Your Sister's Sister - Movie Review

Rating: 2 out of 5

As with Humpday, writer-director Shelton plays around with transgressive sexuality in this lively, watchable comedy-drama. The problem is that instead of dissipating, the underlying sense of homophobia is aggressively offensive this time.

A year after his brother's death, Jack (Duplass) has become best friends with his brother's ex Iris (Blunt), who suggests that he take some time out in her father's island cabin outside Seattle. When he arrives, Iris' sister Hannah (DeWitt) is there, nursing her pain from the breakup of a long-term relationship. After a few drinks they end up in bed, which is a problem for two reasons: Hannah is a lesbian who wants a baby, and Iris arrives the next day to tell her sister that she's in love with Jack.

After the opening scene, the film locks onto these three characters, whose relationships shift drastically over the next few days as the truth comes out.
Each person has to deal with the revelation of a secret they wanted to keep, each badly hurts the one they love, and each must work out their feelings on their own before they know what to do next. All of this is played beautifully by the three central actors, who never hit a false note even when the script leaves them high and dry.

And this is the problem: the script isn't as thoughtful or honest as it pretends to be. As a director, Shelton is great at coaxing relaxed, authentic performances that feel largely improvised. So we believe the spicy interaction.
But the more scripted elements ring glaringly false, overlaying the film with a sense of prudish moralising that undermines the more progressive themes these people are supposedly struggling with.

The fact that it seems perfectly natural for Hannah to leap into bed with her sister's best friend is an insult to anyone who has honestly grappled with sexuality (to say nothing of ethics). The way these apparently bright young people over-react to the mere idea of sex is almost laughable. And story's resolution is annoyingly simplistic. At least Humpday dealt with the issue of male intimacy even as it sidelined the more important themes at hand. This one leaves us with nothing to think about at all.

Facts and Figures

Year: 2012

Run time: 90 mins

In Theaters: Friday 29th June 2012

Box Office USA: $1.6M

Budget: $125 thousand

Distributed by: IFC Films

Production compaines: Ada Films

Reviews

Contactmusic.com: 2 / 5

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
Fresh: 111 Rotten: 23

IMDB: 6.7 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director: Lynn Shelton

Producer: Steven Schardt

Screenwriter: Lynn Shelton

Starring: Mark Duplass as Jack, Emily Blunt as Iris, Rosemarie DeWitt as Hannah, Mike Birbiglia as Al, Kate Bayley as Waitress

Also starring: Mel Eslyn, Lynn Shelton