The Sisters Brothers

Another Western?  Noooooooo, it isn't.  Like most good movies with a Western backdrop the key to the film is a good story.  That's one of the reasons that I've often thought Westerns are an excellent genre - the writer is not encumbered by needing to explain job, marriage, kids, etc.  We can just get right to story.  Fun fact - The story in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly was borrowed from a ninja movie.  A good story is a good story regardless of genre.

First and foremost, the acting is tremendous.  Phoenix and Jake Gyllenhaal offer up stellar performances but the real heart of this movie comes from John C. Reilly and Riz Ahmed (who was excellent in The Night Of).   From beginning to end this just has a very unique feel to it that I couldn't put my hand on.  The final five minutes made me realize what that feeling was (I won't say here).  The message of the film wasn't about the old west or anything like that.  To borrow from the Grinch:  it was something much more.

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This film is incredibly underrated, I watched it with my Dad who honestly doesn't like many modern westerns (I, for the most part, love the modern stuff over the old stuff) but we were both pleasantly surprised as the film has enough to satisfy most audiences and every single actor brings their all to their roles. I recommend it big time for people who want to see a modern-day western and also an old school western, but with a lot of heart behind it.

Great movie! Great performances, all around! I couldn't tell where the story was going at all and I loved every minute of it.

Far better than expected... The comedy takes a back seat to great acting... My ol'lady killed me, after John C Reilly got bit and swole up, she said look! It's Amy Schumer bahahaha

I’m not much of a western person, but the cast of this movie caught my interest. I saw a trailer a while back and it seemed to have a Coen Brothers vibe, I suppose that can still be said about the film. Forgive me but I am not familiar with the works of Jacques Audiard but this movie is quite a journey. Again not being a western person I’m not familiar enough to say if it is a common trope for the story to seem meandering. I know that sounds bad but I don’t mean it that way, it kept my attention throughout and the performances are really great, especially John C Reilly. I love the way the movie handles the action and violence because it isn’t really used for suspense or exploited. It is more of a slight hinderance that the Sisters Brothers have to deal with, as sometimes people try to kill them but they are the Sisters Brothers and they will prevail. The story goes in places I didn’t expect and sometimes I wasn’t fully sure what I should be taking away from that. But at the end of the day, it isn’t about some great big showdown, it’s about a place you can call home and lay your hat

Excellent. I'm a sucker for following misfits round the West, along with all the mischief they get into. Audiard is as good at his craft as Phoenix is at his. Beautifully shot and wonderfully written Western. Brutal, touching, plus it's very funny in places.

Very few flaws in this film.

8.3/10

Slower than I anticipated, but still really enjoyed this on the whole. Humour and savagery well interwoven in this tale. Good performances. Feels like they decided to throw down 90% of the budget on the cast which left far less than most spend on the action elements of westerns like this.

Still, this wasn't a negative here. Perhaps 15 min too long.

7.0

Nothing incredible, but 'The Sisters Brothers' is a very fine film.

Despite a few moments of major action, this actually makes for pretty chilled viewing as we follow the journey of Eli (John C. Reilly) and Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) across the West Coast of the United States during 1851. They're attempting to track down John (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Hermann (Riz Ahmed) - for differing objectives.

I think the reason why this is an enjoyable ride is down to the aforementioned cast. Reilly, Phoenix, Gyllenhaal and Ahmed are very good, I approve all of their performances here. They definitely raise everything else up.

There are some impressive scenes from the midway point, which is where the film really does get going; it's solid beforehand, though all of the good stuff comes late on.

I think I expected much more from this, but it's still a film that leaves a positive impression on me.

An offbeat, and darkly comic western that is rich in detail, and markedly different from others of its kind. It meanders a little at times, and so that brings the score down a notch, but still worth a watch for fans of the genre and admirers of the actors.

Well that was a good picture with some decent cowboys and some good shoot out action but the horse did drag a little.