The Sisters (2005)

So much average

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Absolutely brilliant

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Without a doubt, one of the best independent films this decade.With a dialogue-rich script that reminds us why we enjoy cinema (no special effects here!), and helmed by one of the only director's in Hollywood capable of gathering a cast of this magnitude (check out his credits -- they're unbelievable!), THE SISTERS takes the audience on a journey into a family's inner workings - flaws, affairs, working dysfunctions and all.Maria Bello gives a dynamic, deep and moving performance, which I heard she won several awards for on the festival circuit.Eric McCormack comes out of no where with a raw intensity that changes the way you will see him.Tony Goldwyn's masculine sexuality proves his leading man status will for sure keep him working for years to come.But none of the above would have been possible without a script written as brilliantly as this one. Dialogue-rich, this script delivers an emotional journey with powerful scenes that keeps the story moving and the momentum growing - all culminating in a climax of intensity and drama that hits you with the realities of the illusion of family.This is a staunchly independent film that anyone interested in superb cinema should definitely see.

It's not enough for the director to parade overeducated ill-tempered females into the imagined space of the faculty lounge, he seeks to imbue them with imagined glamor or "righteousness" in that they interrupt one another (even when making birthday speeches) with criticisms on grammar. His knowledge of drug-use is even more distressingly inadequate than his shocking misunderstanding of the intellectualism his characters demonstrate. The young sister, her face full of baby fat and a demeanor more akin to someone tranquilized is portrayed as a meth addict, and the educated elite can do nothing but tell her "it'll be alright." Maria Bello's character seems to enjoy cuckolding her husband for months at a time, but that part of the movie is simply skipped, and we never learn a thing why she enjoys (loves) the man she is having an affair with. The most tragic part of the movie is the director's mis-use of "Nancy," the somewhat trashy salesgirl marrying the weak brother. It was as if Seidelman was afraid this character might come-alive and eat his lunch, so she also was muzzled and made somewhat impotent. We learn nothing from Mr. Seidelman other than he needs an education (in life) before he starts another pretentious effort at biting off more than he can chew.

The cast seemed promising, as did the weak reference to Chekhov, but wow is this movie bad. The writing is shamefully bad, swinging like a pendulum from bathos to banal pop psychology. It's clear that the actors gave up. Nobody's any good in it. My wife and I watched for ~ten minutes, stared at each other in amazement, and then somehow managed to endure the rest—we've given up on far better movies—out of some macabre fascination. What kept us watching was probably the question: How does somebody make a movie this bad with so many creditable actors? Apparently I'm supposed to write at least ten lines, but that seems a shame for such an awful movie. I can say, though, that my strongest impression about the movie is that both the writer and director seem to have never experienced an honest emotion in their lives to have collaborated to create something like this.

As so many of the other comments have beautifully synopsized this film, I won't spend much time repeating the plot. Yes, this film is about three sisters and a brother in a college town, coming to grips with themselves and each other after their father's death.What bothered me throughout the entire film was the writing. I was too keenly aware of the writer himself, as opposed to watching a really good film and saying to myself afterward, "That was beautifully written." Rather, with this film, I could picture the writer saying, "Wow, that was a really good line!" "Here's some big words I can string together!" "Yes! Great line!" Full disclosure: as a writer myself, I fully understand the joy in this, but the characters should take center stage, NOT the writer. I could not get the image of this writer patting himself on the back until it was beet red.I liked Eric McCormack and Erica Christensen, though I would have liked to have learned more about Erica's character, Irene. Chris O'Donnell is never very interesting to me. Too vanilla. Okay, those are actors. Back to the film.The character of Marcia (Maria Bello) was completely unsympathetic to me. She was far more interested in forming complex, multi-syllabic words, showing off her pedigree, and spewing "clever" insults rather than dealing with her demons. Her hatred for her brother's wife, Nancy, was over-the-top and she asked for everything she got in return. Stephen Culp, as her Desperate husband, seemed to just languish. I never really did feel the spark or notice much develop between Marcia and Victor (Tony Goldwyn), so I was completed unimpressed during the scene where they had to part ways, because Victor, as much as he loved her (hello??) could not leave his daughters to be raised by his wife. Noble, but trust me fella, you got out while the getting was good. The drama queen wiped away her mascara and found something else to torture herself with!Supposedly, this wild passion and love ignited between Marcia and Victor almost immediately. Excuse me, I think I blinked during the film. I must have missed it. My apologies.Mary Stuart Masterson as Olga was far more believable as a character. Unfortunately, the viewer was treated to such an overdose of Marcia that the other characters were overshadowed. I would have liked to understood Olga more.Eric McCormack (Gary Sokol), managed to take his angst-filled, bitterly sarcastic character and make him believable. I hated the character through most of the film, but in a way one is supposed to hate a character -- because the actor is doing his job -- not hating a character because he's a tangle of stereotypes, throwing it all out there (or out the window) and hoping something will stick! Marcia! Marcia! Marcia! I imagine this is one of those films that one will either love or hate. I cannot say that it was a terrible film just because I didn't like it; I can only explain my reasons for wanting to muzzle Marcia. I can say that I tend to prefer plays in the theater. Taking them out of their natural habitat often ruffles the beast.Despite the abuse perpetrated on her by her father, Marcia just didn't make me care about her in any way at all. Any moment, I expected her to say, "Okay, enough about me. Let's talk about me." My recommendation is to see this film and decide for yourself. I watched it expecting to really like it. I WANTED to like it. Just didn't happen.