Sisters

A slight improvement over Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s last cinematic collaboration, 2008’s Baby Mama, Sisters follows siblings Kate (Fey) and Maura (Poehler) as they decide to throw one last big house party at their childhood home before it’s sold by their parents (James Brolin’s Bucky and Dianne Wiest’s Deana). It’s perhaps not surprising to note that Sisters fares best in its freewheeling, easy-going first half, as director Jason Moore and scripter Paula Pell have infused the early part of the proceedings with a lighthearted touch that’s awfully difficult to resist – with the affable vibe heightened and perpetuated by Fey and Poehler’s charismatic work. (This is despite the fact that the former remains unable to wholeheartedly step into the shoes of her loudmouthed, brassy character). The movie’s midsection is devoted entirely to the aforementioned house party, and there’s little doubt that this stretch is packed with larger-than-life, hilariously over-the-top bits of comedy and silliness. (Bobby Moynihan’s turn as an unfunny class clown who goes berserk after accidentally ingesting a handful of drugs remains a highlight.) But as fun as a lot of this stuff admittedly is, Sisters‘ ludicrously overlong running time (118 minutes!) ensures that one’s interest and enthusiasm slowly-but-surely begins to wear thin – with Moore’s obstinate refusal to rein in his actors paving the way for a series of padded-out sequences (ie it’s fairly obvious that many jokes and gags have been improvised). By the time the endless (and far too maudlin) final stretch rolls around, Sisters has unfortunately established itself as just another post-Apatow comedy that needed a far more stringent hand in the editing room.

** out of ****