Please don't spend money on this.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

I went to the video store last weekend not really knowing which horrible studio film I wanted to fall asleep to - the weekend prior I watched Hillary Swank's awful film THE REAPING... good premise, poorly executed. And why an Oscar winner starred, I have no idea?? Which brought me to THE SISTERS, and also probably answers my last question - Swank never could of wrapped her head around the dialogue with the same wit and sarcasm Maria Bello is able to execute. Why Bello hasn't won an Oscar, I have no idea -- she most definitely should of won a few awards for her star turn in THE SISTERS -- if not an Oscar, at least an Independent Spirit. This film gives it's viewers something magical to hold onto - rich dialogue that speaks to the soul and the mind (words with more than 1 or 2 syllables, oh my!!); actors who act with passion for a project and a screenplay they must of really believed in - because you know they didn't get paid for this film and you can't pull the wool over this many stars eyes!! Director Arthur Allan Seidelman has been around for a while and brings his A-game to adapting Chekov's masterpiece. The writer is a wizard of vocabulary who obviously understood the essence of what old Anton was trying to teach us all. Kudos to the writer, director, actors and crew - your efforts to bring quality American cinema to the screen is much appreciated!

'The Sisters' is a lovely little family drama that I nearly missed. Obviously, I was glad I didn't.At first, the movie just looks like two hours of people fighting with each other, and it is. But (highly due to Ms. Bello's performance)there is so much more than that: a human aspect and real characters (for the most part). However one-note the people may be, the writer adds little things here and there to make them diverse and relatable.Maria Bello, as always, is amazing. She plays the angry sister, the one who is always prepared for an argument. Her performance is the best thing about the film. Bello expertly shows the changes her character experiences over the course of the movie. In the beginning, she is just shown as a snotty, sarcastic, rude woman. Over time, she lets us see the hidden vulnerability of a normally dull character, and by the end of the movie, Bello not only plays her part but becomes it, creating a human out of a very underwritten role.Erika Christensen was a surprise. While she is not Evan Rachel Wood or Scarlett Johansson, she still has plenty talent for someone so young. With only one above average performance to her name (Traffic), I expected much less of her but she blew me away with her performance as the shy little sister. She is quite promising and again, I hope to see more of her.The rest of the cast is just as good. Elizabeth Banks plays her role perfectly. She makes a seemingly one-dimensional person show more emotion than expected. Mary Stuart Masterson is also good, but I found her performance the most lacking.Now for the flaws: the screenplay. Truthfully, they are all supposed to be college professors or students, but the vocabulary used is the most advanced I've seen in a film. This may sound like a stupid flaw, but it was the thing I noticed the most while watching this movie as it is as unrealistic as possible. It proves effective in a multitude of arguments, but it doesn't reveal anything about the characters aside from the fact that they are inhumanly smart. The other flaw is that the brother barely has any historical background shown, while his sisters reveal many of their memories; however, he is never in them. If the filmmakers had explored the characters, their relationships, and their motivation more, some of their actions wouldn't seem so absurd or out of place.A very charming movie about anger, forgiveness, and family. ***/****.

As so many of the other comments have beautifully synopsized this film, I won't spend much time repeating the plot. Yes, this film is about three sisters and a brother in a college town, coming to grips with themselves and each other after their father's death.What bothered me throughout the entire film was the writing. I was too keenly aware of the writer himself, as opposed to watching a really good film and saying to myself afterward, "That was beautifully written." Rather, with this film, I could picture the writer saying, "Wow, that was a really good line!" "Here's some big words I can string together!" "Yes! Great line!" Full disclosure: as a writer myself, I fully understand the joy in this, but the characters should take center stage, NOT the writer. I could not get the image of this writer patting himself on the back until it was beet red.I liked Eric McCormack and Erica Christensen, though I would have liked to have learned more about Erica's character, Irene. Chris O'Donnell is never very interesting to me. Too vanilla. Okay, those are actors. Back to the film.The character of Marcia (Maria Bello) was completely unsympathetic to me. She was far more interested in forming complex, multi-syllabic words, showing off her pedigree, and spewing "clever" insults rather than dealing with her demons. Her hatred for her brother's wife, Nancy, was over-the-top and she asked for everything she got in return. Stephen Culp, as her Desperate husband, seemed to just languish. I never really did feel the spark or notice much develop between Marcia and Victor (Tony Goldwyn), so I was completed unimpressed during the scene where they had to part ways, because Victor, as much as he loved her (hello??) could not leave his daughters to be raised by his wife. Noble, but trust me fella, you got out while the getting was good. The drama queen wiped away her mascara and found something else to torture herself with!Supposedly, this wild passion and love ignited between Marcia and Victor almost immediately. Excuse me, I think I blinked during the film. I must have missed it. My apologies.Mary Stuart Masterson as Olga was far more believable as a character. Unfortunately, the viewer was treated to such an overdose of Marcia that the other characters were overshadowed. I would have liked to understood Olga more.Eric McCormack (Gary Sokol), managed to take his angst-filled, bitterly sarcastic character and make him believable. I hated the character through most of the film, but in a way one is supposed to hate a character -- because the actor is doing his job -- not hating a character because he's a tangle of stereotypes, throwing it all out there (or out the window) and hoping something will stick! Marcia! Marcia! Marcia! I imagine this is one of those films that one will either love or hate. I cannot say that it was a terrible film just because I didn't like it; I can only explain my reasons for wanting to muzzle Marcia. I can say that I tend to prefer plays in the theater. Taking them out of their natural habitat often ruffles the beast.Despite the abuse perpetrated on her by her father, Marcia just didn't make me care about her in any way at all. Any moment, I expected her to say, "Okay, enough about me. Let's talk about me." My recommendation is to see this film and decide for yourself. I watched it expecting to really like it. I WANTED to like it. Just didn't happen.

I had the privilege of meeting the Director, Arthur Allan Siedelman at the screening of this film. This is probably the first "dialogue-heavy" movie that I really liked. This film is based on Chekov's "The Three Sisters" which is a great story to begin with. The acting is in one word stunning. Script is like I said very rich in dialogue. Allan Siedelman's direction is very enticing and inviting. I'll root for Maria Bello for an Oscar nomination for her brilliant performance. Scoring is beautiful but subtle. When released, this movie should draw rave reviews and can only be more successful as more people get to watch it.