Movie Review: "Your Sister's Sister"

What would movies and books do if it weren't for family dysfunction?

Iris (Emily Blunt) and Jack (Mark Duplass) are close friends, despite the fact that she once dated his brother. Seeing how emotionally and physically strung out Jack is, Iris sends him to her father's remote island cabin in the woods for some quality "alone time," an opportunity to pull himself back together.

But the cabin isn't empty as Iris promised—Iris' sister, Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), has taken refuge there after walking out of a seven-year relationship. Hannah and Jack's drunken encounter that first night has ramifications on both of their relationships with Iris, as well as their relationship with each other.

It's amazing how a movie with no car chases, no explosions, no alien abductions, and no murders can be so compelling. This is a movie with a lot of dialogue—some funny, some poignant, some angry, and some inspirational—and you can identify in part with the feelings each of the characters are experiencing. While some of the plot twists are predictable, the movie does surprise a bit in how everything unfolds.

DeWitt (who was marvelous in Rachel Getting Married) brings a brittle fragility to her role as well as a hidden inferiority complex that reveals itself slowly. Emily Blunt vacillates between emotional fronts quite well, yet you can see insecurity underneath her bravado. And Mark Duplass, whom I have never seen before (although he appears in another movie which opened this week, Safety Not Guaranteed), is both comically self-deprecating and simultaneously vulnerable and egotistical.

If you like movies that explore complex human dynamics with a touch of awkwardness, you should enjoy Your Sister's Sister. It's well-acted, well-written, and well worth your time.