The Other Sister
Film Review
By: Dan Dombrowski
(Found left on the Macintosh computer in the UIS media lab, in which I shamelessly stole and posted to my blog. Thanks Dan!)

Watching a well-crafted melodrama can be an uplifting almost spiritual experience. Watching a bad melodrama can make even the most gullible softie feel like throwing up. While intelligence, sensitivity, and heartfelt emotion are hallmarks of a good melodrama, idiocracy and manipulation define a bad melodrama. Unfortunately the film “The Other Sister” falls in the bad melodrama category, because the film appears as unrealistic and fake in not only it’s plot, but also in the use of dialogue, film techniques, and character portrayals. The primary aspect that makes this film appear manipulated and unrealistic is it’s shameless use of mental retardation as either a gimmick, a prop, or as a plot device. Anyone who has any knowledge of mental retardation would probably find this film offensive, because it treats the two disabled characters like they are cute little performing seals who always deliver their “mentally challenged” dialogue with perfect timing and with an edge of irony and drama. The film “The Other Sister” uses “mentally challenged” dialogue to either pokes fun at the disabled, or to create unrealistic plot points aimed at propelling the film.
The filmmakers don’t hold back at all from laying down a thick layer of clichés, overall predictability, and heart tugging scenes that appear a bit to painfully obvious to pull off the much needed natural feeling effect on audiences.
(continues for 6 more pages shredding to pieces the movie...)