Best Actress (Drama)

• Angelina Jolie, Changeling: First of all, any movie that includes a hysterical woman screaming "I want my son back!" as the emotional climax of the trailer is treading heavily on "victim" territory. And, what do you know, Jolie's character is the biggest, most stereotypical victim on the list of female nominees.
• Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married: Our own Hortense thinks Hathaway's character is pretty victim-y, but we think she is mostly just a manipulative, angst-filled addict. What do you think?
• Meryl Streep, Doubt: Has this movie even come out yet? Streep's character doesn't seem like a victim at all from the trailers, most likely Streep plays a shrew in this film.
• Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long: What is this movie? Oh, it's French. Well, judging from the plot synopsis it doesn't look like Scott Thomas's character fits into any of our usual stereotypes. What do people who have seen the film think?
• Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road: Again, has this movie come out yet? We're going to withhold judgment until we see it.

Best Actress (Comedy)

• Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky: We are going to say there were none of the regular female stereotypes in this film. Hawkins's character was just too damn likable.
• Frances McDormand, Burn After Reading: Again, McDormand doesn't play any of our regular stereotypes in this funny film. We're liking how this list is shaping up!
• Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia!: We have only seen the musical (don't ask) and Streep's character definitely wasn't a hooker, victim or doormat on the stage, so we assume it is the same on film.
• Emma Thompson, Last Chance Harvey: This film hasn't come out yet — reserving judgment.
• Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona: Hall's character wasn't any of our normal stereotypes. Hurray for women in comedies this year!

Supporting Actress
• Amy Adams, Doubt: In the film's trailer, Adams seems a little doormat-y to us.
• Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona: Hm, Cruz's character was a little shrewish at times, but we can't pin a particular stereotype down on her.
• Viola Davis, Doubt: Okay, people, we get it: we all have to see Doubt!
• Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler: Oh look, another film that has not been released yet. Tomei plays a stripper, which, obviously, sounds sort of hooker-y.
• Kate Winslet, The Reader: As we saw yesterday, Winslet's character doesn't fit into one of the typical stereotypes.

Best Actress (TV Drama)
• Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters: Anyone who is a fan of the show: please weigh in.
• Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU: Hargitay's character usually deals with hookers and victims; she doesn't play them.
• January Jones, Mad Men: This one's a bit tough: Jones's character is a little bit of a doormat and victim, but she has been showing more depth and strength as the series progresses.
• Anna Paquin, True Blood: No strong stereotypes really stick out to us in this character.
• Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer: Is there a category for "badass"?

Best Actress (TV Musical or Comedy)
• Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?: Maybe a bit shrew-y in the beginning, but the whole point of the show is that she is trying to correct her previous bad behavior, right?
• America Ferrera, Ugly Betty: Not really a victim or a doormat, Ferrera's character holds her ground when up against her co-workers.
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock: Let's see, a woman with a great job, a good sense of humor who doesn't get hung up on guys? Fey's character is probably the best female character nominated!
• Debra Messing, The Starter Wife: Messing's character doesn't follow a particular stereotype. Other than, rich, self-obsessed, LA woman.
• Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds: A victim of the man, maybe!

Earlier: 2009 Golden Globes: Good Year For Jokes, Midnight Tokers

*Inspired by Shirley MacLaine's assertion that the best parts for actresses fall into one of the above categories.

Village Voice:

Resist if you dare, and for as long as you must, but even the hoariest haters eventually succumbed to the girly, cottony charms of 2005's Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, if in the privacy of their Netflix queues. I foresee a similar fate for its blandly engaging sequel: moms, daughters, and faux-ironic twentysomethings filling the theaters, the rest of us filling our jammies and DVD players in six months.

Fox News:

Stuff happens, feelings are hurt, boys dramatically enter and leave their lives and major problems wrap up a bit too neatly, especially at the picturesque ending. That "Traveling Pants 2" offers material that's tailored to an underserved audience _ girls and women who like films that allow them to think and feel _ is, of course, a solid start. You just wish it were a more comfortable fit.

The Hollywood Reporter:

Much has transpired in the lives of best friends forever Tibby, Carmen, Bridget and Lena and their shared globe-trotting jeans in the three years since the first "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."

But it's nothing compared to castmate America Ferrera's career in the interim, as the Emmy-winning breakout star of ABC's "Ugly Betty."

She remains very much the team player in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2," a shapely sequel that retains much of the sparkle and warmth that made the original such a pleasant surprise.

USA Today:

With the quartet of girls now in their first year of college, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (* * 1/2 out of four) is more of a coming-of-age story than its 2005 predecessor, tackling more mature subjects. However, for all its moments of believable dialogue and persuasive emotional truths, it also has some fairy-tale scenarios. But that's almost a textbook definition of a chick flick, so it doesn't interfere much with the film's appeal. And the performances of the four young women, particularly plucky America Ferrera and sardonic Amber Tamblyn, are likable and often charming.

Entertainment Weekly via CNN:

But three years ago, in "Sisterhood 1," half the cast were way more famous than the other. Back then, TV stars Alexis Bledel ("Gilmore Girls") and Amber Tamblyn ("Joan of Arcadia") were the well-known pair of actresses, although you'd never know it from the movie, which smoothly offered all four performers equal time to be cute, freak out about something, and literally wear the pants.

Perhaps it's no shocker, given the way Hollywood likes to turn 'em over, but now it's the other two members of the sisterhood — Blake Lively of "Gossip Girl" and America Ferrera of "Ugly Betty" — who are a lot bigger deals outside the multiplex.

Once again, much to the sequel's credit, the story doesn't seem to care. The movie keeps moving quickly (but not sloppily) among the heroines, so that if you're overloaded, say, on one sister's sugary plotline, it only comes around every fourth scene or so, and never sticks around too long. Even at 111 minutes, "Pants" mostly sprints.

Variety:

With very little sex and very little city, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" still seems a good bet to grab a sizable chunk of the underserved chick-flick demographic, boosted by its young stars' blossoming profiles (particularly "Gossip Girl's" Blake Lively) and a blithely shallow approach to story. A likable quartet of players, a surfeit of male bimbos and an appetite for quick-cooked emotion should make the Aug. 6 Warner Bros. release a bigger hit than its 2005 predecessor, which grossed $39 million domestically.

Chicago Sun-Times:

The movie intercuts quickly but not confusingly from one story to another, is dripping with seductive locations, is not shy about romantic cliches and has a lot of heart. The women are all sincere, intelligent, vulnerable, sweet, warm. That’s in contrast to “SATC,” with its narcissistic and shallow heroines. The “SATC” ladies should fill their flasks with cosmopolitans, go to see “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” and cry their hearts out with futile regret for their misspent lives.

The Los Angeles Times:

In the current popular culture, female friendships — at any age — are generally considered secondary to life's "important" relationships, the romantic bonds between men and women.

Nowhere is this depressing trend more evident than in Hollywood, where story lines putatively about women's friendships tend toward the saccharine ("Mona Lisa Smile"), the malicious ("Mean Girls") or the boy-crazy (take your pick).

Which is why it's such a pleasure (and a relief) to encounter movies such as " The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2." Like the first "Pants" movie, it presents its heroines' relationships as complicated, challenging and particularly rewarding, and not simply as a vehicle for finding the perfect boyfriend.

Premiere:

It's easy to dismiss The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 as just another typical teen film with jocky dudes and back-stabbing girls that tend to flood the teen market. There was the toothless film adaptation of The Baby-Sitters Club in 1995, starring Rachael Leigh Cook, who later graduated to become the ugly-duckling social outcast rescued by Freddie Prinze Jr. in She's All That in 1995. Similarly, we saw Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone as the designer-clothes crazed Cher in 1995 and the Lindsay Lohan vehicle Mean Girls in 2004. While those films were either underestimating their audience or merely featuring makeovers and female rivalry, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 bridges the gap between them. The idealism of the books about childhood friendship smoothly tackles the mature relationship topics that are common in these other comedies with none of the angst or crassness. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, directed by Sarah Lawrence grad Sanaa Hamri, depicts refreshingly positive female friendship based in reality without cynicism.

Wednesday Is The New Friday In Movie Releases [LA Times]

Earlier: 'Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 2' Isn't Amazing, But You Should See It Anyway

'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2' opens today, nationwide.

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
• Actress: Tina Fey; Show: 30 Rock; Role: Head writer/producer of a late night comedy show.
• Actress: Christina Applegate; Show: Samantha Who?; Role: VP of a real estate company who suffers from amnesia
• Actress: Julia Louis-Dreyfus; Show: The New Adventures Of Old Christine; Role: Owner of female gym and single mother
• Actress: America Ferrera; Show: Ugly Betty; Role: Fashion-challenged assistant to an editor at a fashion magazine
• Actress: Mary-Louise Parker; Show: Weeds; Role: Single suburban mother who sells pot to make ends meet

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
• Actress: Sally Field; Show: Brothers & Sisters; Role: Matriarch of troubled family
• Actress: Glenn Close; Show: Damages; Role: Successful but ruthless lawyer
• Actress: Mariska Hargitay; Show: Law & Order: SVU; Role: Police detective with a heart of gold and a difficult past
• Actress: Holly Hunter; Show: Saving Grace; Role: Slutty, hard-drinking detective whom an angel has told is going to Hell
• Actress: Kyra Sedgwick; Show: The Closer; Role: Smart but off-putting deputy chief for the LAPD

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or Movie
• Actress: Phylicia Rashad; Show: A Raisin In The Sun; Role: Widowed matriarch of a struggling Chicago family that dreams of buying a home
• Actress: Catherine Keener; Show: An American Crime; Role: Crazy divorcee who facilitates torture of a teenage girl
• Actress: Susan Sarandon; Show: Bernard And Doris; Role: Millionaire who leaves fortune to gay butler/best friend
• Actress: Dame Judi Dench; Show: Cranford; Role: Unmarried woman who places propriety at the utmost importance
• Actress: Laura Linney; Show: John Adams; Role: John Adams' intelligent, headstrong wife, Abigail Adams

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series
• Actress: Kristen Chenoweth; Show: Pushing Daisies; Role: Restaurant waitress and admirer of main male character (and boss), Ned
• Actress: Jean Smart; Show: Samantha Who?; Role: Estranged mother with a "bad" side
• Actress: Amy Poehler; Show: Saturday Night Live; Role: various
• Actress: Holland Taylor; Show: Two And A Half Men; Role: Mother known for her promiscuity and shabby treatment of others
• Actress: Vanessa Williams; Show: Ugly Betty; Role: Diva editor-and-chief of fashion magazine

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series
• Actress: Candice Bergen; Show: Boston Legal; Role: Smart, sexy, dignified and successful lawyer
• Actress: Rachel Griffiths; Show: Brothers & Sisters; Role: Head of a successful family business who has trouble balancing work with her personal life as a mother and wife
• Actress: Chandra Wilson; Show: Grey's Anatomy; Role: Blunt and tough chief resident surgeon
• Actress: Sandra Oh; Show: Grey's Anatomy; Role: Driven but emotionally-challenged doctor/surgeon
• Actress: Dianne Wiest; Show: In Treatment; Role: Psychiatrist, mentor

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie
• Actress: Audra McDonald; Show: A Raisin In The Sun; Role: Obedient, overworked daughter-in-law to Lena Younger
• Actress: Eileen Atkins; Show: Cranford; Role: Older sister to Dench's character, also a spinster
• Actress: Ashley Jensen; Show: Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale; Role: Well-meaning but socially inept and boy-crazy single Londoner, actress
• Actress: Alfre Woodward; Show: Pictures Of Hollis Woods; Role: Social worker who tries to find a home for a troubled teen
• Actress: Laura Dern; Show: Recount; Role: Bush administration lackey Katherine Harris

Helen Mirren: Television Is Better Than Film [Telegraph]
60th Primetime Emmy Awards Nominations [Emmys.tv]

Related: Emmy Nomination Hell: 10 Plots And Subplots To Watch After Today's Big Announcements [Defamer]

The 60th Primetime Emmys air September 21st on ABC.