Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Cortechba Overrated

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Jackson Van Nostrand I went to the video store last weekend not really knowing which horrible studio film I wanted to fall asleep to - the weekend prior I watched Hillary Swank's awful film THE REAPING... good premise, poorly executed. And why an Oscar winner starred, I have no idea?? Which brought me to THE SISTERS, and also probably answers my last question - Swank never could of wrapped her head around the dialogue with the same wit and sarcasm Maria Bello is able to execute. Why Bello hasn't won an Oscar, I have no idea -- she most definitely should of won a few awards for her star turn in THE SISTERS -- if not an Oscar, at least an Independent Spirit. This film gives it's viewers something magical to hold onto - rich dialogue that speaks to the soul and the mind (words with more than 1 or 2 syllables, oh my!!); actors who act with passion for a project and a screenplay they must of really believed in - because you know they didn't get paid for this film and you can't pull the wool over this many stars eyes!! Director Arthur Allan Seidelman has been around for a while and brings his A-game to adapting Chekov's masterpiece. The writer is a wizard of vocabulary who obviously understood the essence of what old Anton was trying to teach us all. Kudos to the writer, director, actors and crew - your efforts to bring quality American cinema to the screen is much appreciated!

mitchabramson 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.

troggenbuck 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.

Ed Uyeshima When I think about it, there have been quite a few cinematic variations on Anton Chekhov's classic "The Three Sisters" from Woody Allen's austere "Interiors" to Diane Keaton's execrable "Hanging Up". Playwright-turned-screenwriter Richard Alfieri provides a more literal adaptation by updating the original play to the present and resetting it primarily in a Manhattan faculty lounge on the Upper West Side. Longtime TV director Arthur Allan Seidelman guides an impressive ensemble of actors in the proceedings, but the result unfortunately feels like a stagy TV-movie brimming with overripe theatrics. The abundance of characters and multi-layered set-up seem to make the actors chew the scenery excessively, though a few still make indelible impressions.The structure and themes of the Chekhov play remain the same. The plot focuses on the four Prior siblings - Marcia, Olga, Irene and Andrew - and their clashing destinies and unraveling secrets furnish the drama as they get together for Irene's 22nd birthday party. Maria is the beautiful, vitriolic older sister unhappily married to a passive psychology professor while embarking on a torrid affair with Vincent, their father's former teaching assistant who has come unexpectedly for a visit. Irene is the buttoned-up middle sister, an English literature professor and by default the family conciliator. Irene is the protected baby sister whose sunny disposition masks deeper insecurities that lead to a crystal-meth overdose. Andrew is the weak, emasculated brother who has brought home Nancy, his slatternly fiancée, whom his sisters, especially Marcia, despise. There are others who encircle the family like a vise with their own histrionics - kindly department head Dr. Chebrin and dueling professors Gary Sokol and David Turzin, both in love with Irene and seething with rage against each other.There are plenty of fireworks, but with so many characters to track, Seidelman produces a truncated flow to the story while making the movie itself feel overlong. The performances are all over the map, though each seems to have at least one bravura set piece. As she proves in David Cronenberg's "A History of Violence", Maria Bello is one of the strongest actresses on screen today and makes Marcia a memorably fiery character, especially as she lays into the vulgar Nancy or succumbs to Vincent's ardent attention. As Irene, the underused Mary Stuart Masterson brings a coiled sense of repression that makes the contrast between her and Marcia biting and poignant. Less interesting is Erika Christensen, who makes Irene sweetly vulnerable but cannot transcend the trite arc of her character. Chris O'Donnell barely registers as the romantically obsessive David, but Eric McCormack - who will have a challenge overcoming his pervasive Will Truman persona - is all sarcastic blather as Gary until he manages to convey the character's pathetic jealousy.Elizabeth Banks - memorable as the lusty bookstore clerk in "The 40-Year Old Virgin" - makes the vulgarity of Nancy palpable if rather obvious with a wavering Bronx accent, while Alessandro Nivola - equally memorable as the pampered rock star in "Laurel Canyon" - is effectively passive as Andrew. Tony Goldwyn seems oddly stilted as Vincent, making him a dispassionate match for Marcia's voracious self-destruction. At times, the dialogue is insightful with clever zingers. At other times, it sounds laughably mannered, and the general dysfunctional situation gets wearing over time. A few cathartic moments shine through, especially toward the end when Marcia and Olga come to terms with each other. The DVD is short on extras - just the original trailer and an overly earnest commentary from Seidelman and Alfieri.