Earlier this year I find myself seeing Emily Blunt far more with admiration, ever since I saw how tough she was in Edge of Tomorrow (2014), kicking ass with Tom Cruise. Even more when I found out that her birth date is just a day different than mine (means she’s a Pisces, who supposedly a mellow character. Not that it’s important for you ahah). For a weekend watching I felt like seeing something light and sweet, and I somehow watched Your Sister’s Sister (2011), a few years before I always wanted to check out.
I always wanted to see more of Mark Duplass after his odd-but-adorable performance in Safety Not Guaranteed (2012). Duplass has this rare quality of a underachiever/slacking-off but thoughtful kind of guy. He still is in this movie, being Blunt’s bestfriend, Jack. He’s dealing with tough times because of his brother’s death, which happened a year ago. Blunt as Iris was his brother’s ex-girlfriend, still remaining friends with his brother.
Iris thought that he should have a quiet time at the moment, suggests that he should go to her family’s cottage, located away from the city. But when Jack arrives there, Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), Iris’ sister already in the house thinking she’ll have her own quiet time. After having a drinking game, Jack discovers that Hannah has been recently walk out from a 7-year relationship with her girlfriend. To cheer her up, Jack compliments her in a way that it looks like a flirtation and an invitation to do intercourse, only it didn’t work normally since Hannah is a lesbian. Previously hesitant for the idea, Hannah suddenly agreed to sleep with him.
“Whatever you think is helping you, I have a responsibility as your friend to tell you that it’s not.”In the morning, Jack wakes up and panicked after he sees Iris arrived at the cottage. He rushes out to make it look like he had a long run in the morning. Jack doesn’t want Iris to find out their night, while Hannah doesn’t care. She feels that Jack might be have a feeling with Iris, which he denies awkwardly. Meanwhile Iris feels left out because she just found out that Hannah has just broken up. At night, Iris confesses to Hannah that she’s in love with Jack. As it turns out, the harmless sex isn’t as harmless as Jack and Hannah thinks.
Iris played by Blunt is a genuinely sweet, caring and kind woman, as opposed to Hannah who is more closeted and mysterious, though maybe it’s biased because Hannah is conflicted and heartbroken in the story. Iris look up to her sister a lot, while Hannah is more independent. For some reason, Hannah feels like a hidden antagonist between both Jack and Iris. Both Iris and Hannah deal with an inconsistent father on picking a serious potential lover.
You can sense that Jack and Iris feels a little bit more intimate than the label they claimed they have; friends. I do feel that it’s a rather ‘rare’ condition if you are best friends with your ex-boyfriend’s brother. The bond they have, which is Jack’s brother is somewhat feels like a shadow of their relationship.
Jack, Iris and Hannah’s conflict is twisted and complicated, one won’t have to deal if the other’s honest from the very start. This is a perfect example on how human can make things more complicated when it should be very simple. Fortunately, the three characters, especially Blunt and Duplass were likeable. Both chemistry’s working well, better than Blunt and McGregor in Salmon Fishing in The Yemen (2011). I thought the drama could be more intense and urgent than pictured in the movie, a little shortage of direction by Lynn Shelton. Maybe it should have pictured more romance. But I do loved how it showed the unsolvable situation could feel less of a burden if we act it correctly. From sisters and potential lover relationship, Your Sister’s Sister is a movie with proper amount of sweetness.
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