Amy Poehler

Sisters Review

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Sisters looks like it’s going to be the comedy of the season. It’s written by funny people (Paula Pell from SNL), directed by funny people (Jason Moore from Pitch Perfect) and stars funny people (Tina Fey and Amy Poehler). So, does it stand up to its pedigree?

 Sisters stars Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, John Leguizamo, Ike Barinholtz and John Cena and is directed by Jason Moore. The film follows sisters Katie (Fey) and Maura (Poehler) as they return to their childhood home to throw one last party.

First off, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are great. The two actresses have amazing chemistry and are able to bounce well off each other throughout the entire film. The film works well when it sits back and we watch them try and catch their long lost childhood by reading their old diaries or dancing around to 80s classics. The funniest lines are the small one-liners that look they were just ad-libbed, with the rest of the script being rather witless.

That’s not to say that there aren’t some good jokes. John Cena, in his second comedy role this year, knocks it out of the park as drug-seller Pazuzu. His introductory scene, where he lists off the different drugs that he has to sell is incredibly funny. For the rest of the film he remains virtually silent, towering over the rest of the guests and throwing out death-stares to anyone who tries to talk to him, but whenever he does open his mouth, he usually has an excellent one-liner. Another good sequence in the film involves Maura’s childhood music box and a local heartthrob, James (Barinholtz) who Maura invites to the party. While the base of the joke is rather puerile, Poehler and Barinholtz manage to keep the remnant of a good joke together, although it ends rather abruptly, before leaving the film and it’s implications at the door.

The main problem is that Sisters is trying to hit so many film party staples. The BBFC lists the films as having “very strong language, strong sex references and drug use”, and while it does feature copious amounts of all three, none of them feel as good as other films that did it better or did it first. The obvious comparison is with Animal House, but there are other nods such as 21 And Over and Bad Neighbours. The film is at it’s best when it’s subverting the tropes in these films (the main difference is that all the party attendees are safely into middle age) but sadly Sisters just seems content with aping every other party film. I’m certain you could cut the montage moments from Sisters and switch them with the ones from 21 And Over and no-one would be able to see the difference.

The film builds and builds over the ridiculously long running time, but it doesn’t have the brains to keep up. Soon into the party phase, the film just goes over-board, throwing situations out and hoping one of them will get a laugh. It gets to a low point with an incongruous Scarface reference and wanton destruction that just feels really forced. Sisters tries and keeps the audience laughing by giving every character a bucketful of swear words in between the set pieces, but these soon just turn into childish attempts to seem adult. Swearing does not make a film mature. It only makes a joke funny by the set-up; randomly shouting out rude words won’t get many laughs beyond the first couple.

In summary, Sisters had a good line-up of talented people, but the script really brings down the end product. There are some good moments and jokes but not enough of them to make it a worthy watch.

Score: 5/10 Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have done much better comedy.

Inside Out Review

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It’s been two years since Pixar’s last release, Monster’s University. I somewhat enjoyed the film, but many people I talked to felt that the film had let them down, citing it as second weakest in Pixar’s vast back catalogue (because nothing can be weaker than Cars 2). Can Pixar turn around this minor hiccup and remind us what they are capable of with Inside Out?

Inside Out stars Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith and Richard Kind and is directed by Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen. The story follows Joy (Poehler) and Sadness (Smith) as two of several of the emotions of a young girl, Riley as she is going through her stressful teenage years.

Pixar films always seem to have some deeper meaning behind them, putting them leagues ahead of any other computer generated kids movies. Whether the subject is single parenting (Finding Nemo) conservation for our planet (Wall-E) or doing what you love despite whatever stands in your way (Ratatouille), Pixar have nailed the idea of having a message for their (normally) younger audience. Inside Out is no different. The film tackles some really heavy subjects and even gets seriously dark just past the halfway point. And amazingly it does so without ever becoming po-faced. The film goes through some of what according to main character Riley seems to be her whole world collapsing, only to find that with the old stuff going, it means better stuff can come along.

The cast is one of the standouts of the film. Amy Poehler does her usual cheery self as the emotion Joy, but through her long tiring journey through Riley’s mind, she becomes worn down and beaten by Riley’s descent into uncertainty, leading Poehler to show some great variation from her typecast role. Phyllis Smith as Sadness is brilliant, and has some of the most powerful scenes in the film, such as the finale where she is in control of Riley, giving Inside Out one of the biggest emotional punches of Pixar’s entire works. A role for Richard Kind as another central character (that I’m not going to spoil here) is a great addition to the film, and really hits home a few of the central themes about childhood memories and loss of innocence.

Lewis Black as Anger is the funniest character in the film, with several of the best lines, including one about the destruction of pizza by San Francisco. His regular flame-ridden explosions are a main highlight of the film, with each one being a new, nearly foul-mouthed tantrum over the minutest things. And as always, it’s nice to see Kyle MacLachlan back at The Student Film Review after his stint in the David Lynch Collection. He, along with Diane Lane, play the respective parents of Riley, each with their own set of emotions, playing up each of their identities and traits, with jokes coming from miscommunication and styles of parenting and discipline.

The script, like many other Pixar works has jokes for all the family. While the slapstick violence was enough to make the children in the viewing I was in laugh, the biggest laughs came from the parents at the more adult jokes. Brazilian fantasy men, an excellent riff on Hollywood (with subtle hints to Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Polanski’s Chinatown) and a recurring joke about catchy advert jingle, with the latter accompanied by Anger’s frenzied outbursts, Inside Out is several degrees smarter and wittier than many films recently that have been pegged as “comedies”.

As the standard of Pixar films, Inside Out has its pre-film short animation, this one called Lava. A love story that is set over millions of years, Lava tells the story of two volcano islands falling in love with each other. While the animation and design of the islands is stunning, reminiscent of some of the exquisite design in Surf’s Up, the faces of the islands looks a bit awkward and creepy when they are smiling. The accompanying song (which oddly enough is named “Lava”) however is beautiful, and captures the feeling of the tropical islands with its ukulele infused melody and sounds of waves.

In conclusion, Pixar have once again made a film that anyone of any age can enjoy, with a strong a great message for the audience, let your emotions run free. Inside Out is going to be the blockbuster of this summer.

Score: 10/10 One of Pixar’s greatest, deeply moving and deeply profound, while still being funny as hell.