Review of Your Sister's Sister (2011) by Mark H — 05 Jul 2012

Fiercely low budgeted movie about interpersonal relationships resembles any impromptu discussion that you might have with your friends. Meandering and inconsequential, the drama is nothing if not realistic.

The conversations are also quite articulate. It's a drama that is easier to admire than to enjoy. The interactions feel like a series of film school exercises where participants are entrusted to find their character.

The dialogue is natural and seemingly ad-libbed. Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt are accomplished actors so that's not a bad thing necessarily. It's candid and sincere. Nevertheless the story will demand some patience of the viewer as one follows this anecdote to its (indeterminate) conclusion.

There's a peaceful walk in the woods near the end that's meant to show a therapeutic affirmation of everything that has happened before. I didn't really buy that. The events were just too complicated to easily accept.

However, if that third act doesn't live up to the first two, the honest naturalism of the narrative is absorbing. It's the movie's biggest asset. This is what a romantic comedy looks like in 2012.

Sometimes to move forward, we must scale back.