'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" has an odd problem: A lot happens in the film, yet nothing feels terribly important. In this sequel to the charming 2005 flick, the four young women are now college age. Their lives are moving in different directions, and they are spending the summer apart.

Spunky, sensitive Carmen (America Ferrera) lands a gig at a Vermont theater, where she develops a budding relationship with a charming British actor (played by not-as-charming-as-he-thinks Tom Wisdom).

Resilient Lena (Alexis Bledel) is bouncing back from a broken heart by studying art in Rhode Island. She has a romance with a handsome student who moonlights as a nude model (Jesse Williams). Don't worry, parents, the movie stays firmly in PG-13 territory.

Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), an edgy, artistic type, moves her relationship with a male pal to the next level, which creates some amusing complications once she thinks she is pregnant.

The only one of the Pants crew without man trouble is Bridget (Blake Lively from TV's "Gossip Girl"). She starts out in Turkey working on an archaeological dig before heading back to the States to reunite with a grandmother (Blythe Danner) she hasn't seen since childhood.

It seems like there'd be enough meat from all these storylines to mine some genuine emotion. Instead, the movie drifts along in a rather aimless and haphazard fashion. At one point, you even expect the credits to roll, but the film carries on for another 20 minutes as the women jaunt off to Greece to search for the blue jeans featured in the title.

The multiple storylines aren't helped along by the clumsy direction by Sanaa Hamri ("Something New") or the Elizabeth Chandler screenplay, which blends events from different books in the popular young-adult series.

That could be why Bridget's summer is so overstuffed while Lena's adventures are rather skimpy. Lena's romance with the model is also resolved in a puzzling fashion, as if a page from the script was missing, but the actors simply kept on going.

Despite the flaws, the movie is reasonably pleasant most of the time. Some of that is leftover goodwill from the first film, but it is also a tribute to the four starring actresses. They manage to be quite appealing, even when they're not given a lot to work with.

- By Randy Cordova / The Arizona Republic

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Rating: Two stars (out of four)

Cast: Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, Blake Lively, Amber Tamblyn, Jesse Williams.

Running time: 117 minutes.

Rated: PG-13; mature material and sensuality.