Labor Day has come and gone marking an unofficial end to the summer (according to the autumnal equinox, summer officially ends September 22). Students are back in school, parents are back at work, the wistful dreams of summer have ended. Did summer bring what you thought it would? In this fourth and final look at summer themed movies, we’re taking a look at transformative summers with movies from the 2000s and 2010s:

MOVIE: “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” (2005, PG, 119 min, watch it: DVD)

While America Ferrera and Blake Lively are familiar names to most these days, this movie marked the very promising start of their careers. They’re joined by Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn to make a friendly foursome who have been by each other’s sides for all sixteen years they’ve been alive so far. This summer, however, will see them off to four different places around the world. Before they depart, they find a pair of pants that can fit all four of them and promise to mail it around so they can all share in the magic they hope the pants can bring.

While this sounds like the beginning of a cheesy high school comedy, the movie is anything but. This movie tugs at your heartstrings far more frequently than it’ll hit your funny bone and all four women turn in stellar performances. Their four divergent storylines all involve personal transformations in wildly different ways, and all are quite compelling.

In short, and without spoiling the storylines, they find wearing the pants gives them the ability to confront their lives in ways they couldn’t manage otherwise. However, they find it was never about the pants… and yet, in some ways, it was all about the pants. The friends overcome hardships, both individually and collaboratively, and each have changed in dramatic ways. While some of the editing has cheesy transitions, the plot in this movie is a very well-constructed tale making it worth a watch.

MOVIE: “The Way Way Back” (2013, PG-13, 103 min, watch it: DVD, Paramount+)

In my search for thematically summer based movies, I was struggling to figure out what to use from the 2010s, and a friend pointed me in this direction. When I looked at the cast list (Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Maya Rudolph, AnnaSophia Robb), I was shocked I’d let this movie slip by for over a decade without having seen it. All I knew storyline-wise is that a young kid was going to work at a water park and it would somehow be a coming-of-age story.

For starters, it definitely fits the summer vibe. The family is on a summer trip to the shore, the kid works at a water park and there are fireworks at a Fourth of July Party. While that qualified it as a potential for this list, what the movie offered for a story is what made me want to solidly recommend it.

While billed as a “coming-of-age” story, I think that sells the movie short. Duncan, played moodily by Liam James in a great performance, does start to figure out who he is as a person. His parents recently divorced and his mom is dating a guy Duncan really doesn’t like (and is quite justifiable in that dislike for a variety of reasons). Lost in a daze of not knowing what to do with himself, Duncan ends up at the Water Wizz water park and meets the overly confident and kidding manager, Owen. Taking Duncan under his wing, Owen helps Duncan gain a confidence that was lacking. So far, sounds like the typical “coming-of-age” though, right?

The brilliance of this movie, to me, is that nearly all of the characters introspectively look at themselves and grow because of Duncan’s actions. This story isn’t simply about one young man finding his way in the world, but showing how his interactions can not only help himself, but help those around him as well. That had a huge impact on me and, while I wish this movie existed when I was younger, it still resonates with me in knowing how you choose to interact with people can change not only with yourself, but those you’re interacting with.

So, are either of these What2Watch tonight? Both movies have the power to move you, so make sure you’re in a receptive mood before putting one on. They’re fun but also have a meaningful storyline that you can get lost in. By the end, though, you just might see yourself more clearly.

Kent Kraft is someone who thinks he’s funny but knows how to be serious too. He’d point you in the direction of “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940) or “On the Waterfront” (1954) if you want a serious movie about the hardships of labor and worker perseverance, “Norma Rae” (1979) or “Cesar Chavez” (2014) for movies about organized labor, and “Office Space” (1999) or “9 to 5” (1980) if you want a labor comedy.