Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants

Review by Clint Morris

Remember at school, playing sport, when the captains of each opposing side would pick their players?

They always went for those that either made the most noise or looked the part - the tall, the cocky, the loud, the experienced, or the built.

Funny thing is, those that could've put on the best performance - possibly even helped win the game - were left on the bench, because they didn't right away appeal.

Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants is that chap whose been left out of the initial player pick. He knows he's good, he knows he's as entertaining as everyone else, and he knows he can put on a show - but he'd probably have to do your homework for the week if you were to give him a shot.

Reviewers don't get a chance to pick and choose, we have to take on everyone and everything (yep, just because you had the sheer pleasure of knowingly missing Halle Berry as Catwoman or the lacklustre film debut of well-built Fat Albert, doesn't mean we got to) but in some respects, that's good, because without us telling you how much of a ripper or a dud a film is, small gems like Travelling Pants would probably go unnoticed (I knew there had to be meaning in this underpaid, overworked position - somewhere) and you might never have the pleasure of meeting Tibby, Lena, Carmen or Bridget.

This is one flick that deserves to be in the game.

A film so cute and so captivatingly performed that it'll make you forget that it's sub-plot's pretty preposterous, it centres on four girls, all best pals, who are about to encounter some pretty big life-changes. Just before one of them goes overseas to discover 'herself', another experiences heartache at the hands of her re-marrying father, one makes a new unlikely pal, and the other attempts to block out her pain by diving into a relationship with an older boy, they stumble upon a pair of jeans - a pair of jeans that fits them all perfectly.

Believing that there must be something magical to the pants - after all, one of them's tall, the other's plump, and so on - they decide they should share the trousers, sending them to each other back and forwards whilst they're all on their separate vacations. They do so, and in turn, the trousers - or is it merely the tight bond they already had? - seems to unite them.

A meaty movie for girls - but obviously lads will enjoy it too, if even just for a gaze at some of these ladies, especially the leggy Blake Lively - Travelling Pants is a film that won't even make a blip on the radar, yet probably deserves too.

It's not a fantastic film, by any means - it's rather passé in parts and definitely knows when to press the buttons - but this teenage Beaches is so gracefully performed and unexpectedly well-written that it's likely to strike a chord with any adolescent.

3.5 out of 5

Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants
Australian release: Thursday the 23rd of June, 2005
Cast: Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively, Jenna Boyd, Bradley Whitford, Nancy Travis, Rachel Ticotin, Ernie Lively, Mike Vogel.
Director: Ken Kwapis.
Website: Click here.

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