The latest Amy Poehler comedy, Sisters (2015), is a party film with vague similarities in concept to Superbad, House Party and Old School with everything coming together in a single night of mayhem that will seemingly define their lives. The big difference, though, is that instead of the party being organised by a group of kids or a group of middle aged dudes reliving their earlier wild lifestyle, it’s the unfulfilled house party of forty something sisters who want one last hurrah at their family home.
From the makers of Pitch Perfect, it’s another leading ladies comedy with raucous intent, and you can check out the trailer below to see how well it stacks up against its older sibling from back in 2012. Starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in the two leading roles there’s a good amount of comedy clout behind the film with Fey’s years on Saturday Night Live and Poehler’s brilliant efforts in Parks And Recreation and Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp. You can see more from Amy with her official Twitter page, which is well worth following.
Release date
Cinema:
Sisters had a UK release date on Friday the 18th December 2015, the same date as it went out in the United States. There’s wasn’t much else out that weekend in the UK, but it was by Star Wars: The Force Awakens the weekend before and The Peanuts Movie the week after, so it had some pretty stern competition for box office uptake. However, for the non-sci-fi fans and and anyone who isn’t into cartoon movies this was one of only a few films to catch in December 2015.
DVD, Blu-ray and digital download:
The film went on to get a DVD, Blu-ray and digital download release in the UK on the 25th April 2016.
Story
Amy Poehler plays Maura Ellis, the older, more uptight half of a poles-apart sister double team as they struggle with the realities of their middle years. Her sister, Katie is a bit younger and a whole lot more friendly with the fellers, but both get sideswiped when they find out that their parents are planning on selling their childhood home, prompting a massive life evaluation from the pair.
The solution, though, is to throw Maura the kind of house party she never had as a teenager in an attempt to reverse the stereotypes they’ve both come to inhabit. As with all house party movies, mayhem inevitably ensues with everything from seven foot wrestler maniacs, wall busting nutters and of course, whoop whoop, ‘dis is da sound of da police.
Age rating
Sisters has been given an age rating of 15 in the UK by the British Board of Film Classification with very strong language, strong sex references, and drug use.
Cast
As well as Amy Poehler’s mammoth comedy might, the film stars Tina Fey (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues) as her unabashed younger sister Katie. The cast also includes Maya Rudolph (Turbo), John Leguizamo (John Wick Chapter 2), Rachel Dratch (Parks And Recreation) and WWE wrestling behemoth John Cena, who’s clearly looking to follow Dwayne Johnson in a bid to crack Hollywood next.
Production
Sisters was directed by Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect), working with producers Tina Fey, Jay Roach (Meet the Parents series) and John S. Lyons (Austin Powers: Goldmember). Amy Poehler has also gotten in on the behind the camera action as executive producer, along with Jeff Richmond and Brian Bell. The screenplay way written by another bastion of Saturday Night Live glory, Paula Pell.
Review
As soon as we see Amy Poehler involved in a comedy film we start to get to thinking that there’s going to be a lot to laugh about before the credits roll up, but with Sisters we weren’t sold initially. The trailer makes it look like it falls short of being anywhere near decent with Tina Fey hamming things up too much on more than a few occasions. The premise just felt a bit done to death, and probably better elsewhere, without the film bringing anything new to the disco, but the end result isn’t a terrible and delivers a fair few laughs along the way. Read our full review of the Sisters (2015) DVD for more details.
