The Sisters Brothers

Name: The Sisters Brothers
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Comedy, Crime, Western
Released: September 21, 2018
Duration: 121 min
Rating: 78
Cast: Allison Tolman, Carol Kane, Creed Bratton, Duncan Lacroix, Jake Gyllenhaal

2018

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 44 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 115 Ratings

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7.4

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7.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 115 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Annapurna Pictures | Release Date: September 21, 2018 | R

Starring: Allison Tolman, Carol Kane, Creed Bratton, Duncan Lacroix, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, John C. Reilly, Niels Arestrup, Patrice Cossoneau, Rebecca Root, Riz Ahmed, Rutger Hauer, Zac Abbott

Movie Facts:

This is the first English-language film for director Jacques Audiard.

Summary: Based on Patrick Dewitt's acclaimed novel of the same name, The Sisters Brothers follows two brothers - Eli and Charlie Sisters - who are hired to kill a prospector who has stolen from their boss. The story, a genre-hybrid with comedic elements, takes place in Oregon in 1851.

Director: Jacques Audiard

Genre(s): Adventure, Drama, Comedy, Crime, Western

Rating: R

Runtime: 121 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Karen Gordon

Oct 3, 2018

In the end the joy of the movie is in watching these four very different characters interact. Read full review

Soren Andersen

Oct 4, 2018

Adapting a prizewinning novel by Canadian writer Patrick deWitt, Audiard has made an atmospheric Western in which the four lead actors portray their characters with remarkable subtlety. Read full review

Nick de Semlyen

Apr 1, 2019

An eccentric, funny yarn filled with eccentric, funny characters, Audiard’s oater deftly twists Western tropes, sending its charming, ramshackle heroes scurrying from one bizarre incident to the next. Read full review

Kimberley Jones

Sep 26, 2018

Reilly, Phoenix, Gyllenhaal, and Ahmed – a murderers’ row of outstanding character actors who all moonlight as leading men – take the script’s raw materials (daddy issues, the trauma of being bullied, the civilizing effect of a toothbrush) and forge new bonds with a few words, a light look. The film treats their growing intimacy, in all its permutations, like an objet d’art, to be turned over and examined, delicately, from every angle. When they’re together, the film is electric. Read full review

Dominick Suzanne-Mayer

Sep 26, 2018

There’s a strangeness to certain passages of Sisters that bolsters it through its seedy saloons and cacophonous firefights, and it constitutes the best the film has to offer. Read full review

Barry Hertz

Sep 12, 2018

It's a my-brother's-keeper drama, except when it's a violent comedy. It's a tale of There Will Be Blood-levels of greed, except when it's a high-ho adventure. Read full review

Rex Reed

Sep 20, 2018

Mostly it’s a misguided mess. Read full review

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User Reviews

upsetrapid

Sep 30, 2018

The cinematogrophy and direction for this film was superb. The camera paused just at the correct times to give the audience a moment to absorb the emotions of the character. John C. Riley was brilliant and should be nominated for an oscar for this role.

4 of 5 users found this helpful41

Proteus

Oct 20, 2018

Reilly always seemed a second fiddle. But here he shines and carries the movie. The movie is utterly unpredictable. Many many small things to enjoy.
Skip Halloween and instead see this little gem. Enjoy.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

LamontRaymond

Sep 22, 2018

Absolutely one of the better Western's in recent hears. John C. Reilly perhaps deserves an Oscar nom for his performance. The story is elegant, and the supporting cast is extremely solid (Riz and Jake have great chemistry).

4 of 5 users found this helpful41

bataguila

Apr 10, 2019

Empieza bien, luego cae en un bache contemplativo de la epoca de wetern, la ultima media hora es muy buena y es lo que vale la pena.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

JordanLayton

Apr 28, 2020

A subversive western epic starring JOaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, and John C. Reilly. Some pacing issues but great character work.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Ralfbergs

May 29, 2020

While it was watchable and certainly had really good actors in it who were enjoyable to watch and made it feel real, it still overall felt a bit boring or like not being sure where the plot is heading and towards end got more and more feeling that not that entertaining to watch, like I hoped

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

GreatMartin

Oct 9, 2018

Why did I go to a movie that I felt I wouldn’t like only to have it cost me $111.92? In 70+ years of going to the movies there are probably 4 or 5 westerns that I liked and most of them made before the 1960s and, yet, here I found myself going to see “Sisters Brothers”.
The main thingWhy did I go to a movie that I felt I wouldn’t like only to have it cost me $111.92? In 70+ years of going to the movies there are probably 4 or 5 westerns that I liked and most of them made before the 1960s and, yet, here I found myself going to see “Sisters Brothers”.
The main thing prominent in most westerns is violence and it is here more visual than in most opening with a shoot out with bodies falling all over, barns being burnt and horses afire running.
The only thing missing are Indians and the scalping of ‘white men’ but we do get horses with men on them galloping across desert, mountains, going down from Oregon to California stopping in small dusty towns and a sophisticated hotel in San Francisco along with panning for gold in streams and rivers.
The Sisters brothers, Eli (John C. Reilly) and Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) are hunting down the enemies of the Commodore (Rutger Hauer) while they are being hunted by John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal) who has picked up a foreigner Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed) also wanted by the Commodore but who has come up with a lethal liquid to find nuggets of gold in the aforementioned rivers and streams.
These are not silent men but men who talk, talk and then do some more talking even when killing, lead by Reilly, big brother to Phoenix while Gyllenhaal talks with an indefinable accent and Ahmed doesn’t seem to have any accent at all. There are 2 women who have lines in the screenplay by Jacques Audiard and Thomas Bidegain but mostly females are shown as townspeople in background shots. Jacques Audiard, a French director makes his English speaking movie debut here.
There are a couple of scenes of violence to people and animals that most people will either turn their head away from the screen or just shut their eyes.
The movie is 2 hours, seemingly longer, with too many ‘scenic’ shots and certainly too many ‘speeches’. There are also two men in Davy Crockett type hats who really added nothing to the movie except being there for another shootout and flowing blood.
“Sisters Brothers” has a clever title but that’s all the good I can say about it.
(Oh about that ticket price--getting my ticket I dropped my phone, cracked the glass and couldn’t get anything to download!)… Expand

1 of 11 users found this helpful110

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