The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” based on the book of the same name by Ann Brashares, is the story of 4 friends and an amazing summer that they spend apart. Carmen, Tibby, Lena, and Bridget have literally known each other their whole lives (their mothers were in a prenatal aerobics class together) and are the best of friends. They have seen each other through divorce, death, and all of the fun and pains of adolescent years. Now, they are about to spend their first summer separated. Carmen is going to visit her out-of-state father, Lena is headed to Greece to spend time with her grandparents, Bridget is headed to soccer camp in Mexico, and Tibby is holding down the homefront working at a Wal-Mart-like store in their hometown of Bethesda, Maryland.

Before the young women go their separate ways, they come across a pair of jeans in a thrift store that, amazingly enough, fits all of them perfectly, even though they are very different in size and shape. They decide that those jeans are meant to be shared, so they agree to each wear the jeans for one week, then mail them to the next girl. While wearing the jeans, the girls have incredible experiences and learn a lot more about themselves and each other.

This movie was low on offensive content. There were about three uses of the a** word and the exclamation “Oh my G_ _!” was used three times (once in Spanish). There was a scene in the movie where Carmen crosses herself because they were in a “sacred” place (the aerobics room where their mothers met), but the character did not mean it disrespectfully. The girls entered the locked building after hours, but this aspect is downplayed and not actually relevant to the scene. There is some hint at the magical, mystical properties of the jeans since it fit all four girls, but again, this is downplayed and after a brief mention in one scene, isn’t really brought up again.

*SPOILER* The main thing that parents have to be aware of in this movie is that one of the girls is very flirty and enticing towards a young man that she encounters over the summer and loses her virginity with him. They do not show any nudity or excessive touching; the only thing that the audience sees is kissing (there is kissing shown in a few scenes, but it is not extreme). The good thing about how the movie handles the girl’s sexual encounter is that it is not seen as a positive thing or treated as if it is no big deal. The girl is shown to have much regret over what happened.

The Bible is very clear on premarital sex. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 tells us to “flee fornication.” Although society has made sex acceptable, as long as it is “safe,” God’s word is a higher authority than man’s. With regards to flirting and excessive kissing/petting, the Bible even cautions us in 1 Thessalonians 5:22-23 to “abstain from the appearance of evil.” We should not even do things that tiptoe around the doorstep of evil. God is righteous and holy in all of His ways (Psalm 145:17), and we should strive to be righteous as well.

Jenna Boyd gives a wonderful performance as Bailey, the pre-teen that Tibby befriends while stuck at home working and making her “suckumentary” (a documentary about the pointlessness of life). Their relationship is amazing and some of the scenes between these two young actresses actually wrung some tears out of me—and I don’t cry easily in movies. Bailey was a true example of how to approach life, even when life throws you a curve. She is an amazing young actress.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. I can completely relate to it, since I grew up with two best friends who are still as close to me as sisters. I know that they always have my back and they know the same about me. I enjoyed the friendship that the four characters shared, and I especially loved the line where one of the girls (Carmen) comments on the fact that she could not vent her anger to her father, but she had no problem blowing up on Tibby. Tibby promptly responds that Carmen knows she’ll always love her, no matter what. That is a beautiful thing.

I love the growth that all four girls showed over the summer and the positive feelings that the movie invoked. Mothers will enjoy taking their daughters, but just be mindful that you probably need to follow the movie with a discussion of intimacy and premarital sex.

Violence: None / Profanity: Minor / Sex/nudity: Mild

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

• Positive
• Negative
• Young people