Grade: B+

The Bottom Line: Light and feel-good, Sisterhood is perfect for girlfriends, mothers and daughters on a lazy summer day.

A pair of jeans that fit four very different body types perfectly – it’s a pretty ridiculous concept that comes with an oftentimes clichéd script and predictable plot, but this sequel and book adaptation is sweet and appropriate for the young female audience it is likely to draw.

The four central characters — Carmen, Bridget, Lena and Tibby, played by America Ferrera, Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn respectively — although not incredibly deep, stand out as women portrayed authentically in comparison to stock female characters we’ve seen this summer in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight or Mary Steenburgen as the mother in Step Brothers.

All four actresses deliver mixed performances. Blake Lively’s attempt at angst in Sisterhood is reminiscent of her often-melodramatic portrayal of Serena on Gossip Girl. Her character may not be a designer-clothes-wearing Manhattan party queen, but Lively still isn’t convincing as the wholesome character she portrays. Similarly, Alexis Bledel (although she has the cutest story line and costumes) delivers pained, deer in the headlights looks as boy drama unfolds that brings back the days of Jess vs. Dean on Gilmore Girls.

The best performances occurred when the actresses broke away from the characters they’ve played on TV. America Ferrera’s Carmen, the perfect combination of confidence and self-depreciation, has no trace of Ugly Betty, while Amber Tamblyn gives Tibby sarcasm and spunk more reminiscent of Sex and the City’s Miranda than of Joan of Arcadia.

Like the first film, Sisterhood explores parental and romantic relationships between men and women but, in its core, it’s about the importance of friendship. Bridget tries to forgive her father after her mother’s suicide and Tibby attempts to overcome her emotional unavailability with her boyfriend. Lena and Carmen also have men in their lives, but these friends are committed to being there for each other first and foremost – even dropping everything and flying to Greece when necessary in a plot twist that’s fun, but a little far-fetched.

Sisterhood provides fans of Ann Brashares’s books a plot from the original books, but doesn’t leave those who haven’t read the series or seen the previous film feeling out of the loop. Combining the juicier story lines from Brashares’s second and third books, Sisterhood follows Lena at summer drawing classes, Tibby through a pregnancy scare, Bridget on an archeological dig in Turkey and search for family roots in Alabama, and Carmen at a theater program. The movie employs the book’s format of short chapters dividing the stories of the characters. While this can make the film choppy, it adds suspense and keeps those in the theater from getting bored.

The plot can be predictable, such as when Carmen trades backstage work for a role onstage. And the dialogue often falls flat on clichés – “Why can’t you stop thinking about it and follow your heart?” “Because he broke my heart!”

Despite its weaknesses, Sisterhood’s leading ladies keep the film together and remind audiences that female characters do not always have to be dimensionless chicks. The plot and writing aren’t Oscar-worthy, but these actresses deliver believable portrayals of women devoted to their friendship.