Sisters (2015)

I'm a sucker for Fey/Poehler, and this time they've managed to be as brash and simultaneously fun as they should always have been; I mean, they've obviously honed their craft. They play sisters who walk down memory lane, and what keeps this from being a regular haw-haw SNL showboat is how they keep their eyes on the prize, story-wise. It's a complete film, lavish with jokes that not only prey upon the remember-when-we-were-young? thing, but show-cases humor in its simplest forms. There are not that many gimmicks, really, but mostly humor. Things work because of the words, not the context, e.g. in comparison with films like almost everything Adam Sandler has made. All in all, fun and funny, they make it work.

Fmovies: If you wish to watch a silly movie, this is it! There were , basically, no real laughs in this movie. They relied on some physical humor, which was not done well. In addition, the writing in the script was done very poorly. This movie had been suggested to us because we were led to believe that it was going to be based upon a serious relationship between two sisters. We would have gladly settled for a comedy which was funny. Unfortunately, all we got was a lot of silliness. I am aware that silliness does appeal to a certain segment of our society. However, neither my wife nor myself find this type of silliness to be humorous or funny. If you are looking for a funny movie with a good script and humor, sadly, you must look elsewhere.

The Saturday Night Live (SNL) alumni are back...well, three of them at least. If you like the sketches from that iconic show which has provided the movie world with comedic actors ranging from Steve Martin to Eddie Murphy, you should enjoy this raunchy, smutty and crude comedy. It's definitely not for everyone's tastes with jokes likely to offend conservative viewers. Just like comedy skits from these types of TV shows, some of the jokes succeed resulting in uproarious laughter while others produce a mere snigger or nothing at all. At close to two hours, the movie tends to overstay its welcome and could have benefited from a 15-20 minute edit to eliminate the jokes that didn't work. 

The titular sisters are Maura (Amy Poehler) and Kate (Tina Fey). Both Ellis women are experiencing setbacks in their lives. Maura is coming off a divorce while Kate simply refuses to grow up even though she is the mother of a teenage daughter (Madison Davenport). They don't need any more complications but another one arises when the Ellis' parents (James Brolin and Dianne Weist) Skype Maura to inform her that they intend to sell the family home. Maura's job is to entice Kate to return home and together, they must clean out their bedroom which has remain untouched since they moved out of home. When they discover that their home has already been sold and their parents are now staying in a retirement home, they plan a farewell party at their family home before they must vacate the premises.

There's nothing subtle about this comedy here, mainly vulgarity of the highest order. Since this viewer doesn't mind sex comedies, there wasn't anything offensive although it's easy to see why many people wouldn't like this movie. Dirty jokes aside, the story does have something to say about the family unit but luckily doesn't preach to its audience. 

Sisters occasionally feels like an extended sketch comedy show, albeit raunchy in nature. Jason Moore is the director and his only other directing credit is Pitch Perfect, which is tame compared to the humour in Sisters. Paula Pell is the writer who has mainly written gags for SNL so this is probably the main reason why it feels like sketch comedy at times. 

It might frustrate some viewers to see some overacting from several cast members to extend the life of a particular joke but that can sometimes be representative of comedy sketches. When the jokes do fire, the overstated gestures, expressions and voices actually help. Maya Rudolph is one of the actresses who fits in this category of overacting at times but when she pulls it off, she is absolutely hilarious. She plays Brinda, the childhood enemy of the Ellis girls who hasn't been invited to their party but gatecrashes it anyway. Another larger than life character is Alex (Bobby Moynihan), the nerd who runs rampant when he takes some drugs supplied by drug dealer, Pazuzu (John Cena). Watch out for Greta Lee who plays Hae- Won, the Korean beauty consultant who steals some of the laughs from her more illustrious co-stars. 

Poehler, Fey and Rudolph are the ex-cast members of SNL and they seem to be having a riotous time, with their antics pleasing viewers who enjoy this type of comedy. Don't take it seriously, open your mind and go along for the ride, you're bound to experience more than a few laughs and even more so if you're a fan of gutter humour. http://mlaimlai2.wix.com/magical-movie-review

Sisters fmovies. Not funny, awkward at best, very shallow theme throughout, middle aged women prancing around like kids, not convincing in their roles.. Annoyed that I wasted my evening..

I have never written a review before, but I was moved by my disappointment. All the publicity and promotion. I expected more.

There isn't really much of a story line to critique. It fails in every aspect. The script lacks depth, the jokes are poor, visually there is nothing exceptional to remark on.

Light hearted movies with poor scripts at least keep the audience entertained with visuals (e.g attractive cast/nice cars/art/architecture/fun parties etc). Sadly this movie also fails to this regard...

Really, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and this is as good as they can do, this movie is for teenage boys, young pubescent kids. What a disappointment. I expected so much more from two comediennes, but this is a low low. Drugs, penises, boobs, and more f- words than necessary. Come on, comedy doesn't need to smack you in the face, again and again and again and again. James Brolin and Dianne Weist and the young actress playing Tina's daughter, showed just enough restraint, much needed by everyone else, to be the only bright spots in this movie. Raise the bar, Tina and Amy!!! They could have offered more reasons to root for either sister, but did not. Amy and Tina, please, I know you can do better, because I've seen you do better. Don't settle for making the lowest common denominator laugh. Elevate your efforts

Sisters is one of the worst movies I have seen in 10 years. I love big laugh movies, especially those that lean toward just being silly, but this movie was just one bad joke to another. I thought the cast of Tina and Amy, plus a a few funny support people, were enough to carry it, but I was wrong. I was ready to leave 20 minutes in.

Each time my family sees a movie we rate it on a four point scale. My daughter, who is 18, gave Sisters 2.5 stars. My wife and I, 44 and 43, gave it one. There is some modest humor that my teen appreciated, but most jokes left me saying, "that was just bad."

I am a person that goes to a movie to be entertained. Ratings don't usually influence my decision to see a movie, especially a comedy where I know it is going to be dumb humor. For this one, I can't help but leave a review in an effort to save someone else a few bucks.

Save your money and rent this movie when it becomes available.