There's nothing wrong with "The Other Sister" that couldn't be fixed with a little editing. Make that judicious editing. OK, substantial editing would be even better.
This overly sentimental drama-comedy is way too long — 131 minutes in length when it should be 100 at most — its most glaring problem. But certainly not the only one.
The subject of love between two disabled individuals deserves better than this film can manage. And frankly, the material isn't treated with the level of sensitivity you might expect. The concentration on sexuality and other sexually based material is troubling, to put it mildly.
It's also sad that the filmmakers decided to put "normal" actors in disabled roles — especially since the performers who play them (the otherwise talented Juliette Lewis and Giovanni Ribisi) aren't exactly box-office draws to begin with.
Lewis stars as Carla Tate, a mentally disavantaged 24-year-old who returns home after graduating from a special education program. Once there, she immediately clashes with her overprotective — in other words, domineering — mother (Diane Keaton).
During her years at school, Carla has learned to become independent and asserts it by deciding to further her education (at the local trade school) and by getting her own apartment (with mom's help, of course).
Complications arise when Carla meets and quickly falls in love with a fellow disabled student, Daniel (Ribisi). Though her more sympathetic father (Tom Skerritt) writes it off as a harmless crush, her mother is suspicious of Daniel's motives — even believing that he is after her money.
What happens next echoes much-better films, including 'The Graduate." Even more problematical is the script, which is credited to four writers (including director Garry Marshall).
There are plot lines brought up and then abruptly dropped — not to say that it's necessarily a bad thing, since some of them should have been trimmed out altogether.
(The scenes of family disputes over the children's sexuality only serve to establish Keaton's character as unreasonable.)
Neither Lewis nor Ribisi is completely convincing, and Keaton is strictly one-note. However, Skerritt, Juliet Mills and Hector Elizondo are all very good in supporting roles.
"The Other Sister" is rated PG-13 for sex talk, discussion of male and female anatomy and use of vulgar slang, glimpses of nude and sexually explicit drawings, scattered profanities and a violent tantrum.