Based on Ann Brashares’ best-selling novel about a special summer in the lives of four 16-year-old girls, this gem of a story sparkles like the Aegean Sea so beautifully photographed in Greece in the film. The girls, lifelong friends since before they were born¾ thanks to their mothers taking pre-natal yoga together¾ will be separated for the first time. On a shopping trip, the young women find a pair of jeans that miraculously fit each of them perfectly, even though one of the girls, Carmen (America Ferrera of "Real Women Have Curves") thinks that if she can get them on, she’ll never be able to close the zipper. They decide to use these pants as a way to keep in touch over the weeks ahead. Each will wear the jeans for a week to see what luck they bring her, then send them on to the next along with a letter telling what change has occurred in her life while having them on (or taking them off) as the case may be.

The acting here is superb and the location photography on the island of Santorini in Greece is spectacular. Lena, a talented artist, goes there to visit her grandparents and sheds more than her shyness as she takes to the sea, and finds her first love in the handsome young Kostas (Michael Rady), whose family has been feuding with hers for generations.

Tibby (Amber Tamblyn of TVs "Joan of Arcadia" and "The Ring") is the only one of the four girls to remain at home for the summer. She gets a job at the local Wallmans (any similarity is purely intentional), where she is determined to continue shooting a documentary about "ordinary people." It’s there that she meets Bailey (Jenna Boyd of "The Missing"), a young girl who insinuates herself into Tibby’s life as her assistant on the film, and eventually they become friends. Their relationship is life changing for the two of them and is perhaps the most meaningful when it comes to the importance of the girls passing the pants to one another when something important happens.

Bridget (Blake Lively) is a champion high school athlete, away at soccer camp in Mexico. Her mother recently committed suicide and her father is emotionally distant. Bridget is highly competitive and flaunts her sexuality, aimed at Eric (Michael Vogel), a soccer coach. She later understands that her reasons for this are rooted in what has been going on at home more so than her desire to become sexually active because she is making the transition from teenaged girl to a woman.

Carmen is a writer and she narrates the film. She and her father Bradley Whitford (TV’s "West Wing" and "Kate and Leopold") want to reach out to one another but they don’t know how. Carmen is upset that he left her and her mother, several years ago, and it doesn’t get any better when she finds out that he has walked into another family, complete with a woman he loves and plans to marry, and her two picture perfect teens.

This is one of the best coming of age films you’ll find. That’s especially true as it’s rated PG. There is plenty of sensuality, conflict and anger without the need of profanity or nudity. There are coming of age lessons for everyone regardless of how many candles are on your birthday cake.