The first daughters club

I took my sister and father to the local second-run theater to see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Based (apparently loosely) on the young adult book, it follows four best friends of various body shapes who manage to find a pair of Levi's jeans that fit them all perfectly. They spend a summer in different locales, but make a pact to share custody of the pants by keeping them for a week and then shipping them, usually by FedEx. The film shifts around as each girl learns valuable lessons about life and love with and without the Levi's jeans.

First, I'd like to give this film a little credit by resisting the urge to have the girls in a slumber party situation, holding up their hairbrushes and lip synching to some old song. (I'm guessing that the FCC will fine them for violating that chick flick rule.) The plot is unexpected, in that the film isn't really about the Levi's jeans in the FedEx packaging (or the Leica camera or the Clairol Herbal Essences items -- I guess my product placement radar was on).

Second, there was a point at the end of the movie, during the only subplot that mattered, in which there was a bit of a sentimental father-daughter moment. Not "Butterfly Kisses" cheesy at all, but it still didn't do much for me. I was in the minority. I turn to my sister, who was in tears, and I handed her a napkin. Then I turned to my father and was about to ask him jokingly if he needed a napkin as well, but stopped short when I discovered he did. Huh.