When a lonely executive pitches to a studio the idea of having some of the best comedic talent in the business headline a major Christmas release, portraying each other as sisters no less, you would think it would be fool proof. Wrong.  The good news is, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey (that very safe paring – by “safe” I mean marketable) is believable, the bad news…everything else. It’s always a sad day when I have to report that a slapstick comedy in the vein from some of the greatest stars on the planet is a dud. Sisters goes shockingly unremorseful terrain complete with undeveloped plot lines and an aching sense of never settling for a correct tone. Centered around two siblings: one Maura Ellis (Poehler) a snickety-uptight nurse who never had her ‘hey-day’ to party in the glory days of “Ellis Island” – which were a series of parties hosted by the couplets. In contrast Katie Ellis (Tina Fey) is a down on her luck hair stylist who is in the process of getting evicted with her estranged daughter, Haley (Madison Davenport) who wants nothing to do with her. So when the duo travels down to Florida to learn their parents (James Brolin, Dianne Wiest) have sold their childhood home in favor of retirement – they decide to do one thing…throw a party. ​

Nope, not trying to scrounge up some extra money – or the fact that Poehler’s character has a very nice paying job (I only infer this as she offers to pay for everything in the movie). Nope we think throwing a party so the house can get destroyed is the best solution. From then on Sisters becomes the Project X for 40 year olds. Which is fine only I didn’t want Sisters to get reduced to secondhand stereotypes or never develop any sense of enthrallment, too bad it does. Most of the scenes go unwanted (including a very ill-timed joke where Ike Barinholtz slips onto a music box). Paula Pell’s writing is not smart or slick enough to keep up with the likes of Fey and Poheler as the are two masters of improv, which by the way, when they had some time to squander their abilities, the movie started to become something. A late injection by pro-wrestler John Cena adds some funny bits that either really, really hit (my safe words is “keep going”), or miss entirely. Also we have Bobby Moynihan running around like a baboon for two hours. Sad to say that a movie that had such promising lead stars, really gives them nothing to do.

Mehh.

Sisters left a bitter taste in my mouth, making me laugh at some awkward moments, but falling under the pressure of keeping that consistency in energy. That energy I speak off runs out by about the hour mark, and at that point I can only imagine where the film goes..oh wait I know, nowhere. C-

By: Nate Adams (@TheOnlyCritic) on Twitter & Instagram