Sisters

The bawdy, gross-out comedies that were pioneered back in the '80s by John Landis in Animal House have gone through various changes through the years, but it's only just in the past five years that women have gotten an honest shake of the genre. For the most part, they've been what we expect of these comedies - crowd-pleasing, broadly funny, easily entertaining. Why it's taken Amy Poehler and Tina Fey so long to bring their considerable talent to bear with this style is a mystery.

Fey and Poehler are Maura and Kate, two women at either end of the human development spectrum. Fey's Kate is a whirlwind of bad decisions and leopard print whilst Poehler's Maura is a hyper-organised control freak who hasn't let her hair down since, well, ever. When their parents, James Brolin and Dianne Wiest, decide to sell up their family home and move to a condo, the sisters descend upon the house and plan a blow-out party to reconnect with their youthful days. Parallel to this, Fey is dealing with an estranged daughter and the possibility of homelessness whilst Poehler has closed herself off to life following a divorce.

The plot itself is understandably formulaic. They have a party, invite a lot of their high school friends, it gets out of hand. The slight shift is that Fey and Poehler agree to switch roles for the night; Poehler can get drunk whilst Fey will act as 'Party Mom' and keep the place from falling asunder. The supporting characters / partygoers is a who's-who of comedy talent, including Kate McKinnon as a stereotypical lesbian, a scene-stealing Maya Rudolph as a highly-strung businesswoman and nemesis of Fey and Mindy Project's Ike Barinholtz as Poehler's potential love interest.

The script, by fellow SNL alum Paula Pell, is loaded with one-liners that Fey and Poehler deliver with sheer ease. The rapport between them is genuine, unforced and easy to get along with. Likewise, the supporting cast compliment the setpieces brilliantly well. Yet again, professional wrestler John Cena makes a scene-stealing cameo as a drug-dealer who looks like he walked off the set of Sons of Anarchy. The interplay between he and Fey is just one of many highlights throughout the film's runtime.

There are one or two downsides, of course. Some of the jokes do feel laboured and don't exactly land as well as they should. Current SNLer Bobby Moynihan plays a 'class clown' who makes terrible jokes and is generally exhausting to be around. For whatever reason, he's referenced a few times too often and it's only until later in the film that he becomes funny, used more as a punctuation point by that stage than a set-up. There's a needless subplot about Fey's daughter as well, but it's a minor complaint.

For the most part, Sisters works well within the conventions of bawdy, man / woman-child comedy. Fey and Poehler are working off the blueprints and adding their own flair here and there, but it doesn't stray too far off it to become something else. Enjoy it for what it is - a no-fuss, no-frills comedy that throws two fingers up to the notion that Seth Rogen and Will Ferrell can do this kind of comedy.