Your Sister’s Sister 2011

Straight Iris (Emily Blunt) and gay Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) are Seattle sisters with different accents – and different game plans for the same man, Jack (Mark Duplass) – in this boundary-nudging new comedy from writer/director Lynn Shelton, whose Humpday turned heads in 2010. It’s exactly a year since the death of his brother Tom and Jack still feels he’s not coping. Iris, who was Tom’s ex, offers Jack the keys to her father’s island cabin (in the wooded paradise of Puget Sound), unaware perhaps that her sister is also there nursing a broken heart – and a plentiful supply of tequila. Shelton delivers quick-witted banter, classic bedroom farce and a feel for an authentic emotional dilemma with a pleasingly naturalistic touch. This film is great fun, and beautifully performed, with Duplass as the man in the middle underplaying his every blunder very deftly indeed. — BG 

“A captivating examination of criss-crossing relationships permeated by incisive performances… The three actors are flawless… Effortlessly naturalistic dialogue is where Your Sister’s Sister particularly registers. From an opening sequence in which Jack punctures rose-tinted recollections of his brother at a memorial gathering to vegan Hannah trying to impress Iris and Jack with her dairy-free pancakes, it’s always insightful, probing and gloriously amusing… A lovely example of what a surefooted filmmaker can achieve with a game and talented cast and a generous, heartfelt story – demonstrable proof that small pleasures can be the most satisfying.” — Matt Mueller, The Guardian