Review of Sisters (2015) by Andrew U — 13 Sep 2016

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are two of the funniest comedians working right now. Sisters feels like the vehicle they need to play out any absurd fantasy they wanted to with no shortage of laughs. In that regard, Sisters is fairly hit or miss. The chemistry between the two of them is electric, and there are a handful of good laughs scattered amidst the almost two-hour runtime. The problems stem from the writing itself. I have no doubt most of the comedic scenes in the movie are improvised, but the forced drama is what drags out the movie. It had no reason to push the two-hour mark. An hour-and-a-half of these shenanigans would have been perfect. By the time the party is over, it feels like the movie could've been wrapped up in the next five minutes, but it continues for another 20 or so minutes with no laughs whatsoever.

The party scene itself is great, though. The entire plot is based around this party that the sisters want to throw in their childhood home before their parents sell it. Once all the supporting cast shows up, including the ever-hilarious John Cena in another eccentric tough-guy role, it becomes a riot. The scene itself takes up about half the movie's runtime, thankfully. It's the stories surrounding it, like the forced drama between the parents and the whole arc of the sisters having to get their act together, that drags the film down. It's roughly half comedy and half drama, with the comedy elements hitting and the dramatic elements missing.

When compared to other female led comedies like Bridesmaids, Sisters doesn't really hold up. It's not as funny, it's far too long, and the dramatic beats don't work. But as its own vehicle for Fey and Poehler, Sisters shows a lot of promise, and hopefully they will have a better project together soon.