Sisters (2015)

Amy's, Jack's, and my high expectations were met in this farce about 40-something sisters reliving their youth in a last party before their parents sell their childhood home. Tina Fey's and Amy Poehler's parts were written just for them by veteran Saturday Night Live writer Paula Pell (Fey and Poehler were last blogged for Monkey Kingdom and Inside Out, respectively). Over 100 actors are listed on imdb and I don't feel like going through them all, but have three comments. 1. It seems like an SNL reunion (many others have said that). 2. Dianne Wiest (most recently in Darling Companion) and James Brolin (among his many credits I remember liking him in Marcus Welby M.D. (1969-76) (though I didn't see all 170 episodes); Gas, Food Lodging (1992); Traffic (2000), Catch Me If You Can (2002); and Last Chance Harvey) play the parents in both this and the new TV series Life in Pieces. 3. I saw Brian D'Arcy James (Spotlight) in the party scene. But did he have any lines? I don't remember them.

This is director Jason Moore's second feature after Pitch Perfect and we thought he did just fine with Pell's sixteen years of SNL writing experience backing him up.

A few days before seeing this last week, Jack and I watched an episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers where Fey, Poehler, and Pell were joined by cast members Ike Barinholtz (has been in a lot of things I haven't seen), Rachel Dratch (137 episodes of SNL, 16 of 30 Rock, and three of Inside Amy Schumer, among her many credits), and Maya Rudolph (last blogged for Inherent Vice). Pell read some excerpts from her own teenage diary, some of which are quoted verbatim in the movie. Watch the clip here.

You probably won't notice too much the background music by Christophe Beck (last blogged for Ant-Man) because of the kick-ass list of songs spanning the decades of the sisters' lives.

Critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes aren't as enthusiastic as we are, averaging 60 and 63%. The DVD release is estimated for March 2016. Do not bring the children to the theatre or into the room. This is full of nasty words, dirty jokes, and people behaving badly. We had a great time.