“I
can’t believe you slept with my sister! You only met her last night! …And she’s
a lesbian!”
This
exclamation, shouted by Iris (Emily Blunt) during the climax of the movie, doesn’t do justice the peculiarity of the ridiculous love triangle at the
center of this film.
Written
and directed by Lynn Shelton, Your Sister’s Sister is a complex, modern twist
on an old story. It’s an intriguing spin but is poorly executed and had me
rolling my eyes at this comedy more than laughing.
Iris
is secretly in love with her best friend Jack (Mark Duplass). Not so strange.
We’ve all been there, am I right? However, instead of following this revelation
with typical conflicts (he has a girlfriend, he doesn’t feel the same way, he’s
dying), Shelton decides to take you some place different.
I
appreciate this. I’m all for innovation. But where we end up is just not where
I wanted to be.
The
movie opens at a wake. Jack’s brother has just died and he is, understandably,
not handling it well. Iris suggests he go to her family’s cabin for a while to
get away as she thinks isolation will help him with his grieving process. After
some less than believable reluctance, he agrees to go.
When
he arrives, to his surprise, he finds that the cabin is not vacant as Iris’
sister Hannah is staying there to get over a recent breakup with her long-term
girlfriend.
Against
all odds, Jack and Hannah get drunk and have sex that night. I don’t really
foresee a problem. Meaningless sex between a man and a lesbian
seems like something they should just be able to forget.
However,
in the next scene, we learn Iris has managed to get off work and is on the way
to visit. So much for that whole, “you need to grieve by yourself, Jack” idea.
She
arrives and is surprised and ignorantly ecstatic that her sister and best
friend finally get the chance to meet. Meanwhile, Jack is freaking out, begging
Hannah not to tell Iris about their night.
At
this point, it seems the writer is making a dramatic movie about nothing. I
can’t imagine Iris would care that much about her lesbian sister sleeping with
her best friend.
This
is before I knew what Shelton had in store for me.
True
to Murphy’s Law, we discover Iris is in love with Jack… but that’s not all.
Within 10 minutes we also find out that Hannah so wants a child, she sabotaged
the condom they used that night in the hopes that she would get pregnant.
Now,
I cannot say we’ve all been there.
At
this moment the plot just seems ridiculous. Character development is lacking so
it’s hard for me to believe real people have these problems.
We
learn a little about Iris’ and Hannah’s childhood, but Shelton really only
spends enough time on it to explain away the fact that Iris, played by Blunt, has a
British accent while her sister doesn’t.
Thanks for that. I was wondering…
Now
resolution is difficult. Hannah is obviously crazy and in the wrong for
tricking a man into impregnating her. Iris should probably just go off with
Jack and live happily ever after. But wait, Hannah is family so we can’t really
have Iris choose sides like that. Perhaps she should just let Jack go as her
friend because now it’s just so strange. But she’s in love with him. Right.
Not
to worry, Shelton has a plan that combines the two.
Iris
confesses her love to Jack and he reciprocates. Hannah says something to the
effect of, “sorry I did that whole crazy impregnation thing. I’m just really
sad about my breakup and I really want a kid. Also, I did not know you were in
love with him so you can’t really blame me for wanting his sperm.”
Iris
and Jack accept this apology. They apparently decide to wait to see if Hannah
is indeed pregnant and if so, they’ll all just take care of it together!
They
then embrace in an awkward three-person hug in which Iris and Jack are kissing
while they all lay hands on Hannah’s stomach. It’s weird to say the least.
This
extreme plot line along with only mediocre acting had me ready for the film to
end. Apparently the director and I
were on the same page because what followed was an ending so abrupt it belongs
in the category of films like Drag Me to Hell and The Devil Inside.
We
still don’t know if Hannah is actually pregnant so in the last scene she is
taking a home pregnancy test and just as we are about to see the result, the
film cuts off.
Don’t
get me wrong, ambiguous endings can be appreciated. Cliffhangers in movies like
Inception serve a purpose. Christopher Nolan cuts to credits before the top
does or does not fall to show its irrelevance. Cobb is happy to be home with
his children and is no longer concerned with whether it’s real or not.
Shelton’s
cut, however, just seems like a copout because she was either too lazy or too scared
to make a decision.
While
Blunt’s charm is probably the best things about the film, it’s unfortunately
not enough to carry the entire movie on it’s own.
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