Movie Review: Sisters (2015)

The movie stars Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, James Brolin, Dianne Wiest, Bobby Moynihan, John Leguizamo and John Cena.

I was a little bummed yesterday afternoon after my Green Bay Packers lost their playoff game. Because of this, I decided to watch a comedy with my wife yesterday evening.

I had gotten this movie (as a free rental) primarily because my wife loves the film Baby Mama and I hoped Tina Fey and Amy Poehler would recapture at least some of their magic from that movie. As it turns out, while this movie wasn't quite as good as that one, it was still a halfway decent comedy.

I think the thing I found I liked most about this movie was the way it was actually somewhat easy to relate to it. Yes, the writers do take the adult house party to some ridiculous extremes. But, the underlying message about time flying by too quickly and trying to recapture your youth was pretty clear and, since most of the characters were about my age, did strike a chord with me.

Also, unlike so many other movies in this genre, this film really wasn't anywhere near as predictable as I thought it would be. Part of the reason for this, I think, was the large ensemble supporting cast, something that made it easy to add additional twists/secondary stories to give the movie some new life and make the ending seem a little less clear.

One cast member, in particular, who really stood out for me was John Cena as the local drug dealer. At first, I thought he was just going to make a (memorable) cameo. But, as he stuck around the party, I found I was really intrigued by his character because he was a wild card that could send the story spinning in a number of different directions ranging from potential Tina Fey love interest to a shootout with the local police department.

I think the only thing I found I really didn't like about this movie was the way Fey's character, Kate, was portrayed. While Fey made the most of things, I actually found I didn't really like Kate, both because she was so irresponsible (despite being a mom) and, more than that, actually kind of mean, especially when it came to her apparent high school rival, Brinda (Rudolph).

In fact, she was actually so nasty toward Brinda, I found myself feeling sorry for the latter, something I'm sure wasn't supposed to be the case. It wasn't enough to ruin an otherwise good movie. But, I think it would have been better had Kate made an effort to extend an olive branch rather than try to exclude someone who obviously just wanted to join in the fun.

Baby Mama was better. But, this movie proved to be an entertaining and funny film and is one I would recommend as a result.

My Grade: B