Picture above Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt (respectively) © Copyrighted TIFF 2011.Last evening, I got the chance to watch a TIFF movie premiere, thanks to Women’s Post; it was actually the very first TIFF event I’ve ever attended (but definitely will not be the last!)
I was a bit shocked at the line-up already in effect when we arrived 45 mins before the film was to start at Ryerson University Theatre – it actually wrapped around the corner, but despite the long line, we still wound up with pretty good seats.
Your Sister’s Sister (YSS) was directed by Lynn Shelton (My Effortless Brilliance 2008, Humpday 2009), and was mainly acted by only four people. A brief and funny stint by comedian Mike Birbiglia, followed by Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mark Duplass (the latter being the true key to the story), for the next 80-odd minutes.
If I had a star-rating meter, I’d probably give this 90 Minute piece 4 out of 5 stars.
This Romantic Comedy was mostly flawless. If you’ve ever sat on the dock of your buddy’s cottage, with them and a bunch of their friends that you don’t really know outside of this annual trip, and simply lived in the moment with the requisite cold-one in hand – YSS was very much like that kind of vibe.
There weren’t any flashbacks to give you a back-story, so the only information you got was what each character wanted to chat about at any given moment, and much to my DH’s dismay, there were no explosions.
There’s a moment when we’re reminded that Emily and Rose play two sisters, and I was a bit thrown when the two talked together for the first time on screen. Emily doesn’t hide her British accent and Rosemarie doesn’t try to pretend she has one, so you’re left wondering how the two could be sisters.
And as I mentioned before, Mark was integral to the whole movie. I truly believe that if any other actor tried to take his place for this film, it probably would have flopped. His comedic timing was mostly perfect which completely made the movie for me. This is not to say the Emily and Rosemarie weren’t brilliant, but their characters were not overtly funny (for good reason.)
Would I have watched this film if the tickets weren’t free? Maybe. I’m more of a sci-fi-action-adventure kind of person (and probably the only one on this planet who hasn’t seen Brigit Jones Diaries… which suggests there are aliens out there who have seen it before I!) so I probably would have chosen to watch a movie like Extraterrestrial instead.
But if Romantic Comedies with a bit of a twist and a lot of error is your kind of movie, you will no doubt love Your Sister’s Sister.
