Perfect Sisters

source: Perfect Sisters

Great true story topic. A cast with experience but you'd never know it watching this...reminds me of a high school project. This could possibly ruin these girls careers. Just horrible from start to finish.... can't believe it...poor directing I don't know...a good actor/tress should still be good with poor direction. Sad to see coverage of this story so bad. Waste of time.

The true-life premise of Perfect Sisters is certainly intriguing, and the young leads performed admirably, but altogether it felt to me like this movie was a bit melodramatic and episodic in nature; I probably would have really been affected by it had I seen it at age 14, but as an adult I found myself actually rolling my eyes at some of the developments. It's likely been compared to the far superior 'Heav0nly Creatures' many times, so I won't dwell - I'll just say that the subtleties of that film contrast with the tunnel-vision juvenile point of view that was apparently written into the script of Perfect Sisters. Everything seemed over simplified; characters (except for the two protagonists) were given the one-dimensional treatment, and there was very little in the way of suspense or development. It doesn't help that Mira Sorvino's talent is sorely wasted on a character so devoid of complexity as to be a walking stereotype. While I sense that the director and writer were trying to convey the story through the eyes of the two sisters, it seems the audience is denied the full truth about their mother. One thing that was fun to see was the witticisms of the sisters and how their fantasy life was portrayed on screen; I just wish their had been more of that and a lot less whining and breast-beating. Having listed all those negatives, I'll conclude that it's still a movie worth viewing for the simple fact that it did actually happen - and for its demonstration of the stupidity that causes violent criminals to get themselves caught sometimes.

Based on a true story of Sandra and Elizabeth (Beth) Anderson. Otherwise known as The Bathtub Girls in Mississuaga, Canada. Very sad and disturbing regarding what the girls were dealing with on a daily basis. The sisters seemed more mature than the mom. Being round drink and drugs on a daily basis they'd either join in or hate it, the sisters hate it. Very good acting from all those involved and seemed spot on to me. The sisters dealing with the abuse on a daily basis, the mom who can't seem to stay away from drinking and getting with guys who aren't the nicest. After dealing with more than they can take the girls speak to their dad who now has a new family and to me doesn't want to know. They contact social services for help,they are told to document everything down, not what they wanted to hear. After further abuse the sisters decide to take matters into their own hands, along with a couple of friends they plot to murder the mom. Once it is done the sister who committed the murder goes on a downward spiral of drinking and her attitude changes, she becomes a mirror image of her mom. She brags about the murder and how it was done. Her boyfriend then goes to the police. The trial begins.

I watched perfect sisters for the same reason everyone else did, Abigail Breslin. The little girl who, with her cute charm, mesmerized us in any a movie like 'little miss sunshine' and 'zombieland' has been away from a good movie for quite some time. This movie tries to change that.... I hope. Abigail Breslin and Georgie Henley are two sisters who have faced a lot of hardship in life; their mother is an alcoholic prone to dating the worst of men, who tend to abuse them and their little half brother. When things get very rough, and they find no option to make their lives better, they decide to kill their mother in hope of claiming her life insurance money and leading a life their mother could never provide them. They sketch a plan and kill her, only to be traumatized by the experience. They eventually get caught and are sentenced to ten years in prison, the judge giving the reason that people with a lot worse have done a lot better than they have. The central core of the story is based on a true story, which is what makes thus easier to believe. Many of the children today are growing up to become something the society does not need, and all this due to lack of good parenting. Niw what must a child do to make his/her life better? Well, this movie dwells into one such tale where the children take it into their own hands. The direction is poor, but the movie is held together by good acting. The element that hurts moat is how a couple of perfect girls, who could have achieved anything in life, turn to killing their mother. This is probably what many people cant stomach, and thus end up giving a bad rating, but this is life.. People face such problems and don't know what to do in these situations. That is why i gave the movie a good rating, fir the director and writer for sharing with us a part of someone's life, a part that people like us living in high luxury may never know of. Watch this movie with a clear mind, and you may feel it too...

After having read the other reviews, I'm thrown off by how different my take on the movie was. Where I did find the plot, based on the true story of a murder, intriguing and it prompted me to research the case, I found myself struggling to watch the film all the way to the end. The movie begins very sweetly and innocent. The girls imagining different mother ideas in an obvious effort to portray her as terrible, yet all we see is her trying to start a new life. The wham! She's a drunk. Allowing her young son to play with vibrators while the house is strewn with garbage and food. I did enjoy the attempt of the film to show them as innocent teens just trying to cope, but it just didn't match with the harsh reality of the situation. At times I wasn't sure if I was watching Mean Girls or if I stumbled into something darker. The transition of their emotions from fear to anxiety to giddiness had no natural flow. Not even for a crazy person. I honestly feel that there was a struggle between making the film for a PG13 audience that abused teens could relate to and trying to accurately display the extent that these girls were pushed to even consider murdering their own mother for the sake of a happiness.

This is based on true events that took place in Canada. Some called the actual case "The Bath Tub Girls". Sandra(Abigail Breslin) and Beth(Georgie Henley)are sisters perplexed with being on the movie again. Their alcoholic mother Linda(Mira Sorvino)packs up with daughters and young son in tow after each break up with an abusive boyfriend. It finally gets just too much to take. Sandra is so into herself, as if the world rotates around her. She craves attention. On the other hand, Beth is goth trendy and more in tune with reality. The perfect sisters dream of a perfect life; but how can that be with their mother dragging them down. Then comes the thought, what if they no longer had their mother; what would it take to get rid of her? The two girls manage to cover up the murder of their mother, but their story unravels when one, needing the attention, keeps telling the how and when to friends. Emotional, disturbing and a very sad movie. You don't know what is needed...sympathy or apathy. The acting is not the greatest, but Miss Breslin is so believable. Also in the cast: Zoe Belkin, Jeffrey Ballard, Jonathan Malen and Rusty Schwimmer.

I can't really say this was a disappointment, since my expectations were not all that high. Sometimes a certain premise and a couple of promising actresses can reel you in, but things don't quite work out. The story is based on an actual case, and I had hoped for something along the lines of 'Bully' (2001), but that didn't pan out at all. The director mostly did things by the number, and those 'imaginative' sequences were really nót working. Abigail Breslin and especially Georgie Henley did an okay job, but with a tedious script like this, what is there to salvage? Mira Sorvino did a particularly bad job of the mother, but James Russo was pretty good as the evil 'stepfather'. The rest of cast ranged from poor to adequate. Not recommended. 3 out of 10.

It seems the bad reviews are coming from those that are appalled with the concept, so their views may be slightly skewed. They talk about bad acting by the sisters, which would be true if they weren't portraying teenagers, so many times I was reminded of girls I knew in high school. The lack of real emotion, the "zig zagging back and forth" of their emotional states, etc. is all pretty common for teenagers, especially girls... Considering what they were going through, it wouldn't have seemed right if their wasn't some back and forth in terms of intent and how they felt about the whole thing. It was their mom, so of course they would have had second thoughts and maybe searching for some reason or sign to restore a little faith in her. The character of the a-hole boyfriend was a bit over the top, and should have been toned down and have some build up, instead of having him immediately attack Beth. I mean within seconds he's all over her, it is a bit too much. It felt like the writer used him to make the audience feel empathy for the girls, not small "Well maybe I can see their side" empathy, but a "Whoa! They don't have any choice but to kill her now!!!" type of empathy. Perhaps it could have been better written and there are some parts that are annoying, but those are likely going to be different for most people, as it is with every movie- personal preference. All in all the movie was very watchable for me, though it felt like they didn't want us feeling negatively about the girls at all, so any situation that could create a little empathy is amped up to create a lot of it. After watching it I thought to myself that if they were my friends I wouldn't hold it against them. I then saw a statement by the author of the book saying that they left out how cold and calculating they were. Then I read a bit about the real story and feel much less sympathy for them now. Though I wish they were more true to the real story, I still enjoyed it.

Deadly Sisters? More like 'Stupid Sisters'. These two young ladies are fed up with their alcoholic mother constantly breaking her promises to quit and her horrible choices in men... So they decide to kill her. As you do. In doing so, they leave DNA evidence everywhere, tell all the kids at school they're going to do it, and leave chat records on their laptops discussing their plans in minute detail. And it STILL takes the police until the end to catch them. Useless. They could have avoided all this. They might have gone to the social services to complain about their mom's utterly irresponsible behaviour, or her new partner's attempted molestation of the youngest female. But they don't. Why? The film doesn't provide a good reason. None of the characters here 'feel' real. Their choices and goals change at the whim of the script, not because of any organic development. What could have been a fascinating treatise into the psychological effects of maternal murder is rendered impotent as a result. All in all, a wasted opportunity. If you miss it, you won't be missing out. 5/10