Sisters

Score:  ***1/2 out of ***** (B-)

Directed by Jason Moore
Starring Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Ike Barinholtz
Running time:  118 minutes
Rated R

Long Story Short:  Sisters is the latest comedy from the fan-favorite duo Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.  Throwing one last party in the old family home, the two adopt a raunchier comedy style than usual.  While the two stars are fun to watch as always (and helped by a few of the usual good cameos), the new blend of comedy just doesn't work as well as you'd hope.  An overworked story also pushes the film too long, so feel free to wait for this one on Netflix.


Adult sisters Kate (Fey) and Maura (Poehler) appear to have been separated at birth:  the latter is a successful, recently divorced nurse, while the former is an unemployed single mother of an estranged teenage daughter.  For Maura, life seems just fine until she gets a call from her parents who tell her that they will be selling the family house to move into a smaller place.  Rattled by this news, Maura informs Kate and thinks they should use the opportunity to reconnect and revisit their past.  Once there, Kate and Maura become nostalgic and decide to throw one last party at the house.  They invite all their old friends as well as a new guy who caught Maura's eye - and specifically forbid an old rival of Kate's (Rudolph).

It takes a little while for the party to get going, but get going it does.  As they say goodbye to their old home in one last bash, the sisters also grapple with their adult identities.  Can Kate become more responsible, a better parent for her daughter?  Can Maura finally loosen up and embrace a passion?  One of those might sound more appropriate to a party than the other, but all that and more comes together in one wild night.

Sisters is populated by an impressive comedic cast.  Tina Fey and Amy Poehler star as the titular sisters, probably the biggest comedy duo working today.  Both SNL alums, they also both helmed hilarious comedies on NBC (30 Rock and Parks and Recreation) but have yet to find big success in the movies.  The good friends have great comedic chemistry, and it's not difficult at all to buy them as sisters.  I was surprised by how far Fey takes her bad girl character - it is rated R, after all - while Poehler's sister is calmer (much less exuberant than Parks' Leslie).  Despite more comfort on the small screen, they both easily hold the audience's attention for a film's longer running time.  Maya Rudolph (another SNL alum) plays rival Brinda, with only hints of her previous zanier characters but just as great as always.  Ike Barinholtz, a comedy vet himself, is pretty bland as the romantic interest.  There are plenty of small roles at the party, the funniest (to me) being those by Bobby Moynihan (current SNL) who accidentally gets a rather large dose of drugs, and Rachel Dratch (former SNL) who channels Debbie Downer in waxing poetic on the aging process.

Sisters is a fairly conventional party comedy whose most notable feature is, of course, its high-powered pair of leads.  Perhaps because of its convenionality, the film achieves neither too high of highs nor low of lows from the comedy.  There are certain comedic elements that many may come to expect from a Fey-Poehler production - clever wackiness, sharp asides that spare no one particularly themselves, a generally positive tone, etc.  These are all here, particularly in the first part of the film, but they mold it into the frame of the party subgenre, too.  The result is... OK, by their standards.  Once it comes to the party wildness, there are some good exchanges between characters (particularly some of the SNL cameo roles) but the stunts often feel forced and don't work that well.  Even early on, where Fey and Poehler are at their strength mostly just talking with each other, the "need" to make it raunchier or highlight Kate's nastiness saps the level of creativity - and humor.  The story, as I've said before, being an obligatory yet often quite crucial element, starts with a jolting abruptness and has a few too many branches growing off it.  There's nothing bad about it, but also not much interesting, either.

***

Sisters ranks as a decent comedy, though by the standards (mine, anyway) for Fey and Poehler it ranks as a disappointment.  The strength of their comic acting and chemistry is good enough to make it watchable, by all means, the supporting cast adds some nice touches throughout, and there are some funny moments.  I can also certainly see that this might appeal more to other people/demographics (this occurred to me more than a few times while watching it).  The premise has potential, and ultimately Fey and Poehler tried to go broader with their humor here.  Apparently not sufficiently helped by others while they worked outside of their comfort zone, though, their own brand of humor also was less effective.  And at two hours, it's also simply too long.  Removing some elements of the story entirely and tightening some of the sets would have helped other areas of the movie tremendously, too.  I hope Fey and Poehler continue to work together, but they can and have done much better.  Netflix this if you're a fan of theirs, but not really worth a trip to the theater.




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