Review of Your Sister's Sister (2011) by Mike C — 20 Oct 2013

Maybe a better title would be Much ado about nothing...but I think that one is already taken. I think my feelings about the movie are more interesting than the movie simply because part of me liked it and part of me hated it. I don't understand that.

Movie opens with friends remembering a friend who died a year ago. Then brother Jack gives a speech to say his brother wasn't the angel he's remembered as. Then it's obvious that Emily is his friend. So three people all end up in the same cabin: Blunt, her best-friend Jack, and her sister. Only things happen between them all, etc. Most of it is easily explainable if they'd just talk about it, but where is the drama in that? So instead they all fight and get mad at each other and teeter on the edge of losing each other. Wait a minute, don't these people work? I've never gone off to a cabin, mid-week, and stayed there for days with no responsibilities!

Somehow, I liked the characters. Maybe they are a bit cookie-cutter, but they're likable enough. Even Blunt, who I often find annoying these days, is a little endearing. Duplass is pretty decent as Jack, but a scene near the end says it all about his character. All along I was kinda wondering if that character was intentionally that way - ie some dude who will do anything to please others and never takes care of himself - or if Duplass was doing a good or bad job acting. I couldn't tell, and even with his little meltdown, which was very appropriate, I still can't tell.

And I also liked the ending. A lot of times, the open ending is a gimmick. It probably is in this movie, but given that I couldn't decide which was the better ending, it only seemed fitting that it's open so I don't have to work it around in my little head.

So in all, a pretty soft movie. I normally might not like one like that, but I guess I liked the Jack and sister character enough to pull through it.