Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are quite a one-two punch in the comedy world. They have a comedic chemistry that is unlike any we have seen in some time. The SNL and Chicago-trained improv vets remind us of some of the best comedy duos of all-time, from Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi to Martin and Lewis. Whether Fey and Poehler are hosting the Golden Globes are appearing side by side on Weekend Update or starring in their first movie together, 2009’s Baby Mama, they are gold. So, what on earth is Sisters?
As you can see from the Sisters trailer, Poehler and Fey portray Siblings who have to head home when their parents (Dianne Wiest and James Brolin) announce they are selling their childhood home and moving into a condo. They’re told to come home and clean out your bedroom so the house can move on to someone else. When the sisters descend on their Florida childhood abode, they realize the place has already been sold and mom and dad are in fact already living in a swinging condo. Having trouble dealing with this revolutionary change in their lives, they decide to throw one last party and invite all their high school friends (who remarkably are still in town) and leave their youth behind with one big bang of a bash.
There’s several subplots involving Poehler and a potential romance with James (Ike Barinholtz), a neighbor who, ironically, seems to be in the same boat as our Sisters. And then there’s Mya Rudolph’s Brinda, a high school frenemy who the Sisters try to get booted from their party, who comes back repeatedly.
Even just writing the description, it pains us to think that all involved deserve better. It’s not just Poehler and Fey who are the gold standard here. Rudolph and several other SNL veterans show up and it reminds us of a time when a SNL skit turned movie was 80 minutes too long and the funny left the building after a few moments.
See, Sisters is not that SNL skit turned movie… but strangely, it feels like it.
It, at its best, is a series of bits that are somewhat funny. But when they are strung together they don’t add up to much of a story, much less something that is hysterical. We even began to wonder if there was even a script for this thing or they just improved their way through it. Again, everyone involved deserves better than this.
What else is fascinating is Fey and Poehler’s characters do things that sisters never would do. Not that you would think a film needs a “sister consultant,” but Sisters would have benefited from having one. In one scene they sit in a bathtub together and read from each other’s teenage diaries. Grown sisters would never do that! And there’s no way they remember a synchronized dance they did together in high school after 25 years. There’s no way! Yet, there they are dancing to a song (that actually came out in the last 10 years, therefore there is no way they danced to that track in high school!).
The lone bright spot is John Cena. After stealing scenes from Amy Schumer (no easy task) in Trainwreck, he shows up in Sisters as a drug dealer who charms Fey and in the process makes Sisters palatable when he’s in it.
If that’s all that the film has going for it, that is just sad.
Grade: C-