‘Sisters’ Blu-ray Review

[Minor Rock Fist Up]

Why should the guys get to have all the fun?

Knowing that I’m writing a Blu-ray review about the Tina Fey – Amy Poehler vehicle Sisters (out tomorrow), you’re probably thinking I’m talking about how guys get all the gross-out movies and isn’t it about time the girls got some, and didn’t Bridesmaids and Trainwreck already prove that women can be just as lewd and crude and funny as men.

Yeah but let’s get more specific than that.

Will Ferrell has been mining underdeveloped man-child characters forever now, while Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen added more fuel to the bromance genre, and now every broad comedy has a blissed-out dude who refuses to act his age or a buttoned-up do-gooder who does nothing but act his age.

Sisters has both.

And it’s just about as funny as one of the middling examples of the man-child genre; something like I Love You, Man, for example.

Tina Fey usually plays such neurotic, whip-smart characters that it takes a while to get used to her being a woman who would flash her breasts and yell something crude out of a car without a moment’s notice. Amy Poehler, however, is right in her wheelhouse as the uptight responsible one. The difference between this and the classical man-child template is that Fey and Phoeler’s characters only truly bring on their childish tendencies in the face of a nostalgic armageddon: Their parents (James Brolin and Dianne Weist) are selling their childhood home.

Written by Paula Pell, Sisters was inspired in part by her relationship with her real-life sister Patti, who appears with her on one of the short featurettes that accompany the Blu-ray. It’s almost seven minutes, and features readings from her actual teenage diary. The scenes where Poehler does the same get pretty close to capturing some real heart and feeling, but most of the film is going for big broad laughs — with the traditional love story subplot added on top. (What’s weird about this romantic interlude is that the hot straight guy next door is played by The Mindy Project‘s goofball Ike Barinholtz — and he totally pulls it off.)

Nostalgia for their home gives way to an idea that will have the sisters righting all the wrongs from their youth, and somehow that leads Tina and Amy (yes I know they have character names but if they didn’t have such natural friendship and chemistry the movie would be a whole lot less watchable so I’m sticking with their real names) to the decision that they must have a huge house party.

It’s easy to fall for Sisters‘ natural charm and just let the movie work on you. Sure it’s a silly premise with all kinds of moments that don’t quite ring true as realistic, but if we’re going to have one more dumb man-child comedy, at least this one has Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in it.

The Blu-ray is listed as the Unrated Cut, but the theatrical version is also included. Without watching them back to back, I’m not sure I can tell the difference. In running time, the difference is 5 extra minutes uncut. There’s nine deleted scenes, nine extended scenes, a gag reel, outtakes, and Improvo-rama, where actors try out different jokes.I love watching this stuff because not only does it show what talented comedians the actors are, but also how much of the film was shaped in the editing room.

A commentary track with director Jason Moore, Fey, Pohler, and Pell is also included, rounding out the fine extra features on the Sisters Blu-ray.