Sisterhood, Inc.

Where do I start with this one? Okay, I can respect Hallmark for trying to be a little creative and wanting to try new things with their movies. And this movie was definitely different. But was this a good move? I’m not so sure. I’m not even convinced this was about a romance. Not really. It was….well, it was definitely campy. So writing up a review, let's just say this time I found it to be a little more challenging. But, I’m giving it my best shot. So, let’s dive right in and get this started. 

On February 22nd, Hallmark Channel aired the premiere of Sisterhood, Inc. starring Rachael Leigh Cook, Daniella Monet and Leonidas Gulaptis. The movie opens in a montage showing us the stark contrast between these two sisters, Megan and Izzy. 

Let’s start with Megan, played by Rachael Leigh Cook. She is a hard-working, driven character who keeps a tight schedule accounting for every hour of the day. Now there’s a reason for that. She’s the founder and CEO of an app-based company called Bescheduled. Well, she was. This is until she was abruptly fired by her own board of directors.  Megan never even saw it coming!

Her younger sister Izzy, Daniella Monet's character, is the complete opposite. Lets see, she’s immature, irresponsible, nearly thirty-years-old and still living at home with an enabling mother, and has zero plans for her life. She delivers pizzas and isn’t even any good at doing that! 

So how is the dynamic between these two? Megan is embarrassed by her mother and her sister. She tends to avoid them as much as possible. And when we meet her mother, it’s almost understandable. Was she seriously disappointed in her for not looking more depressed?!

It’s at this dinner that evening, though, that the idea was sparked which became the premise of this movie. Megan kind of went off on her mother and sister about how they were completely codependent. She went on to tell Izzy she loves her but she has no ability to take care of herself. And, in fact, if Izzy would let her, she (Megan) would love to help her turn her life around, running it like like a corporation, complete with its own board of directors.

The next morning Izzy pays Megan a visit and agrees to turn her life over to her. Clearly, Izzy is not a happy with her life as it might seem and is desperate for help.

Now the initial idea of Izzy asking for help from her big sister is not a bad one. And getting input from some of the others? Fine. The problem with this is Megan being the one to run it because she's completely oblivious to other people and her surroundings. Remember how completely caught off guard she was about being fired? 

So here’s how it all unfolds. Megan selects members of the board. They first assess where Izzy is now, which is somewhat sad and pathetic, and they even clean out her closet. 

Anyway, next Izzy gets a new wardrobe and they discuss a new career for her. Now, Dominic the neutral psychologist on the board, tries to involve Izzy in this decision-making process by asking her what brings her joy. Megan, on the other hand, dismisses any input that Izzy may have and finds her a job as a receptionist at an art gallery. Now I'm not actually arguing with this move on her part. Sometimes we need to do things in life that maybe we don't enjoy but they're necessary to make ends meet and to reach the next goal. But Izzy's not going to understand that. She agrees to take it, but she never sees the big picture.

Next the board tackled her love life by trying to match her up with someone online. Well, not really. Megan and Dominic aren’t actually thinking about finding someone compatible with Izzy at all in this process. Honestly I think Carson, the business-driven guy they pick out for Izzy, would be a perfect fit for Megan! 

And finally, Megan rents out a new apartment for Izzy so she can finally move out of their parents’ house. All in all, Megan makes all these decisions without listening to Izzy. And we both know that eventually, that's going to backfire.

Oh, speaking of backfiring...on the side, Megan begins a project to market this whole personal run-your-life idea as a new app. But she never notifies anyone on the board, or even her sister, about going public with this business concept.  I've got to say so far, there’s nothing I find particularly likeable about either of these characters.

So as we neared the end of it all, Izzy fell back into her old habits. Big surprise, right?!  She threw a huge party at her new fancy apartment and completely trashed the place.  But was that the big crisis at the end? No, not quite.

That comes when the press release came out about Megan’s capitalizing on this new life transformation app that was all about Izzy, but which she never told Izzy about. Yeah that didn't go over well. Nor can I blame Izzy for feeling used by her sister.

But hey, Izzy goes back to her old life because suddenly remembers she at least used to be happy that way. Wait, when exactly was that?! I can't say that I ever saw that.

You know, I’m hesitant to bring up Bill Cosby because I know, Bill Cosby the man turned out to be a nightmare. But The Cosby Show was brilliant. And there’s this one scene with Theo I’ve never forgotten. It may have even been the pilot episode. Theo gave this long monologue about why it’s okay to be essentially lazy and mediocre and get terrible grades in school. And this was his dad’s reaction, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my life!” Which is exactly how I felt with Izzy. 

Now ultimately I'll give her a little credit because she did try a couple of new things. And Megan learned that maybe she should try to not be quite so controlling. All of this transformation was supposed to take place before her 30th birthday, so of course it had to end with her birthday itself. They threw Izzy a fun party at a roller rink, and that was pretty much it.

Of course Dominic and Megan somehow ended up together but for me that was always a weird pairing. Like I said in the beginning, this was never a love story.

So, besides the storyline, some issues I have with this movie include the dialogue. I felt like the script was written with a laugh track in mind. Every line felt like it was intended to be a punchline. And it was too campy. By that I mean the acting in every scene was over-exaggerated, so there was nothing natural about any of the relationships. 

The only scenes worth watching, in my opinion, were those involving Dominic or maybe Curtis. I kind of liked those two characters. But if you look this one up on the Hallmark Movie Checklist app, Leonidas Gulaptis is not even listed under the cast. That kind of supports my suggestion that this was NOT a romance movie. And it is certainly not one I plan to watch again.

Honestly, I would give it a 1 ½ out of 5, which is not good. It’s sitting at a 5.9 on IMDB which is about what I would expect. From what I’ve seen, anything in the 5s is not worth a rewatch. And as I said before, I think it’s great that Hallmark is trying some new ideas. They’ve made so many movies over the years I sometimes like fresh ideas. Unfortunately, this one was a swing and a miss. At least it was for me.

And on that note I I think that wraps up my review of Sisterhood, Inc. After this, Hallmark is airing a series of Royalty-themed movies. I personally love a good royal movie, so I'm excited and can't wait to talk about them. To kick everything off next time we'll be discussing The Royal We starring Mallory Jansen, whom you might remember last year from Paging Mr. Darcy.

Until then, and as always, thank you so much for being here and being a part of the Magical Movie Club. We'll be back next week to chat more about our favorite magical movies!

Hallmark Channel's Original Preview:  Sisterhood, Inc. - Preview

Hallmark Channel Movie Site: Sisterhood, Inc.