Review of The Other Sister (1999) by Jiana W — 26 Oct 2010

The idea of the movie is good and it is interesting. But aside from Giovanni Ribisi, I have to say this may be one of the worst-acted movies I've seen in a while. Maybe whenever I see someone portraying a mentally handicapped person on-screen, I automatically compare them to Leonardo DiCaprio's turn as Arnie in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?". If you ask me, she seems to be trying to take pointers from DiCaprio's character and it just seems really forced. Ribisi, however, is very convincing and actually reminds me greatly of someone I know. Diane Keaton is way too high-strung and freaky-outy. I understand her protectiveness, but Roger Ebert made a really good point when he brought up the fact that earlier in the movie she claims she doesn't want (Carla) to be retarded, but throughout the rest of the movie she spends the entire time trying to keep her from actually being a responsible adult.

It has none of the magic or heartbreaking/touching moments of "Forrest Gump". Not a great movie, not an awful one. But the acting is pretty atrocious.