'Pants 2' offers fitting follow up
By Bruce R. Miller Journal staff writer | Posted: Friday, August 15, 2008
When you stop sharing pants, you can pretty well kiss the relationship goodbye.
Or so the story goes in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Part 2," a sequel to the popular film about four girls who seal their friendship by sharing a pair of jeans.
This time out, they're all in different parts of the world. The pants still make the rounds (by Federal Express, no less) but the girls drift apart. When one thinks she's pregnant, she doesn't reach out for help, she sits and stews. When another discovers dad lied about grandma, she goes on a pilgrimage. And, when a third learns her boyfriend is married, she takes an art class.
Which leaves? The fourth girl who thought she was going to have a quiet summer as a techie at a theater in the woods. She winds up getting a leading role in a Shakespeare production and has to deal with the fallout from a nasty colleague. Pants to the rescue? Not really.
Director Sanaa Hamri treats this much like four individual series on the CW. The episodes play out that way, too, until one realizes the pants are missing and it's time to regroup.
Then, they all go on a pilgrimage to Greece where they reconnect, search for the jeans and realize the real ties that bind aren't made of thread.
"Pants 2" is a harmless movie -- one that says a little something about the value of friendship -- but it doesn't tax its actresses much. Blythe Danner, in fact, has the biggest emotional arc and she's merely the missing grandmother. Blake Lively plays the granddaughter -- a girl who goes on an archelogical dig and discovers she has relatives who didn't hate her. She leaves, abruptly, then finds grandma who tells plenty about mom, dad and the life they shared. It's a touching piece, but it hardly has the allure of, say, America Ferrera's shot at stardom as the girl who thinks she's going to be helping with costumes but winds up wearing them. She falls for her leading man, discovers a supposed friend has been talking smack and decides to retreat. The play's a mess; her mom's in labor. The storyline is interesting -- even if it's a little too "Ugly Betty" for its own good.
Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn deal with guy problems. Bledel discovers her man is married; Tamblyn thinks she's pregnant. The plots aren't bursting with possibilities, just drama. Bledel is bland; Tamblyn plays the bohemian with full Brenda Vaccaro lustiness.
The pants? They're an afterthought.
Indeed, much of the film seems like something Hamri could accomplish while the actresses were on hiatus from their series. Lively, you may remember is on "Gossip Girl," Ferrera has "Ugly Betty," Bledel used to be one of "The Gilmore Girls" and Tamblyn was "Joan of Arcadia."
Before they became television regulars, we could get lost in their stories.
Now, it's hard to separate the television persona from the extra-curricular identity.
As chick flicks go, "Pants 2" is fine -- it unravels here and there, zips up nicely and doesn't seem to magnify its faults. But it isn't as fashionable as it once seemed.
Rated PG-13, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Part 2" features some adult talk and suggested nudity.
On a scale of four stars, it gets:
2 stars
Or so the story goes in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Part 2," a sequel to the popular film about four girls who seal their friendship by sharing a pair of jeans.
This time out, they're all in different parts of the world. The pants still make the rounds (by Federal Express, no less) but the girls drift apart. When one thinks she's pregnant, she doesn't reach out for help, she sits and stews. When another discovers dad lied about grandma, she goes on a pilgrimage. And, when a third learns her boyfriend is married, she takes an art class.
Which leaves? The fourth girl who thought she was going to have a quiet summer as a techie at a theater in the woods. She winds up getting a leading role in a Shakespeare production and has to deal with the fallout from a nasty colleague. Pants to the rescue? Not really.
Director Sanaa Hamri treats this much like four individual series on the CW. The episodes play out that way, too, until one realizes the pants are missing and it's time to regroup.
Then, they all go on a pilgrimage to Greece where they reconnect, search for the jeans and realize the real ties that bind aren't made of thread.
"Pants 2" is a harmless movie -- one that says a little something about the value of friendship -- but it doesn't tax its actresses much. Blythe Danner, in fact, has the biggest emotional arc and she's merely the missing grandmother. Blake Lively plays the granddaughter -- a girl who goes on an archelogical dig and discovers she has relatives who didn't hate her. She leaves, abruptly, then finds grandma who tells plenty about mom, dad and the life they shared. It's a touching piece, but it hardly has the allure of, say, America Ferrera's shot at stardom as the girl who thinks she's going to be helping with costumes but winds up wearing them. She falls for her leading man, discovers a supposed friend has been talking smack and decides to retreat. The play's a mess; her mom's in labor. The storyline is interesting -- even if it's a little too "Ugly Betty" for its own good.
Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn deal with guy problems. Bledel discovers her man is married; Tamblyn thinks she's pregnant. The plots aren't bursting with possibilities, just drama. Bledel is bland; Tamblyn plays the bohemian with full Brenda Vaccaro lustiness.
The pants? They're an afterthought.
Indeed, much of the film seems like something Hamri could accomplish while the actresses were on hiatus from their series. Lively, you may remember is on "Gossip Girl," Ferrera has "Ugly Betty," Bledel used to be one of "The Gilmore Girls" and Tamblyn was "Joan of Arcadia."
Before they became television regulars, we could get lost in their stories.
Now, it's hard to separate the television persona from the extra-curricular identity.
As chick flicks go, "Pants 2" is fine -- it unravels here and there, zips up nicely and doesn't seem to magnify its faults. But it isn't as fashionable as it once seemed.
Rated PG-13, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Part 2" features some adult talk and suggested nudity.
On a scale of four stars, it gets:
2 stars
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