Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Four best friends (Tibby, Lena, Carmen & Bridget) who buy a mysterious pair of pants that fits each of them, despite their differing sizes, and makes whoever wears them feel fabulous. When faced with the prospect of spending their first summer apart, the pals decide they'll swap the pants so that each girl in turn can enjoy the magic.
A warm, competent coming-of-age drama that handles four parallel storylines with reasonable balance and genuine emotional beats. The acting from the young ensemble (Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, Blake Lively, Amber Tamblyn) is earnest and occasionally quite affecting, particularly Ferrera's arc. Cinematography is serviceable with some appealing location shooting in Greece. The magical-realist conceit of the pants is charming but the film doesn't push its premise in especially original directions — it follows fairly familiar teen-drama templates for each subplot. The ending brings the threads together satisfyingly without surprising anyone. A solid, likable film that sits comfortably in its genre without transcending it.