CORPORATE LINE: Maria Bello follows up her startling turn in David Cronenberg’s A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE by appearing in this low budget adaptation of an Anton Chekov play, originally named THE THREE SISTERS. Bello plays Marcia, one of three sisters around whom the story is based. Director Arthur Allan Seidelman opens with Marcia and Olga (Mary Stuart Masterson) preparing a birthday surprise for their younger sister, Irene (Erika Christensen). The dialogue-heavy film unfolds with deep-seated, clearly longstanding rifts opening up between Marcia and her siblings and their other family members, especially when a man (played by Tony Goldwyn) from their childhood in Charleston makes a surprise appearance and jolts a few unhappy memories out of the women. Revelations about the sisters’ turbulent relationship with their father trickle sadly from Marcia’s lips, Irene has to quell a storm brewing between two men (played by Chris O’Donnell and Eric McCormack) with romantic intentions toward her, and to make matters worse, their troublesome brother (Alessandro Nivola) and his girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks) frequently bring more grief whenever they’re around. Seidelman makes good use of flashbacks to help fill out the story, and much of Chekov’s dialogue is updated for the contemporary setting of the film. Bello shines throughout, showing that even with her star in the ascendant, she’s not afraid to take on some challenging work. Packed full of argument and confrontation, THE SISTERS is a finely honed piece of work from all involved.
THE REVIEW: Everything about The Sisters feels forced and overly emotional. The cast is brilliant but they can’t pull this mess together and make diamonds out of coal. This is a family full of chaos and any real family like this would be in a mental ward. This family is a train-wreck so why would any of them want to work to make things better—it’d be better to cut your losses and run.
THE EXTRAS:
Finally, there is a commentary by director Arthur Allan Siedelman and writer Richard Alfieri that I refused to watch. It was hard enough to watch the movie the first time let alone watch people slobber all over its greatness—that is impossible to swallow.
FRANKLY: The Sisters is a mess. It’s not even worth a rental.
+ Charlie Craine
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