Tina Fey and Amy Poehler star in Sisters, a movie about two fortysomething sisters throwing one last party in their childhood home before their parents sell the house. The film stars comedians from Poehler and Fey’s past projects, like Rachel Dratch, who worked with Fey on 30 Rock, as well as Saturday Night Live stars past and present Maya Rudolph and Kate McKinnon. Photo by Movie Marker.
By KATY MAYFIELD – Print News Editor
Comediennes Amy Poehler and Tina Fey add to their list of cult comedy TV series and movies with Sisters, their latest film, in which the duo play a set of adult sisters determined to throw one last party in their childhood home.
It’s rare that movies whose settings consist primarily of drunken parties turn out insightful, witty and heartwarming. Lucky for viewers, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are rare talents, and the duo’s latest movie, Sisters, is that rare film.
In the movie, the best friends of 20 years play sisters determined to throw one last rager in their childhood home before their parents sell the house. The predictability of the chaos that follows makes it no less charming, and Fey, Poehler and the rest of the star-studded cast of comedy veterans manage to turn even the most cliche of party storylines into gut-busting comedic moments, separated occasionally by choreographed dance breaks to 80s hip hop hits.
The movie’s perfect pacing, upbeat music, cheery lighting and set design manage to
extract laughs from even the most overdone situations. The party scene, for instance, would in any other more serious or younger movie grow old quickly. In Sisters, however, the twist that the crazy kids are in fact middle-aged adults with kids- at one point Fey and Poehler’s father threatens to call the attendees’ children if they don’t leave the premises- lends itself to long party scenes which never seem cliche or dull.
Naturally, a movie about adults trying to relive their party days (or, in one sister’s case, actually have some party days) contains liberal applications of drugs, alcohol and profanity. However, their frequent mention doesn’t seem unnatural or brought up to appease the younger demographic.
Over the past two decades, Poehler and Fey have continually set and raised the bar for themselves and fellow female and male comedians. Mean Girls, 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation all became instant classics, quoted and obsessed over across the internet and the entertainment world. Poehler and Fey aren’t ones to shy away from a challenge, and Sisters, their latest and arguably highest bar, will undoubtedly rank among the duo’s greatest hits.
