The Sisters Brothers is an American crime comedy adventure directed by Jacques Audiard and starring John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed and Rutger Hauer. Eli (Reilly) and Charlie (Phoenix) Sisters are tasked by The Commodore (Hauer) to track down a gold prospector (Ahmed). The brothers are outwitted by John Morris (Gyllenhaal) who forms an allegiance with the prospector. This begins the pursuit out West to procure these men on the run or suffer a dire fate at the direction of The Commodore. The pace isn’t that of a wild western but instead, more of a slow burn as the story unfolds.
One would probably easily assume that John C. Reilly would bring a much needed comedy relief element to The Sisters Brothers while other actors would hover more within the serious side of things. Well that assumption would be wrong as John C. Reilly ends up being more of the maturer actors here. If you watch the previews or trailer, you may have a different idea of what your movie going experience is going to entail. It’ll be much drier than you might assume. Maybe it’s the French influence of director Jacques Audiard, but something feels out of the norm here, and not in a good way.
The acting is decent enough to get by but no one gives a performance that will make this movie feel better than it is. If anything these actors should have been directed to loosen up a bit. And this is one of those rated-R movies just for the sake of having an R-rating. Even though it’s a western, the shootouts are pretty lame by today’s standards. It’s the language that earns The Sisters Brothers that restricted rating. And even that part is weak and unnecessary. People are cursing just because they can and it’s kind of annoying.
I’m going to start with one simple misleading fact that put the enjoyment factor of this entire movie in jeopardy. Annapurna Pictures, for some crazy and zany reason, is choosing to classify The Sisters Brothers as a comedy. Unless I’ve totally misplaced my sense of humor, this is a movie that totally lacks comedy. There are a couple of silly moments that I could probably count on one hand. Now either director Jacques Audiard completely sucks at what comedy is supposed to be or audiences are intentionally being misled. Either way, this is one long awkward experience. There are flashing moments of goodness that are soon forgotten thanks to the downtrodden and somber moods by all of the characters.
How The Sisters Brothers has so much positive critic buzz behind it is a mystery to me but if you’re feeling adventurous with a couple of hours to waste, then by all means go ahead and check this one out. I’d say the smarter choice would be to skip it altogether (dying of dysentery may be a more favorable outcome) and go see one of the other more enjoyable movies in theaters right now. Check your local listings for showtimes in your area as this is a very limited release.
