Riot girls

SISTERS | Tina Fey and Amy Poehler reteam as siblings throwing a house party. Where can we get an invite?

“We said we’d only do the movie if it opened against Star Wars,” says Amy Poehler. “We’re not scared. It’s what gets us up in the morning. We are going to fucking crush Star Wars!”

That’s right, the movie that is daring to open alongside the cinematic colossus that is The Force Awakens on 18 December in the States (11 March, 2016 in the UK) is female-centric comedy Sisters. Talk about doing it for themselves.

Marking Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s first big screen union since 2008’s Baby Mama – though they’ve of course aced three Golden Globes hosting gigs since then – Sisters sees ‘perfect’ sister Maura (Poehler) and ‘other’ sister Jane (Fey) horrified to find that their parents (Dianne Wiest, James Brolin) are selling the family home. Looking to make the most of a bad situation, the sibs decide to throw a house party, which of course spirals wildly out of control.

Previously titled The Nest, Sisters is written by Paula Pell, whose impressive credits include Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock and additional scribbling on Bridesmaids. It was, much to her chagrin, in development for four years: “It’s a big movie, and they take so much time,” she sighs. “Bridesmaids took seven years. It just gets crazy after a while, like, ‘I can only write this script so many times and then it [ turns into] gibberish’. But it’s just the way it is.”

Still, the trailer, offering up crazily choreographed dancing, ill-advised party dresses and lewd double entendres, suggests Sisters will be worth the wait. It was certainly a lot of fun to make, with Fey recalling how she and Poehler and leading man Ike Barinholtz ( The Mindy Project) stayed in a Long Island hotel and crashed punters’ marriage parties. “Every Friday night, somebody would be having their wedding and we’d be like, ‘Hi...’” JG

ETA | 11 March 2016 Sisters opens next year.

‘We are going to crush Star Wars’ Amy Poehler