The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Four girls, friends since birth, and the summer they're finally apart learning a bit more about the world on their own. Needless to say I didn't exactly have the highest expectations going into this, but as I have a soft spot for coming of age stories I expected there would be some sides of it appealing to me.

And there were, a few. Bledel was the main actress attracting me to watch this, and her character was one of the two most interesting ones even though her story is quite half told rather than complete. The other interesting one was Amber Tamblyn's character, and that one was more complete as well.

Lively was a crappy choice, and half the time she was running I just wanted to laugh. Ferrera did better, but her character's was the most boring screen-time.

It's not a great movie in any way, but it's got its moments. Probably best suited for girls below the age of the four friends, and maybe even below Bailey's. Jenna Boyd did well as Bailey by the way, while my personal favorite Whitford had very little to work with here. Overall a weak 4.

Scent of a Woman (1992)

Director: Martin Brest
Writer: Screenplay: Bo Goldman Novel: Giovanni Arpino Characters suggestion/Original screenplay: Ruggero Maccari, Dino Risi
Cast: Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell, Gabrielle Anwar, Bradley Whitford, Philip Seymour Hoffman, James Rebhorn
Genre: Drama

Not until rating Scent of a Woman did I notice this movie is an American make of the same novel as the 1974 Italian movie Profumo di donna. I have no idea what compelled them to do so in such a manor, but nevertheless they did. It's about two and a half hour, one full hour more than the 74-movie, and I'm quite bored throughout most of it. It's supposed to be a drama, but there's nothing dramatic about it. It's so clear-cut, follow-the-dots, you-get-what-you-expect Pacino set-up, it's ridiculous.

I admit Pacino does well. He also won the Oscar for leading actor for it. O'Donnell was rather forgettable. There's scenes where he's not even worthy to be a prop. The two small appearances by Gabrielle Anwar and Bradley Whitford was very pleasing. Being a huge fan of Whitford that probably doesn't come as a surprise to anyone, but the role he got is so perfect for him. And I could hardly believe Anwar was the same as we see regulary on "Burn Notice" these days. Not only was she stunningly beautiful back then, but she nails her part as well. Seymour Hoffman's part is not worth noting at all, sadly.

157 minutes of cliches, a one-man show much in need of a deeper story and some scenes Martin Brest must have been an idiot for allowing. Thankfully there's some great acting there and several interesting scenes, both helping to defend some of the time spent to watch this. I'll never do it again though.