This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Sharing the Pants
Plot Overview
As babies the four girls had the same
due date and their mothers attended a prenatal aerobics class in
which the leader called out the moves while the moms-to-be swung
their arms and legs in time. For seventeen years and nine months
now, they have never been parted and we see them sauntering down
the street together, pointing their arms and talking. They are a
foursome par excellence.
About to go separate ways for the
summer Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), Lena (Alexis Bledel), Carmen (America
Ferrera), and Bridget (Blake Lively) try on a pair of blue jeans at
a thrift store to discover they fit all of them equally well
despite their different sizes and body types. Figuring there's some
magic involved (“that will always be a mystery”) they
covenant to rotate wearing them, four weeks each, and to document
the most exciting thing that happened while doing so. This could
well be a derivative of the Irish poem, The Lepracaun Or Fairy
Shoemaker, by William Allingham (1824–1889):
Little Cowboy, what have you heard,
Up on the lonely rath's green mound?
Only the plaintive yellow bird
Sighing in sultry fields around,
Chary, chary, chary, chee-ee!—
Only the grasshopper and the bee?—
“Tip-tap, rip-rap,
Tick-a-tack-too!
Scarlet leather sewn together,
This will make a shoe.
Left, right, pull it tight;
Summer days are warm;
Underground in winter,
Laughing at the storm!”
Lay your ear close to the hill.
Do you not catch the tiny clamour,
Busy click of an elfin hammer,
Voice of the Lepracaun singing shrill
As he merrily plies his trade?
He's a span
And a quarter in height,
Get him in sight, hold him tight,
And you're a made
Man!The movie opens with scenes of a busy sewing machine: flywheel, geared strap, spindle, thread and needle putting together a pair of pants, but we cannot see the hands working it.
You watch your cattle the summer day,
Sup on potatoes, sleep in the hay;
How would you like to roll in your carriage,
Look for a duchess's daughter in marriage?
Seize the shoemaker—then you may!
“Big boots a-hunting,
Sandals in the hall,
White for a wedding feast,
Pink for a ball.
This way, that way,
So we make a shoe;
Getting rich every stitch,
Tick-tack-too!”
Nine-and-ninety treasure-crocks
This keen miser fairy hath,
Hid in mountains, woods and rocks,
Ruin and round-tow'r, cave and rath,
And where the cormorants build;
From times of old
Guarded by him;
Each of them fill'd
Full to the brim
With gold!
Tibby, stuck at home, does indeed wear “big boots a- hunting” for subjects for her documentary as she drags along a mass of video recording equipment. Lena wears “sandals in the hall” of her Greek grandparents' island villa as she tries to persuade them to open up to new experiences. “White for a wedding feast” would be appropriate attire for Carmen crashing the wedding of her dad to his new wife. “Pink for a ball” are the athletic shoes Bridget wears when she hits on the coach at the soccer camp (el campo de fútbol) & cantina in Mexico where she's sent.
I caught him at work one day, myself,
In the castle-ditch, where fox-glove grows,—
A wrinkled, wizen'd, and bearded Elf,
Spectacles stuck on his pointed nose,
Silver buckles to his hose,
Leather apron—shoe in his lap—
“Rip-rap, tip-tap,
Tick-tack-too!
(A grasshopper on my cap!
Away the moth flew!)
Buskins for a fairy prince,
Brogues for his son—
Pay me well, pay me well,
When the job is done!”
The rogue was mine, beyond a doubt,
I stared at him; he stared at me;
“Servant, Sir!” “Humph!” says he,
And pull'd a snuff-box out.
He took a long pinch, look'd better pleased,
The queer little Lepracaun;
Offer'd the box with whimsical grace,—
Pouf! he flung the dust in my face,
Was gone! (26–27)At the end of the movie, I did discover the maker of the blue jeans. The camera did a closeup of the decorations the girls embroidered on the pants. It lighted on a signature tab: Cal., ____ Strauss & Co., but instead of pulling back to expose the first name, it came closer obscuring it. Then came the end titles. If I but had the full name of this Caliph Strauss to market his used jeans with, I could make serious money.
Ideology
Some poignant scenes in this otherwise
lackluster film lend themselves to comparison with one of
Kenny Rogers's songs concerning a chance encounter with “The
Gambler” on an unscheduled train. He offered his fellow
passenger the advice that “the secret to surviving is knowing
what to throw away and knowing what to keep.” The refrain goes:
You've got to know when to hold 'em, Know when to fold 'em, Know when to walk away, Know when to run. You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.
This wisdom of the gambling man's repertoire is old as the hills and was passed on by a raconteur, Agur in Proverbs 30:1, whose four metaphors offered the same life advice as did Rogers's Gambler. That we find in, (Prov. 30:29-31) “There be three things which go well, yea, four are comely in going: A lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any; A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.”
We have Agur's “lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any,” and we have Rogers's “know[ing] when to hold 'em.” Shy but determined Lena persuades her grandfather to give his family feud a rest when this Juliet realizes she loves her Romeo.
We have Agur's “king, against whom there is no rising up,” and we have Rogers's “Know[ing] when to fold 'em.” A king who knows when to give in to his subjects doesn't experience any uprising. Tibby upon learning her under-foot, wannabe assistant twelve-year-old Bailey (Jenna Boyd) has leukemia, demurs.
We have Agur's
“he goat also” and we have Rogers's “Know[ing]
when to walk away.” When Carmen perceives she's a fifth wheel at her
dad's upcoming wedding, she walks away from it to keep her pride in tact.
We have Agur's “greyhound” and Rogers's “Know[ing] when to run.” Bridget “single-minded to the point of recklessness” runs after the coach even after learning he's off limits.
The gambler gave the advice:
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.
There are threee sequels in the works.
Production Values
“” (2005) was directed by Ken Kwapis. It was written by Delia Ephron and Elizabeth Chandler, based on the young adult novel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Anne Brashares whose inspiration derived from a lifetime of prolific reading of youth-oriented literature. It stars Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively, Amber Tamblyn, and America Ferrera. There was an easy familiarity among these leads.
MPA rated it PG for thematic elements, some sensuality and language. There were some nice scenic views. The editing was expert transitioning among various settings and a couple time zones. Runtime ≈ 2 hours.
The documentary shot
within the movie was included in the features of my DVD. It
culminated in three little girls manning a lemonade stand.
They were earning money
to buy footwear with, as kind of a sisters of the shoes, small
potatoes reflection of the main theme.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
Saying grace at the table seemed inconsistent with the divorced status of the man and woman who were also cohabiting. A seventeen-year-old's thrill with an older man might also have been illegal in Mexico. Plenty of guidance is called for here, although there was no nudity or any explicit sex.
Lucky I'm easy to please. Although I'm not the target audience, I can give a reasonably well made film a break. This one will do for a chick flick.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability for children: Suitable for children with guidance. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: A few suspenseful moments. Overall movie rating: Three and a half stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software, print.
Allingham, William. “The Lepracaun Or Fairy Shoemaker.” Reproduced in Alfred Perceval Graves and Guy Pertwee, The Reciter's Treasury of Irish Verse and Prose. London: George Routledge & Sons Ltd., > 1914. Print.
Rogers, Kenny. Songwriter Don Schlitz. “The Gambler.” Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Pub. LLC. Web.
bibles.n7nz.org