‘Sisters’ at heart, on screen
Amy Poehler and Tina Fey mix it up; interview and movie review
When they’re together, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler can throw one heck of a fun fest, even if their new comedy, Sisters, doesn’t live up to its laugh potential.
The Saturday Night Live alums play siblings who couldn’t be more different. They get plenty of help from an array of role players, but the humor, mainly of the raunchy and older-parents-having-sex variety, lands in hilarious fashion only some of the time.
Maura Ellis (Poehler) is the good sister, the dependable one compared with Kate (Tina Fey), who can’t keep a job or a home for her daughter, Haley. So when their parents (James Brolin and Dianne Wiest) decide to sell their house and give the daughters a weekend to clean out their childhood stuff, they leave it to Maura to break the bad news.
Their reconnection leads to a not-so-grown-up decision: To keep potential buyers from the place, the sisters want to have one last throwdown, with Maura finally letting loose — and hopefully hooking up with the single guy (Ike Barinholtz) down the street — and Kate not being the partyhearty one for a change. Suffice it to say, things get wild, and a music-box ballerina ends up in an uncomfortable place.
Paula Pell’s script is good for only fitful laughs. There are some serious moments, too, and Fey and Poehler’s dynamic pulls it off well — you’d be hard-pressed to find two other comedians today, of either gender, who are this natural playing off each other.
The film’s best asset is its bash, which mixes the utter vulgarity of Animal House, the raucousness of Bachelor Party and The Hangover, and a whole lot of 1990s-style dance breakdowns.
There are quite a few MVPs who contribute to the highlights: Maya Rudolph as Kate’s Game of Thrones- loving high school rival; Samantha Bee as a lady who can’t keep her clothes on; pro wrestler John Cena as a stoic, tattooed drug dealer; and SNL’s Bobby Moynihan as a scene-stealing dork who accidentally snorts a Scarface- level amount of cocaine. Sisters is Fey and Poehler’s party, however, and though the humor doesn’t always go down smoothly, watching two masters work is worth the hangover.