Brilliant performances, Maria Bello is stand out. Her portrayal of Marcia shows how good of an actress she really is. Bello has the ability to play strong and viscous along side damaged and vulnerable without breaking a sweat. Her performance alone is worth the watch. The film brilliantly intense and is like watching a play on screen. The script and acting are strong enough to allow this to happen. You can fully relate and believe in the character's and the back story. Overall this is a great film about a dysfunctional family trying to get to grips with change and its a great version of Chekhov's play. It is refreshing to watch a clever and complex film with real dialog and real actors.

Without a doubt, one of the best independent films this decade.With a dialogue-rich script that reminds us why we enjoy cinema (no special effects here!), and helmed by one of the only director's in Hollywood capable of gathering a cast of this magnitude (check out his credits -- they're unbelievable!), THE SISTERS takes the audience on a journey into a family's inner workings - flaws, affairs, working dysfunctions and all.Maria Bello gives a dynamic, deep and moving performance, which I heard she won several awards for on the festival circuit.Eric McCormack comes out of no where with a raw intensity that changes the way you will see him.Tony Goldwyn's masculine sexuality proves his leading man status will for sure keep him working for years to come.But none of the above would have been possible without a script written as brilliantly as this one. Dialogue-rich, this script delivers an emotional journey with powerful scenes that keeps the story moving and the momentum growing - all culminating in a climax of intensity and drama that hits you with the realities of the illusion of family.This is a staunchly independent film that anyone interested in superb cinema should definitely see.

When I think about it, there have been quite a few cinematic variations on Anton Chekhov's classic "The Three Sisters" from Woody Allen's austere "Interiors" to Diane Keaton's execrable "Hanging Up". Playwright-turned-screenwriter Richard Alfieri provides a more literal adaptation by updating the original play to the present and resetting it primarily in a Manhattan faculty lounge on the Upper West Side. Longtime TV director Arthur Allan Seidelman guides an impressive ensemble of actors in the proceedings, but the result unfortunately feels like a stagy TV-movie brimming with overripe theatrics. The abundance of characters and multi-layered set-up seem to make the actors chew the scenery excessively, though a few still make indelible impressions.The structure and themes of the Chekhov play remain the same. The plot focuses on the four Prior siblings - Marcia, Olga, Irene and Andrew - and their clashing destinies and unraveling secrets furnish the drama as they get together for Irene's 22nd birthday party. Maria is the beautiful, vitriolic older sister unhappily married to a passive psychology professor while embarking on a torrid affair with Vincent, their father's former teaching assistant who has come unexpectedly for a visit. Irene is the buttoned-up middle sister, an English literature professor and by default the family conciliator. Irene is the protected baby sister whose sunny disposition masks deeper insecurities that lead to a crystal-meth overdose. Andrew is the weak, emasculated brother who has brought home Nancy, his slatternly fiancée, whom his sisters, especially Marcia, despise. There are others who encircle the family like a vise with their own histrionics - kindly department head Dr. Chebrin and dueling professors Gary Sokol and David Turzin, both in love with Irene and seething with rage against each other.There are plenty of fireworks, but with so many characters to track, Seidelman produces a truncated flow to the story while making the movie itself feel overlong. The performances are all over the map, though each seems to have at least one bravura set piece. As she proves in David Cronenberg's "A History of Violence", Maria Bello is one of the strongest actresses on screen today and makes Marcia a memorably fiery character, especially as she lays into the vulgar Nancy or succumbs to Vincent's ardent attention. As Irene, the underused Mary Stuart Masterson brings a coiled sense of repression that makes the contrast between her and Marcia biting and poignant. Less interesting is Erika Christensen, who makes Irene sweetly vulnerable but cannot transcend the trite arc of her character. Chris O'Donnell barely registers as the romantically obsessive David, but Eric McCormack - who will have a challenge overcoming his pervasive Will Truman persona - is all sarcastic blather as Gary until he manages to convey the character's pathetic jealousy.Elizabeth Banks - memorable as the lusty bookstore clerk in "The 40-Year Old Virgin" - makes the vulgarity of Nancy palpable if rather obvious with a wavering Bronx accent, while Alessandro Nivola - equally memorable as the pampered rock star in "Laurel Canyon" - is effectively passive as Andrew. Tony Goldwyn seems oddly stilted as Vincent, making him a dispassionate match for Marcia's voracious self-destruction. At times, the dialogue is insightful with clever zingers. At other times, it sounds laughably mannered, and the general dysfunctional situation gets wearing over time. A few cathartic moments shine through, especially toward the end when Marcia and Olga come to terms with each other. The DVD is short on extras - just the original trailer and an overly earnest commentary from Seidelman and Alfieri.

This movie has a lot of potential. The cast looks good on paper. The accessibility of family conflict isn't out out of range. The conflict between the characters in this ensemble piece about a family and their love/hate relationships is the core of this film. I kept waiting for something BIG to happen that would change everything. There were 2 events that tried to do that and one smaller event between the 2 that impacted the story, but not enough to give it the deep plot development that a movie based on so much dialogue deserves. The sequel to this movie could end up being better than the original should a sequel ever be written.