Your Sister's Sister
IFC Films | Release Date: June 15, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
USA TodayClaudia PuigJun 28, 2012
So many movies try to capture human relationships and fail miserably. A few come close. Your Sister's Sister nails it with grace, humor and winning charm. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumJun 13, 2012
Each an actor of distinctive delicacy, Duplass, DeWitt, and Blunt do some of their subtlest, most sweetly calibrated work ever, playing off one another with the kind of ease and trust that is, in itself, a demonstration of love. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnJun 10, 2012
Duplass' feisty energy is matched by DeWitt's constant smarminess, while Blunt's shy, fragile behavior balances off the forceful personalities surrounding her. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJun 29, 2012
This is a smart, moving film that's also very, very funny. Read full review
80
MovielineMichelle OrangeJun 16, 2012
It's a mark of Shelton's ability to create living characters from seemingly minor shared moments -- the ones that wind up meaning everything. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJun 14, 2012
This film's only real stumble is its ending, which is so predictable it seems like a bit of a copout. Read full review
80
TimeMary PolsJun 14, 2012
There is a looseness to the dialogue that suits the mood of the story-each character gets his or her own bombshell (or two) to digest and has to figure out how to cope with it. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesJun 13, 2012
In some mumblecore movies the semi-improvised dialogue can be engulfed by hipster irony, but the acting here is so skilled, and the emotional terrain so rocky, that Shelton manages to break past the genre's narrow social parameters to a moving story of grief, betrayal, and devotion. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJun 12, 2012
Nothing about the movie is showy, except for Shelton's palpable love of good people making a mess of things. Barring some late-inning coyness, it's some of the truest, dinged-heart couples' circling of the year. Read full review
80
The GuardianMatt MuellerJun 9, 2012
A captivating examination of criss-crossing relationships permeated by incisive performances. Read full review
80
VarietyJustin ChangApr 4, 2012
After putting male insecurity under a comic microscope in "Humpday," writer-director Lynn Shelton hands the fairer sex a more prominent role in Your Sister's Sister, another winning study of relational boundaries crossed and sexual dares gone awry. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyJun 21, 2012
Shelton and her cast are so skillful that before long it seems we are not moviegoers watching a screen but flies on a wall witnessing real encounters and the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 16, 2012
More good than bad, at least until its too tidy conclusion. Since it's essentially a three-character movie, it's a good thing that the characters, and the actors who play them, can hold the screen. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickJun 15, 2012
This extremely well-acted dramatic farce of grief and betrayal actually has a resonance beyond its target demographic. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayJun 14, 2012
Very little is simple in Your Sister's Sister -- not the emotions, the naturalistic tone or the unstudied, easygoing performances. But the film's pleasures are. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 14, 2012
Relationships are killers, and this tough, tender, deeply satisfying romantic comedy from writer-director Lynn Shelton is also bruisingly funny. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJun 13, 2012
The way this unfolds is surprisingly engaging. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJun 22, 2012
Only at the end do we sense Shelton forcing her hand, and arranging, rather too neatly, for the rebalancing and desaddening of all concerned. [25 June 2012, p.85]
70
SlateDana StevensJun 16, 2012
As in "Humpday," this movie's dialogue moves with a freshness and spontaneity that sounds improvised, even as the precisely marked story beats reveal the writer/director's hand at work. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 14, 2012
Lynn Shelton's lovely tale of swirling feelings was shot in a mere 12 days, on a budget that must have been minuscule. A couple of minutes after it's started, though, you know you're in the presence of people who will surprise and delight you. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeApr 4, 2012
Following up "Humpday" with another low-rent charmer, Lynn Shelton moves from two- to three-character dynamics. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJun 27, 2012
The film's conceits may be a bit too contrived and conventional, but nothing about these characters' interactions are forced. Your Sister's Sister is a welcome guest. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 14, 2012
It's pleasant as far as it goes. For all the blithe interaction among the central three performers, however, the material's conventional and predictable. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineKenji FujishimaJun 9, 2012
For long stretches in its first two acts, Lynn Shelton's film is distinguished by a disarming sense of freedom and spontaneity. Read full review
60
Total FilmJonathan CrockerJun 21, 2012
It's probably the best three-star movie this month. An effortless, emotional, funny little indie that few people will see. Be one of them. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 14, 2012
The film's late swerves into melodrama and the neighboring region of farce feel panicky and pandering. The subtlety of the performances - Ms. DeWitt's in particular - is sacrificed for easy laughs, shallow tears and a coy trick ending. Just when it was starting to get interesting. Read full review
60
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonJun 12, 2012
As Alex Ross Perry's "The Color Wheel" - another micro-budgeted sibling story - shows, a film about relentlessly repellent characters is much more fascinating, if not courageous, than one that tries to explain, redeem, or forgive them so easily. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsJun 13, 2012
This time out, Shelton seems to be playing the part of someone who doesn't know how to finish what she started. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedJun 13, 2012
This three-hander has an honesty and a momentum that I found grudgingly rewarding. Read full review
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