How Can Loss Also Be An Occasion For Learning, Sharing, And Emotional Maturation?

THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS follows four high school girl friends who separate for the summer and vow to keep in touch by way of a pair of blue jeans that magically fits all their different body sizes perfectly. They mail the jeans to one another, along with letters to keep up with what's happening in each other's lives. Lena (Alexis Bledel) is shy and quiet, on her way to Greece to visit relatives; aspiring documentary-maker Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) resents being stuck working at a local Wal-Mart-type store; golden girl Bridget (Blake Lively) is dealing with her mom's suicide and distant father as she heads to soccer camp in Mexico; and young writer Carmen (America Ferrera) goes to North Carolina to visit with her long-absent father, Al (Bradley Whitford), who announces he's about to marry Lydia (Nancy Travis), whose two blond teens seem complete opposites of Carmen. During their vacations, they explore their emerging sense of independence, while figuring out how to maintain relationships with their families and with each other, and each girl learns a valuable life lesson.
　　
Families can talk about the film's depiction of loyalty and loss, especially as each of the girls loses something precious, but also gains experience and faith in herself and her best friends. How do you support your friends when they feel sad or angry? How can you be mad at someone but also, at the same time, still love him or her? How can loss also be an occasion for learning, sharing, and emotional maturation?
　　
We're dealing in symbolism here so it doesn't pay to question the physics. It's a tribute to the story's involving charm and the angst-filled journeys of the four girls that the jeans' flexible characteristics are, if not plausible, at least accepted. After all, "These aren't just jeans," declares the Paris Hilton-esque Bridget (Blake Lively) "they make things happen." And happen they certainly do.
　　
The four girls - Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), Carmen (America Ferrera), Lena (Alexis Bledel) and Bridget - have been a foursome since their mothers met at a pre natal exercise class. Despite their differing backgrounds and privilege, the girls have formed a tight bond, one which is being challenged as they all go their separate ways in life. Having discovered the jeans' special properties, the girls draw up a manifesto outlining the rules for the ownership of the pants which will be passed around every week. The rules vary from the unhygienic (they can't wash the pants) to the revelatory (they have to disclose what happened while wearing them).

Four friends - Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), Lena (Alexis Bledel), Carmen (America Ferrera), and Bridget (Blake Lively) - who have done everything together their entire lives find themselves, on the summer of their 16th year, separating for the first time. In order to keep themselves close even while separated, they agree to share a pair of second-hand jeans that magically fits all of them while they go on their separate life altering adventures.
　　
It sounds like it should be incredibly trite, but it never really is, despite a few alarming dips into the waters of clich. Strong, if slightly overdone, performances from the four leads carry a well-crafted film along to its emotional but never quite poignant ending. Director Ken Kwapis keeps events flowing smoothly between the four stories with skillful intercutting, giving each story its due time to build. The only one that gets a short shrift is Bridget's, which feels like it's building to an emotional realization but never quite gets there. Carmen's story of estrangement from her father (Bradley Whitford) and his life is the best of the bunch; her emotional confrontation with him is well done by everyone involved and rings true with pathos and turmoil.
　　
The only real problem with the film is the dialogue, which isn't bad, but is so self-aware and adult it often does not fit coming out of these supposed teenager's mouths. And the younger the characters get, the more adult their dialogue is. Twelve-year-old Bailey (Jenna Boyd) who is dying of leukemia sounds like an old man talking about mysteries of life. Certainly the knowledge of impending death will create a certain amount of lucidity for anyone, but there are some thing's twelve-year-olds can't know because they haven't had the life experience yet. It sounds too often like the writer is speaking instead of the character.

With that understanding they all go off for the summer. Bridget heads to Mexico for soccer camp, Lena visits her grandparents in Greece, Carmen visits her estranged father and his new family while Tibby remains at home, working in a local store and making a documentary. Through their various experiences, the film explores poignantly, under the sympathetic and patient guidance of director Ken Kwapis, the emotional vulnerability of being a teenage girl. It deals with loss, love and identity. Away from each other, they begin to discover themselves. But away from each other they also have pangs of loneliness, which is why they are always so excited when it's their turn for the jeans and they are reconnected with their sisterhood.
　　
The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants is a sweet and moving drama with strong performances from all four girls who each bring a very different presence. It does allow itself to become a little maudlin at times, but its virtues make such weaknesses forgivable. Aimed squarely at a female market, there's enough in Traveling Pants to make it a good fit for a wider audience.