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The Sisters

Play trailer Poster for The Sisters R Released Apr 23, 2005 1h 53m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
29% Tomatometer 28 Reviews 52% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
A birthday celebration transforms into a vicious verbal sparring match involving an elitist university chancellor (Mary Stuart Masterson), her siblings (Maria Bello, Erika Christensen) and their assorted guests (Tony Goldwyn, Eric McCormack, Chris O'Donnell).
The Sisters

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Critics Consensus

Shallow, dull, and ineffectively updated for modern audiences, The Sisters takes Chekhov's classic source material and renders it dramatically inert.

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Critics Reviews

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J. R. Jones Chicago Reader The result is an insufferable academic cocktail party of declamatory speeches coaxed... Jul 14, 2022 Full Review Mick LaSalle San Francisco Chronicle Intelligent, observant entertainment designed for an adult audience. Rated: 3/4 May 19, 2006 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times What we can guess, watching the film, is that the same players would make a good job of Three Sisters but are undermined by the faculty club, which works like a hotel lobby. There's no way to sustain dramatic momentum here. Rated: 2/4 May 19, 2006 Full Review Jules Brenner Cinema Signals Rated: 4/4 Jan 16, 2007 Full Review Rory L. Aronsky Film Threat Many films have already tread through the gloomy garden paths that "The Sisters" takes. But it confirms that watching Maria Bello act in many guises is one of the great pleasures of the movies. Rated: 3.5/5 Jul 16, 2006 Full Review Scott Weinberg DVD Clinic Just goes to show you that you can be rich, smart, beautiful, and accomplished ... and still be as miserable as us middle-class drones. Rated: 3/5 Jun 23, 2006 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member hey sister go sister! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Audience Member The Sisters has an interesting scenario and will keep you guessing. Although it's good entertainment for a slow night, it's slightly over dialoged, it has a tendency to feel like a play more than a movie, and the editing could be easily improved. The character of the "beautiful" sister can easily get on somebody's nerve, but it is well played as all the sister, and even the brother to some extent. The other characters are much weaker. Not bad, worth being seen if you feel like a family go through drama. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Inspired by (I'm loathe to say "based on") Chekhov's play <I>Three Sisters</i>, a family struggles with drug addiction, sexual abuse, and infidelity. Oh, Maria Bello. I first saw you in <i>A History of Violence</i>, and since then I've never forgotten you. You are one of this generation's finest actors, and every time I see you, you surprise me. So, why do you keep doing such shitty movies? I liked the fact that this film's dialogue is intelligently written; these characters sound like intellectuals arguing, using polysyllabic words like razors. But the story, which in the source material is beautifully understated, got twisted into an oppressive melodrama, and when each new element of modern salacious psychological damage is added, the film becomes a parade of <i>Jerry Springer</I> family neuroses and loses its heart as a character drama that is essentially about people trying to figure out how to love each other in spite of each other. I agree with Roger Ebert who stated that the same cast would have been perfect in the Chekhov play, but what director Arthur Allen Seidelman did to the Russian master's work should be as criminal as what happened to Nathanial Hawthorne's <i>Scarlett Letter.</i> Overall, Maria Bello is always worth watching, but if you've never seen Chekhov, then don't think this is what he's about - all the more reason to go to the real theater. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review don s I'm not much for character studies, but this view of an extremely dysfunctional family of three sisters and a brother wasn't too bad. Lots of talking heads as you'd expect for this type of film, but interesting in an "Oh, crap, what are they going to reveal next?" kind of way. Excellent performances all around, even from Chris "Boy Wonder" O'Donnell and Erika Christensen, whom I've never been fond of. I'm a huge fan of both Maria Bello (yum-o!) and Mary Stuart Masterson (who just isn't in enough movies). This is worth a view. You wrote this on 2/14/09. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member I really do not know why this received such mediocre reviews. I thought it was great - well written. Maria Bello was outstanding. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Good, but forgettable Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Sisters

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis A birthday celebration transforms into a vicious verbal sparring match involving an elitist university chancellor (Mary Stuart Masterson), her siblings (Maria Bello, Erika Christensen) and their assorted guests (Tony Goldwyn, Eric McCormack, Chris O'Donnell).
Director
Arthur Allan Seidelman
Producer
Matthew Rhodes, Judd Payne
Screenwriter
Richard Alfieri
Production Co
Persistent Entertainment
Rating
R (Language|Some Sexual Content)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 23, 2005, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Apr 14, 2006
Release Date (DVD)
Jun 13, 2006
Runtime
1h 53m