No, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler won’t be hosting the Golden Globes this year. But with any luck they will be there anyway, with “Sisters.” Their comedy written by Paula Pell and directed by Jason Moore premiered last night at the Ziegfeld, with a swellish party at the Museum of Modern Art.
Raunchy, hilarious, “Sisters” is a cousin of Amy Schumer’s “Trainwreck” and should be in the running for Best Comedy both at the Globes and the Critics Choice Awards. The movie should get an award just for opening on the same day as “Star Wars.” But Universal is convinced women will flock to “Sisters,” as well as people– ahem– my age, or over 30, who don’t need to see “Star Wars” right away.
I think they’re right.
Amy and Tina are like the Abbott and Costello, Hope and Cosby, Martin and Lewis of the modern era. They just work together beautifully. Pell wrote for “SNL” for 20 years, waiting for her turn to script a feature film. The movie also features Bobby Moynihan, Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudolph, Chris Parnell, Kate McKinnon all “SNL” people in various roles large and small.
At the party some other pals showed up like Seth Meyers and Fred Armisen, with actress Natasha Lyonne.
“Sisters” has other heavy hitters including two time Oscar winner Dianne Wiest and James Brolin as Fey and Poehler’s sexed up parents, and John Leguizamo as a sleazy friend from high school. Ike Barinholtz makes a strong impression as a love interest for Poehler.
“Sisters” is a great movie about nothing really. Yes, there’s a plot involving the sale of the family home and the parents’ urging the sisters to grow up. But it’s really all a pretense to stage an extended party, an “Animal House” for adults.
There is no heavy point. It’s just fun, and it works because the writing is snappy and sophisticated (even when it’s really raunchy). The women are having a ball, and no one is talking down to the audience. “Sisters” is terrific counter-programming for the leaden march of Oscar films. I’d see it in between “Carol” and “The Revenant” and maybe once more again after that.
