Sisters
Director: Jason Moore
Stars: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph
Duration: 118 mins
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are unquestionably two of America’s funniest and best-loved comedians. The friendship and professional relationship between the two began many years ago when both were fledgling comedy performers in Chicago, the springboard of many a funny person.

It’s a relationship that has continued to this day, through their acclaimed stints together on TV stalwart Saturday Night Live, their acclaimed co-hosting of the last three Golden Globe award ceremonies where they used their irrepressible chemistry, sharp banter and hilarious wit to great effect, while individually they have enjoyed critical and commercial success with their award-winning sitcoms 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation respectively.

Given the success in 2015 of fellow comedians Melissa McCarthy and Amy Schumer, it is certainly a great moment for funny femmes, and I had high hopes for Fey and Poehler’s film where they play sisters in the appropriately titled Sisters.

Poehler is Maura, the responsible, recently-divorced nurse and Fey is Kate, the careless and carefree single mother. When they find out their parents (Dianne Wiest and James Brolin) have sold their family home, the siblings are outraged and heartbroken. They are given a few days to clear out their stuff from the house… and decide to throw one last big party as a fond farewell; like the ones they used to have when they were in high school. Needless to say, things get a little out of hand…

The best thing about Sisters is its two protagonists – despite being physically very different from one another, the effortless interaction between Fey and Poehler makes their relationship extremely believable and heart-warming. Not only that, the two are also great actors, not mere comedians, and they both hit the right notes as they make their respective characters’ journeys, making them engaging, three-dimensional people.

The best thing about sisters is its two protagonists – Fey and Poehler

And so we grow to care for Poehler’s Maura as she blossoms from a straight-laced, vulnerable divorcée who always thinks of others before thinking of herself to a bit of a party animal ready to let her hair down and connect with the guy who lives down the road; and we root for Fey’s wild child-like Kate as she attempts to connect with her daughter – who’s perpetually embarrassed by her mother’s shenanigans – while trying to become a mature adult.

The duo offer much enjoyment in the scenes they share, as they sift through their childhood belongings and reminisce on times gone by; try on ridiculously outré outfits in front of a bored salesgirl or, later, when they take in the aftermath of the party and they come perilously close to falling out. Screenwriter Paula Pell captures the genuine tenderness and playful joshing that comes so easily to siblings, and the stars’ long-standing camaraderie makes it all look so effortless; while avoiding cloying clichés when the script threatens to become too sentimental.

Pity then, that the script tends to fall back on some predictable toilet, sex and drug-tinged humour. As the party approaches the early hours, the guests get ridiculously drunk and/or stoned; and the gags proportionally less funny. One guest inadvertently sniffs a bagful of cocaine and gets more and more obnoxious with his every appearance, culminating in him draw-ing genitalia on the wall; John Leguizamo is on hand seemingly to make indecent proposals to the sisters at every opportunity; too long is spent on a scene featuring a ballerina music box that ends up where it shouldn’t, and some stereotyping about Koreans and lesbians is a tad surprising.

It soon becomes obvious and tired, and given the talent involved, I would have expected much sharper, tighter humour. More genuine comedy could have been mined not only from the relationship between the siblings themselves, but also from their relationship with their parents – Wiest and Brolin are both very funny as the Ellis parents; and that the final product features few scenes with the two feels like a missed opportunity; while another SNL alumna, Maya Rudolph, is given a character that ought to have been developed further.

Maybe next time, given their track record as writers, apart from their other many evident talents, sisters in comedy Fey and Poehler should just write their own material.