Twisted Sister

As a fan of acting and actors, I am often drawn to movies with a big emphasis on performance. I'm certainly drawn to directors that know how to draw a good performance from an actor. Those were the qualities that attracted me to Your Sister's Sister, an independent film from last year that I'd heard had some fine acting.

Mark Duplass plays a man still grieving one year after the death of his brother. His friend (and brother's wife) Iris, played by Emily Blunt, suggests that he use her family's cabin for a getaway to enjoy some solitude. But when he arrives, he finds the cabin already occupied by Hannah, Iris' lesbian sister. Played by Rosemary DeWitt, Hannah is herself retreating for solitude after a breakup with her longtime partner. Awkwardness ensues, and is only made worse when Iris herself also arrives at the cabin.

The film is essentially a three-hand play. It takes place almost entirely on one set (or easily could have, but for attempts to "open the story up" a bit), and is driven by heavy dialogue between the characters. Often times, I think such scenarios can be crackle with emotion and result in compelling stories. Not so here.

My attention was wavering long before the first big plot development arrived. The movie then tried to compensate for being boring by being unbelievable. Neither was enjoyable. It's hard to praise the acting much, because the situation was simply too far-fetched for them to lend any credibility to it. In fact, I was shocked to learn that the film was actually written and directed by a woman, because through a certain lens, the whole thing could be viewed as a bizarre male fantasy of romantic and sexual conquest.

There's every chance you've never heard of this movie before now. Perhaps I should not have reviewed it, thus preserving that for you. It landed in my Flickchart in "D- territory," but I honestly can't think of a reason not to give it an F.