'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2' review

Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn and Blake Lively in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" (Credit: Warner Bros.)

Three years after they last learned about life, love and friendship, the now college-aged gals—who rotate a magic, one-size-fits-all pair of jeans among them every week—do it again. Lena (Alexis Bledel, "Gilmore Girls"), still trying to get over her ex, meets a hunky model in drawing class; Carmen (America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty") stumbles into an acting role while sparks fly with her British co-star; Tibby (Amber Tamblyn, "Joan of Arcadia") deals with a pregnancy scare; and Bridget (Blake Lively, "Gossip Girl") attends archaeological camp in Turkey while coping with the discovery that her parents hid letters from her estranged grandmother (Blythe Danner).

Big question: Can this sappy sequel, based on Ann Brashares' best-selling book series, deliver more sincere life lessons and speak to the, um, 14-year-old girl in all of us?

Skip it: At least "Sex and the City" didn't spend every moment telling us exactly what its experiences meant. Yeah, no one's expecting big shocks from "Pants 2," but you'll still wish for someone to make an unexpected decision or face a situation that hasn't already been covered to some degree on one of the stars' TV shows.

Catch it: To see Tibby's boyfriend (Leonardo Nam) learn exactly why you don't use that old condom your uncle gave you for graduation two years ago, despite Tibby's point that "Condoms last forever in landfills." Latex is so confusing!

Bottom line: Points given for presenting rites of passage that young girls can appreciate, that won't offend anyone and give the excellent Ferrera a real chance to show her colors. But without laughs or many standout dramatic moments, the movie's a straight line in desperate need of curves. Of course, if the movie understood curves the whole four different-shaped-gals-sharing-jeans thing wouldn't really work.

Bonus: Nude model/reckless cook Leo (Jesse Williams) tells Lena that using a recipe is cheating because it's like "painting inside the lines." Feel free to use this defense the next time you get creative and add random ingredients (say, cheese, chocolate and whipped cream) to a standard dish like eggplant parmesan. Anyone hungry?

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