Equal part a tale of two vacuum cleaners and love child lunacy as in the case of discovering a Sis from another Miss, Sisterhood is one of those devilish British comedies in which the veneer of English propriety is barely a cover for the determined nutty antics to come. And its unapologetically wicked sense of humor gets a decidedly female touch here, spun from the unrepentant imagination of Sisterhood star and screenwriter, Emily Corcoran.
Corcoran is Shirley, a brash tomboy and New Zealand livestock farmer too isolated from society to have knowledge about trivial pursuits like etiquette and femininity, or care. When her alcoholic single mom drops dead one day after being electrocuted while trying out her brand new vacuum cleaner, Shirley takes off for the tonier side of London to locate Catherine (Isabelle DeFaut), the none too pleased half sister she never knew. And in the process leaving behind a handsome hunk of a smitten local peasant she has no idea is more than forthcoming about being madly in love with her, to tend to milking the cows and shearing the sheep while she’s away.
It seems that their good-for-nothing absentee father Jack (Nicholas Ball), has made a sudden claim on the farm that he had conned Shirley’s departed mom into leaving to him. And that Catherine’s mother, who died the very same day from the identical brand new vacuum cleaner, also left the shop the two of them ran together, to a father Catherine was told died long ago.
Further complicating matters in delightfully peculiar ways, is an elderly London woman that Jack learns by chance has just won a bundle in a lottery, so he stops by there rather stealthily on his way to claim Catherine’s property, to woo and propose marriage to the surprisingly sex-crazed senior.
Sisterhood is gleefully cutting gender wars satire, taking outrageous pot shots at assorted male skullduggery and some preposterous female tendencies too. And if you think women have come a long way baby and have simply been there, done all that, imagine the unimaginable, in an utterly charming, unprecedented unisex, down on one knee, take charge female proposal of marriage in a movie.
Cinevolve Studios
Unrated
3 1/2 stars
DVD Features: Interviews withDirector Richard Wellings-Thomas, Writer/Actress Emily Corcoran, Producers Tim Hart and Abi Siokh, and New Zealand Cast and Crew; Behind The Scenes; Photo Gallery; Trailer; Coming Attractions.
