I don't know why, and many may not approve, but "Now and then" has always represented the ultimate girl 'life changing experience' movie, and "Stand by me" the same but with boys. I talk about boys and girls, not adolescents. Maybe I missed many movies, and maybe I watch "Now and then" today and my impression is completely different, but somehow a big change when being a kid strikes me harder than one when being a teenager; even more if the women those kids became are there to look back on it.
In "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", a 'feel good movie' based on a popular novel, director Ken Kwapis has the intention of making the viewer believe that what his characters go through is sort of life changing. Four friends (there were four also in "Now and then"), after being their whole lives together, separate for one summer, and decide that a pair of pants that magically fits all of them, travels one week with each, carrying the experiences lived by everyone while having them.
Carmen (America Ferrera) is kind of our official narrator, and she introduces us to her best friends, in something like this: "The shy and beautiful Lena (Alexis Bledel), the strong and overwhelming Bridget (Blake Lively), the unique Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), and me, the writer". These ARE stereotypes, the movie admits them and tries to take them as it can. In fact, this is what saves 'Sisterhood' from being a complete disaster.
The girls go separate ways, they don't stick together; therefore, each of them 'grows' and 'changes' on their own. By having four different plot-lines to work, Kwapis and writers Delia Ephron ("You've Got Mail") and Elizabeth Chandler (the masterful "A little princess") are able to take a big breath. Since they don't have the four girls together (in fact, when they do cheesiness is extreme, unreal and sometimes unbearable), they work with their individual journeys.
This is the saving grace of the movie precisely because we get to watch different aspects of it. If it weren't for the unquestionable excess of light, I could risk to tell you that the four stories are completely different. They are differently shot, written, acted and the only thing that unites them is the obligatory presence of the pants. Carmen goes through a family drama, with a dad that apparently doesn't care for her; Bridget lives a typical teenage forbidden romance; Lena does also, but her story is individually more complex; and Tibby continues to experience life as it is, shooting it for a documentary with the help of an unexpected friend played marvelously by Jenna Boyd.
Some of the stories have nice moments (I liked Tibby's story the most because of its ordinary quality, free from any big or spectacular characteristic), or nice shots (Lena travels to Greece), even unexpected resolutions, but ultimately the problem of the film is that everything is automatic, with a predictable outcome. The tagline reads "Cry. Laugh. Share the pants". Kwapis is so immerse in making us believe that these girls go through a big change that this affects the whole movie. The score by Cliff Eidelman (he also did the score of "Now and then"; oh coincidence!) is unnecessarily moving and the performances are affected by this obligatory 'change' factor, that the movie reaffirms in the end by relieving the pants-only element that connected everything-of any responsibility.
If anything, "The Sisterhood of the traveling Pants" is useful to reaffirm other things, whether good or bad. That Amber Tamblyn is more than Joan ("Joan of Arcadia") and Alexis Bledel is not more than Rory ("Gilmore Girls"); that America Ferrera is truly powerful and deserves the best, and Blake Lively is truly overwhelming and has versatility. There are fine male actors too, but this time it was about the girls. Oh, and they deserve that I watch the film's second part.
In "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", a 'feel good movie' based on a popular novel, director Ken Kwapis has the intention of making the viewer believe that what his characters go through is sort of life changing. Four friends (there were four also in "Now and then"), after being their whole lives together, separate for one summer, and decide that a pair of pants that magically fits all of them, travels one week with each, carrying the experiences lived by everyone while having them.
Carmen (America Ferrera) is kind of our official narrator, and she introduces us to her best friends, in something like this: "The shy and beautiful Lena (Alexis Bledel), the strong and overwhelming Bridget (Blake Lively), the unique Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), and me, the writer". These ARE stereotypes, the movie admits them and tries to take them as it can. In fact, this is what saves 'Sisterhood' from being a complete disaster.
The girls go separate ways, they don't stick together; therefore, each of them 'grows' and 'changes' on their own. By having four different plot-lines to work, Kwapis and writers Delia Ephron ("You've Got Mail") and Elizabeth Chandler (the masterful "A little princess") are able to take a big breath. Since they don't have the four girls together (in fact, when they do cheesiness is extreme, unreal and sometimes unbearable), they work with their individual journeys.
This is the saving grace of the movie precisely because we get to watch different aspects of it. If it weren't for the unquestionable excess of light, I could risk to tell you that the four stories are completely different. They are differently shot, written, acted and the only thing that unites them is the obligatory presence of the pants. Carmen goes through a family drama, with a dad that apparently doesn't care for her; Bridget lives a typical teenage forbidden romance; Lena does also, but her story is individually more complex; and Tibby continues to experience life as it is, shooting it for a documentary with the help of an unexpected friend played marvelously by Jenna Boyd.
Some of the stories have nice moments (I liked Tibby's story the most because of its ordinary quality, free from any big or spectacular characteristic), or nice shots (Lena travels to Greece), even unexpected resolutions, but ultimately the problem of the film is that everything is automatic, with a predictable outcome. The tagline reads "Cry. Laugh. Share the pants". Kwapis is so immerse in making us believe that these girls go through a big change that this affects the whole movie. The score by Cliff Eidelman (he also did the score of "Now and then"; oh coincidence!) is unnecessarily moving and the performances are affected by this obligatory 'change' factor, that the movie reaffirms in the end by relieving the pants-only element that connected everything-of any responsibility.
If anything, "The Sisterhood of the traveling Pants" is useful to reaffirm other things, whether good or bad. That Amber Tamblyn is more than Joan ("Joan of Arcadia") and Alexis Bledel is not more than Rory ("Gilmore Girls"); that America Ferrera is truly powerful and deserves the best, and Blake Lively is truly overwhelming and has versatility. There are fine male actors too, but this time it was about the girls. Oh, and they deserve that I watch the film's second part.