Review of The Other Sister (1999) by Vig S — 08 Mar 2008

"Ooooh, look! I'm a kooky head mental! Oops, I fell down. I played my music REAL loud and got drunked and danced and fell down again. I can get myself a job like a normal person when I finish my special school and my sister likes to kiss other ladies, eeeuw. I fell down again and SHOUTED A LOT! Then I fell down, and looked at naughty books about making sex which I didn't understand. But everything became OK once I learned to do walking in my dress and adult shoes, and even though people stared and made mean tricks, at the end accepted me as I really REALLY am. Oops, I fell down again.".

Yes, more actors being typecast into playing mentally handicapped characters, by wringing their hands awkwardly and leaving their flacid tongues to flop against their teeth as they speak. Don't get me wrong, I respect Juliette Lewis and Giovanni Ribisi as actors (they're too good for this shite), but how could the studio - or anyone involved, for that matter - have thought that this arrangement would be sweet, endearing and heartwarming? It's just embarassing and patronising towards those who either suffer from mental disability, or those whose loved ones do. Still, as long as executives can pitch this drivel, we'll have these feel-good cinematic delights along for a long time to come.

Do casting directors not realise that there are disabled actors who would appreciate being given such roles? Bloody discrimination.

Oh, and the soundtrack is abismal, too. I don't know why this film made me so furious, but it's just so completely and utterly wrong - from establishing the fact that 'retards' have feelings too (e.g. that god awful 'I wuv a girl, too' speech which leads to the whole 'stop waffing at meeeeeeee' shouting), to the cringeworthy 'No way! I can't believe that you totally told people about my hat hair, OMG!'. Awful and degrading.