Sisters (2015)

Two sisters decide to throw one last house party before their parents sell their family home. (Summary from: Imdb.com)

Sisters' Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRnhEjP3R-c

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have done it again and collaborated on a film that's already gaining positive reviews from reliable sources like Rotten Tomatoes and Washington Post.

Washington Post states, 'Sisters follows the recent "Bridesmaids"-inspired trend of R-rated comedies that trade on bawdy one-upswomanship in the form of vulgarity, sexually charged slapstick and gross-out sight gags"

R-rated comedies are indeed a bit hit with the general audience lately; add that with the dynamic duo of best friends Fey and Poehler and the world is gifted with, 'Sisters'.

Although it has much favorable feedback from both audiences and other critics, do I personally think that, 'Sisters' deserves all the praise?

The plot begins after introducing sisters Maura Ellis (Poehler), a divorcee nurse and Kate Ellis (Fey), a single mom with a strained relationship with her teenage daughter, Haley (Madison Davenport). Maura learns from her parents that they plan to sell the family home, but Kate doesn't know of this yet because the parents are fearful of her reaction, knowing of her previous extreme outbursts to other instances of bad news. So Maura is tasked to tell her sister and thus the two meet up to visit the family home together, so Kate can discover the news for herself. As expected, Kate is infuriated and throws a temper tantrum in the front lawn.

Their parents tell them to pack up all of their things before a pair of potential buyers take over the home. There is a cleaning montage where the sisters go through their old things and play around with them such as pretending to kiss a boy on a poster and one of them acting like they're eating their cheerleading baton. As they sort things out, the ladies discover their old diaries and read them out to each other, soon realizing that Kate experienced a much wilder life than Maura did when they were younger.

While Kate reads her entries about sleeping with boys and fearing the possibility of pregnancy, Maura used to write about her love for helping others and doing work. This revelation upsets Maura, making her believe her life was wasted and Kate doesn't help when she is baffled over the fact that Maura never slept with a guy in her bed before.

Because of this, Kate decides that Maura should finally do just that and have her 'Post-divorce cherry popped' by throwing a huge house party before selling it to the potential buyers. After some coaxing, Maura agrees to the plan and they get to inviting not only friends from their old high school, but a potential man for Maura named James (Ike Barinholtz). 

There are only two interactions between the sisters and James before the party happens and both times were arguably unpleasant to watch. The first time they met, the sisters brought up constant inappropriate invitations for sex (e.g 'tending to the bush') when James was trying to do his job to literally tend to the bushes. The second encounter was mostly between Maura and James, and when James mentioned that his parents passed away recently, Maura continued to bring it up, asking questions like if he saw them die and if their death was painful to endure. She asks this due to her nervous habits; but even so, I feel like the writers pushed it a bit with that. When it comes to both conversations, the jokes about sex and dead parents felt prolonged and too uncomfortable to find funny. I wouldn't want to go to their party after that.

While preparing for the party, which the women chose to call, 'The Ellis Island Party' the women visit a nail salon and are tended to a young Asian lady (probably in her late teens-early 20s) named, Hae-Won. Maura seems eager to speak with her, but keeps pronouncing her name incorrectly-so there is a lengthy back and forth between the two about how to say Hae-Won. This wasn't very funny as it was boring. The only substantial part of their conversation was a bit where Maura suggests that Hae-Won should attend their party to let loose from her strict job.

Kate on the other hand goes to the owner of the nail salon and persuades him to just pretend to give her a job to show off to Maura. This is apart of a side plot revolving around Kate needing to get a job in order to live a stable lifestyle with her daughter in Florida. But since Kate's been so irresponsible, she's been fired by many establishments in the past, and unable to receive a job with the nail salon owner due to her abrasive behavior.

On the night of the party, Maura begs for Kate to be the *Party Mom, and though the idea of not having her wild fun frustrates Kate, she agrees. If Kate is the party mom, then Maura was even more free to do whatever she wanted with no fear.

Soon enough, most of the guests arrive to the house and a couple showed up who weren't even invited, including an old classmate named Alex who serves as the obnoxious comic relief throughout the rest of the story. There is a funny moment that occurs once the guests are finally there and this is a moment that would probably happened with many adult parties. No one is doing anything crazy, they're simple catching up with old friends and making awkward small talk.

I laughed since that 'party' represented the epitome of my usual demeanor when I'm around big crowds. And it showed a lesson to Maura and Kate: Grown adults aren't going to just jump into the a crazy dance party with shots and act sloppy drunk.

Not without persuasion, and A LOT of it.

Through major coaxing and a speech talking about how they must live tonight-with no responsibilities-the sisters turned the boring party into the one of their dreams. Everyone is on their feet and acting unrestrained and rowdy, fully getting into their wild side. This party takes up the majority of the movie, which I found annoying, because it dragged on and on. I know it was the main plot, but it was like the writers were forcing the party scenes to go on and kept wanting to add more jokes and more gross out humor and more sexual situations before the serious stuff came along.

The Ellis Island Party was a success; it even stole guests from another woman's small get together. This woman was Brinda, another old classmate of the sisters that wasn't invited due to past issues between her and Kate. Brinda ends up trying to sabotage the party, but each try is a failure so eventually joining the party herself.

Other than that, Maura's potential lover James arrives and they speak privately. In addition, Hae-won and her friends show up, pumping up the party even more. Everything was perfect...until Kate's phone call.

Kate receives a phone call from her parents saying that since the house was in such good shape, when it was sold, the parents would give a portion of the profits to Kate so she would have money to be stable with her daughter in Florida. This fact slams down on Kate and she quickly realizes that the party has gone on way too long and thus, has made the once pristine house into an absolute catastrophe.

While Kate tries to stop the party, Maura hopes it goes on and attempts to sleep with James in her bedroom. She's gets so close, but thanks to silly antics, that plan failed horribly and James left the party as soon as possible.

Everything seems to go horrible and even the sisters end up fighting over a secret involving Haley. At this point, their parents and Haley storm to the backyard where the sisters and the swarm of partygoers are and it is also at this moment where the whole house (and the pool) collapses on itself and is completely destroyed. I liked this saying a random party goer said after the house collapsed:

"Look guys, we stopped time!"

What she was referring to was an array of fancy clocks that were inside the house that were obviously broken due to the collapse, but that was a quote that stuck with me and what I feel is a perfect quote that relates to the film. The sisters stopped time. Kate never grew up from her rambunctious ways and Maura never brought herself to try new things and step away from her parents for more than a second. They didn't allow time to help them mature; they stuck to their old ways and have caused the worst possible damage to their family: Disappointment. This is what the parents bring up when they're fed up with their nonsense and it almost brought a tear to my eye. Perhaps it did because I know that feeling when someone has given up on you and plus I may have been extra sensitive that day, but nevertheless, the parents showed raw emotion that really presented all the things the sisters have done to cause them agony. Even Haley speaks her mind and complains that she'd rather had a different family than the one she was cursed with.

I have to say, when the serious part came along, it really hit me hard.

The ending is as typical as you can get though. I predicted every step that would happen. The sisters promise to fix the house and through some magic, they manage to fix it in 2 weeks. The parents help Kate out after all because of her turn around into being a kind and helpful daughter. Maura tracks down James and makes up with him, becoming a couple. Alex, the comic relief and Hae-won become a couple, have kids and buy the house that they fixed. Kate owns a new home and all is happily ever after.

So in the end, what did I think of this movie? It was okay, I just think that this kind of humor doesn't suit me. After watching, 'Sisters' as well as previously viewing 'Bridesmaids' (both with the same comedy technique) I figure that I'm one of the people who don't find this funny. The prolonged back and forth, the gross out humor, and seeing grown women react childishly to small things and cursing up a storm is not something that I find funny in the slightest. The party scene felt way too long and forced and I don't find these characters likable, at all. Although, it wasn't too painful to sit through this, it wasn't boring all the way through. I was interested in seeing how this whole party plan was going to fall apart on them the whole time. Plus, there was a special celebrity cameo during the party that many may recognize. Here's a hint: If you read my, 'Daddy's Home' review, I talk about another special cameo there. Both cameos are of the same person, so if you watched either one of these films already, then you know the answer to who it is.

I recommend seeing this movie if you've watched others with similar comedy and LIKED it. If you liked Bridesmaids, you'll enjoy, 'Sisters' if not, then I suggest looking elsewhere.

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*Party Mom- Only sober person, by choice, at a party that takes care of the drunk friends
(Source: Urbandictionary.com)