Of course, this being a family film marketed for tweens and teens, the nudity is implied rather than overt but Bledel charms in an early scene as she stumbles, fidgets, blushes and reminds us of the socially awkward Rory Gilmore we used to know and love. Unfortunately, soon enough the lackluster plotline makes her character just go through the motions until Lena’s problems are wrapped up in a rather forced and ludicrous conclusion in Greece that actually felt like the segment had been added in during the filming stage to bring the gang back for one last hurrah.
While it’s Ferrera who is drawing the most critical praise for her return as Carmen, the insecure and often overlooked bright young woman feeling left out as both her family and friends have proceeded to move on with their lives, Carmen clings to her youth and the pants of The Sisterhood as if they were a baby blanket. After spending an unenthusiastic year at Yale School of Drama working as a tech helping the school’s star diva Julia (Rachel Nichols) make quick changes and exits, she accompanies Julia to a theatre program in Vermont.
Under the direction of pompous Kyle MacLachlan (visibly loving his clichéd role) and catching the eye of British hottie Ian (Tom Wisdom), Carmen discovers her inner actress and finally earns her own chance to shine after being cast in Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale. Despite Ferrera’s talents which are best displayed with her stellar work in independent films like Real Women Have Curves and her award-winning television series, she never fully convinces us this time around in her Shakespearean debut. In this case, I’m wondering if it’s possibly due to Hamri’s direction or Ferrera’s own intuition as “Carmen”. By playing Shakespeare with an incessant exclamation point, it always felt like a forced performance (or the old warning of an actor “acting”), thereby taking away from Carmen’s storyline, which admittedly consisted of a recycled All About Eve meets 42nd Street subplot.
The film’s strongest plot surrounds Blake Lively’s Bridget who returns from playing soccer at Brown University to the still overly quiet, sad home where she and her father (played by the father of the actress, Ernie Lively) struggle to converse, still equally haunted by Bridget’s mother’s suicide. While preparing for an archeological dig in Turkey led by House of Sand and Fog actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, Bridget stumbles upon a box filled with cards and letters from her estranged grandmother Greta (Blythe Danner). Midway through the Turkish adventure, she inevitably makes the decision that her own past is more urgent to dig up and goes to visit her feisty grandmother.
Article comments
1 - reseam
It actually sounds like the stayed pretty true to the books, and the ending that you say seems added, is the ending for the 4th book. It wasn't thrown together it's how it happened.
I know they would have to pull together elements of the other 3 books into this one, so it makes it seem "overfull". That's why for example, Bridget's storyline is cramped. You have her meeting her grandmother which is book 2, and the dig which is in book 4. You mentioned them not sharing much screen time, and in the books they don't share much time together either. So it wouldn't have been right to do it.
This is a story about their lives..and friendship, both together and apart.
2 - Jen
Thanks for your comment-- it was really cool to learn which elements came from which books since it's obvious you know the series well. Awesome!
Unfortunately, I hadn't read the books but when they tried to cram in the plots from the other books into one movie, it overwhelmed the script and the girls' stories seemed cheated since it all happens so fast and that ending from #4 just kind of swoops in.
I was glad you clarified Bridget's grandmother & dig plots-- makes me actually want to pick up the books since in the film, it was rushed and I would've preferred to read about it in the two books so the adequate amount of time was spent.
It's entertaining so I do think you'll really enjoy it, if you haven't seen it yet but while it's about their lives-- I guess like Bledel's show Gilmore Girls, the scenes shared together are my favorite!