[YOUR SISTER'S SISTER
opens in Cleveland on Friday June 29th exclusively at the Cedar Lee
Theatre.]
Review
by Bob Ignizio
It's been a year since Jack's (Mark
Duplas) brother died, but he still hasn't recovered from the loss. In
hopes of getting him back on track, Jack's best friend (and his
brother's ex-girlfriend) Iris (Emily Blunt) offers him the use of her
family's island vacation home. There he can spend some quiet time
alone in thought, free from the distractions of the outside world.
Instead of helping, though, Jack's getaway winds up complicating his
life even further.
Upon arriving at the house, Jack finds
Iris' lesbian half sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) already there.
Iris has just broken up with her long time girlfriend and is busy
drowning her sorrows with tequila. Jack joins her, and as so often
happens to those under the influence of the infamous libation, bad
decisions are made resulting in a one night stand.
Jack wakes up feeing regretful the next
morning and becomes even more so when Iris shows up unexpectedly. He
begs Hannah not to mention anything about their drunken tryst
because, this being a romantic comedy, the whole “friend” thing
is really just a cover for the feelings Jack and Iris have for each
other, but are afraid to admit.
Writer/director Lynn Shelton handles
this material deftly, successfully mining it for both comedy and
pathos. The cast is
excellent as well, giving us characters that are believable and
refreshingly light on quirkiness. Sure, they pepper their
conversations with a good amount of sarcasm, but that's about right
for people of this particular generation and background. At any rate,
the fact that the characters come across as so genuine and fully
fleshed goes a long way towards selling what is frankly a pretty
absurd premise.
Perhaps the most refreshing aspect of
the film is that when the truth inevitably comes out, the characters
deal with it like adults. Even when further revelations about
Hannah's reasons for having sex with Jack make things messier, the
film never resorts to rom com clichés and oversimplifications.
There's no gender bashing, no victims or villains; just three people
who care about each other trying to deal with the complexities of
life and love depicted in a way that's funny without going over the
top and sincere without being cloying. 3 out of 4 stars.
As published on Examiner.com
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