jeans), it's similarly aimed at and likely will play well to its targeted demographic, here the tween and young teenage girl set. In short, it's an adolescent soap opera and -- due to the structure of its plot -- a disjointed one at that.
As previously touched upon, that issue also bedeviled the first flick, but it feels more labored and distracting here. That's especially true at the beginning when new director Sanaa Hamri -- working from a script by half of the original screenwriting team, Elizabeth Chandler -- seems to have a hard time gaining her dramatic footing and finding a comfortable rhythm balancing all of the storylines and the multitude of characters within them. Once she starts to get the hang of all of that, the film starts to approach the levels that made the first one fairly entertaining (said by a reviewer just about as far away from the desired demographic as possible), but it still never quite gets there this time around.
Continuing some of the girls' storylines -- the plot now takes place the summer after their first year in college -- and introducing new ones for the others, there's simply too much, yet not enough going on to hold our undivided attention. Of course, fans of the first film will likely enjoy the new and continued material (much as occurs for devotees of TV soaps), and the performances from the leads are decent. Unfortunately, the material just doesn't possess the novelty (obviously, this being the sequel) or engaging qualities as occurred in round one.
And the same holds true for those traveling jeans that figured so prominently in the first film, but mostly feel like an afterthought here. Granted, the girls have grown up into young women and don't need that sort of metaphorical crutch like they did all of three years ago, so perhaps this is a sign that those pants might be headed for the great denim heap in the sky.
Besides, who needs shape-shifting jeans when the likes of vets Blythe Danner, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Kyle MacLachlan as well as relative unknown Tom Wisdom (seemingly channeling the late Heath Ledger's charm from "10 Things I Have About You") and Jesse Williams (giving buff a new visual definition) are around to impart some on-the-nose life lessons about loss, family, standing up for oneself and more.
If the quality continues to drop as occurred from the first to second film, one can only hope that any potential third flick in the series gets refitted with a new outfit worthy of us checking out how it looks. "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" rates as a 4 out of 10.
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