The Other Sister
USA 1999
Reviewed by John Wrathall
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
San Francisco, the present. After spending her childhood in a residential special school, 'mentally challenged' Carla returns home to her upper-class family. Against the wishes of her over-protective mother Elizabeth, Carla enrols at a local vocational school where she meets the equally 'challenged' Danny. Romance blossoms and Carla persuades her family to set her up in her own flat. When Danny fails his exams, his father cuts off his allowance; he will have to go and live with his mother in Florida. Carla asks Elizabeth if Danny can move into her flat, but Elizabeth refuses.
After much prevarication, Carla finally has sex with Danny. But when the family takes Danny along to a Christmas dance at the local country club, he announces this to everyone. Carla freaks out and tells Danny she never wants to see him again. While Carla's family prepare for her sister's wedding, Danny catches the train to Florida. But half way there he gets off and hitches back to San Francisco where he disrupts the wedding by proposing to Carla. This time everyone is charmed, but Elizabeth refuses to agree to Carla and Danny's marriage. Carla goes ahead and arranges it on her own. On the day, Elizabeth refuses to come to the church with the rest of the family. Carla and Danny are married. Then Elizabeth turns up after all. The family is reunited.
Review
About ten years ago, the success of Pretty Woman and Beaches made Garry Marshall one of the most prominent directors in Hollywood. Until the success of Runaway Bride his star seemed to be waning with the failure of Exit to Eden and Dear God, which both went straight to video in the UK. The Other Sister, made before Runaway Bride, fared little better. Marshall first made his name in television, producing such hit shows as Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. The Other Sister, which he co-wrote with his Happy Days associate Bob Brunner, marks a return to old-fashioned small-screen values. Beyond the quality of the cast, and the long drawn-out running time, there's little to distinguish this from an 80s made-for-television 'movie of the week' exploring mental-health problems in sensitive, soft-focus style. This is the sort of film in which a mother can say of her own daughter: "She has significant social adjustment problems."
With an over-protected, ugly-duckling daughter emerging from the shadow of her overbearing mother, The Other Sister echoes the Bette Davis classic Now, Voyager (1942). But Marshall, ever the feelgood merchant (he even made prostitution look fun), shies away from any psychodrama inherent in the situation. As a love story, it's equally coy: a montage of the young lovers Carla and Danny getting to know each other is accompanied on the soundtrack by Jewel singing, "Please be careful of me, I'm sensitive." Although the 'mentally challenged' Danny is prone to embarrassing public outbursts and is driven above all by his desire to have sex with Carla, there's a cosiness about him summed up by his two great passions in life: The Graduate (1967) and marching bands - tastes which seem to say more about the sensibilities of the 60-year-old writers than they do about those of their 20-year-old creations.
That this film is watchable at all, especially at 130 minutes, is down to the efforts of the cast. Previously a specialist in child-woman antics, Juliette Lewis is refreshingly restrained as Carla, limiting her tics to a strangely tongueless way of talking and a tendency to open her eyes very wide. Though the performance isn't going to win her an Oscar, it's hard to think of another actress of her generation who could have carried it off. The up-and-coming Giovanni Ribisi, meanwhile, spices up the wonderfully vacant persona he perfected as Phoebe's brother in Friends with some low-key rocking and blinking, and an endearingly goofy grin.
Credits
- Producers
- Mario Iscovich
- Alexandra Rose
- Screenplay
- Garry Marshall
- Bob Brunner
- Story
- Alexandra Rose
- Blair Richwood
- Garry Marshall
- Bob Brunner
- Director of Photography
- Dante Spinotti
- Editor
- Bruce Green
- Production Designer
- Stephen J. Lineweaver
- Music
- Rachel Portman
- ©Touchstone Pictures
- Production Companies
- Touchstone Pictures presents a Mandeville Films production
- Executive Producer
- David Hoberman
- Co-producer
- Ellen H. Schwartz
- Associate Producer
- Karen Stirgwolt
- Production Co-ordinator
- Ellen Wolff
- Unit Production Manager
- Paul Moen
- Location Manager
- Steve Shkolnik
- 2nd Unit Director
- Scott Marshall
- Assistant Directors
- Ellen H. Schwartz
- David Venghaus Jr
- 2nd Unit:
- Lisa Satriano
- Jamie Marshall
- Script Supervisor
- Carol De Pasquale
- Casting
- Gretchen Rennell Court
- Associate:
- Erica Arvold
- Camera Operator
- Peter Gulla
- Steadicam Operator
- James Muro
- Special Effects Co-ordinator
- Gary Zink
- Graphics Designer
- Doreen S. Austria
- Additional Editing
- Liza McDonald
- Art Director
- Clayton R. Hartley
- Set Designers
- George Lee
- Domenic Silvestri
- Set Decorator
- Jay Hart
- Illustrator
- Alex Hill
- Costume Designer
- Gary Jones
- Costume Supervisor
- Bruce Ericksen
- Make-up
- Key Artist:
- Bob Mills
- Artist:
- Deborah LaMia Denaver
- Hair
- Key Stylist:
- Carol A. O'Connell
- Stylist:
- Dione Taylor Demsky
- Opticals
- Buena Vista Imaging
- Musician
- Piano:
- Michael Lang
- Orchestra Conductor
- J.A.C. Redford
- Orchestrations
- Rachel Portman
- Jeff Atmajian
- Music Supervisor
- Kathy Nelson
- Supervising Music Editor
- Bill Abbott
- Music Editor
- Jay Richardson
- Score Recordist/Mixer
- John Richards
- Soundtrack
- "She Drives Me Crazy" by Roland Gift, David Steele, performed by Fine Young Cannibals; "Drummer City", "Surfer Joe" performed by Long Beach Polytechnic Band; "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (trad); "She Comes 'Round" by Miles Zuniga, performed by Fastball; "Happy Birthday" by Mildred J. Hill, Patty S. Hill; "The Animal Song" by Darren Hayes, Daniel Jones, performed by Savage Garden; "Come Rain or Come Shine" by Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, performed by (2) Juliette Lewis; "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean" (trad), arranged by Erik Markman; "The Wedding March" (2 versions) by Felix Mendelssohn; "Yankee Doodle", "America the Beautiful", "Joy to the World", "O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum" (trad),arranged by Sidney James; "Walkin' Blues" by Ralph Bass, Jesse Powell, performed by Royal Crown Revue; "I Feel the Earth Move" by/performed by Carole King; "You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)" by Joseph McCarthy, James Monaco, performed by Patsy Cline; "Me" by/performed by Paula Cole; "When You Say Nothing At All" by Paul Overstreet, Don Schlitz, performed by Alison Krauss; "I'm Free" by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, performed by Soup Dragons; "Wake Me Up (When the World's Worth Waking up For)" by Kyle Vincent, Parthenon Huxley, performed by Kyle Vincent; "Sunporch Cha Cha Cha" by/performed by Dave Grusin; "I'm Sensitive" by Jewel Kilcher, performed by Jewel; "76 Trombones" by Meredith Willson, performed by The Boston Pops Orchestra, conducted by John Williams; "Sister Wendy's Grand Tour of Florence" by Howard Davidson; "My Home in the Hills" (trad), performed by The Rustic Highlanders; "If You're Happy and You Know It", "Deck the Halls", "Silent Night" (trad); "And Again Love Is" by/arranged by Sidney James; "Baby I'm Yours" by Van McCoy; "Loving You Is All I Know" by Diane Warren, performed by the Pretenders; "Mrs. Robinson" by Paul Simon, performed by The Lemonheads; 2nd Movement 'Winter' from "The Four Seasons" by Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, arranged by Sidney James; "Temptation" by Bernard Sumner, Gillian Gilbert, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, performed by New Order; "Swinging" by James Patrick Dunne, performed by Roger Neumann Band; "16th Century Chuffa" (trad), arranged/performed by Hector Elizondo; "At Last" by Mack Gordon, Harry Warren, performed by (1) Hector Elizondo, (2) Joan Osborne; "The Wedding March - Lohengrin" by Richard Wagner
- Production Sound
- Thomas Causey
- Re-recording Mixers
- Leslie Shatz
- Dean A. Zupancic
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Todd Toon
- Sound Editors
- Joe Milner
- Kimberly Lowe Voigt
- G.W. Brown
- John Kwiatkowski
- Albert Gasser
- ADR
- Recordist:
- Jeannette Browning
- Mixer:
- Doc Kane
- Supervising Editor:
- Joe Mayer
- Foley
- Supervising Editor:
- Piero Mura
- Dubbing Recordist
- Chris Sparkes
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Jimmy Romano
- Animals
- Studio Animal Services
- Film Extract
- The Graduate
(1967)- Cast
- Juliette Lewis
- Carla Tate
- Diane Keaton
- Elizabeth Tate
- Tom Skerritt
- Dr Radley Tate
- Giovanni Ribisi
- Daniel 'Danny' McMahon
- Poppy Montgomery
- Caroline Tate
- Sarah Paulson
- Heather Tate
- Linda Thorson
- Drew Ellison
- Joe Flanigan
- Jeff, Caroline's fiancé
- Juliet Mills
- Winnie, the Tate's housekeeper
- Tracy Reiner
- Michelle, Heather's partner
- Hope Alexander-Willis
- Marge
- Harvey Miller
- Doctor Johnson
- Hector Elizondo
- Ernie
- Almayvonne
- Rachel
- Marvin Braverman
- Uncle Sam teacher
- Laura D'Arista
- Statue of Liberty teacher
- Linda Hawkins
- Marilyn, student
- James Emery
- computer teacher
- Steve Lipinsky
- Phil, tough guy
- Giuseppe Andrews
- Trevor, tough guy
- Jake Wall
- school registration man
- Zaid Farid
- tech principal
- Debra Wiseman
- Alice, teen school student
- Sunny Hawks
- broken toe student
- Dennis Creaghan
- Caroline's minister
Jim Meskimen- Carla's minister
- Julie Paris
- wedding co-ordinator
- Pierson Blaetz
- Mark, assistant co-ordinator
- Steve Restivo
- Vitello, bakery boss
- Shannon Wilcox
- Ruthie, Danny's mom
- Phil Redrow
- Tex, Ruthie's boyfriend
- Adrienne Smith
- Ginger, bridesmaid
- Gretchen Bingham
- bridesmaid 1
- Mariah Dobson
- bridesmaid 3
- Tom Hines
- best man
- Gregg Goulet
- Cousin Teddy
- David Sterns
- Benjamin Linder
- Ryan Hart
- ushers
- Connie Engel
- Cousin Anne
- Barbara Marshall
- Cynthia, guest
- Frank Campanella
- William, guest
- Norma Jean Jahn
- Grace, guest
- Allan Kent
- country club bartender
- Joe Ross
- maître d'
- Catherine McGoohan
- country club lady 1
- Julia Hunter
- country club lady 2
- Stephanie Kissner
- Stephanie, country club member
- Joy Rosenthal
- Joy, country club member
- Patrick Richwood
- real estate agent
- Jeanette Lee
- pool player - black widow
- Cassie Rowell
- Jenny, truck girl
- Anthony Russell
- train passenger
- Bob Brunner
- train conductor
- Richard Stahl
- train ticket seller
- Steven Daniel
- band master
- Gerald Miller III
- drum major
- Bud Markowitz
- Roselake juggler
- Jodi Johnson
- Roselake school teacher
- Shiri Appleby
- free makeover sample girl
- Steve Moloney
- David Ketchum
- college maintenance men
- Monette Magrath
- store clerk
- Jason Cottle
- dog trainer
- Jenna Byrne
- Ali Gage
- stewardesses
- Robert Malina
- bus driver
- Bill Ferrell
- bus station bartender
- Charles Guardino
- limo driver
- Natalie Ramsey
- body shot girl
- Scott Egan
- body shot guy
- Kendra Krull
- young Carla
- Brooke Garrett
- young Caroline
- Brighton McCloskey
- young Heather
- Jennifer Leigh Warren
- Doctor Johnson's secretary
- Colin MacDonald
- mean young boy
- Certificate
- 12
- Distributor
- Buena Vista International (UK)
- 11,710 feet
- 130 minutes 7 seconds
- Dolby digital/SDDS/Digital DTS sound
- In Colour
- Prints by
- Technicolor
- Super 35 [2.35:1]