Parents' Guide to

Perfect Sisters

By Brian Costello, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Murder, booze, drugs in melodramatic true-crime movie.

Movie NR 2014 100 minutes
Perfect Sisters Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 17+

Based on 2 parent reviews

Mariana154
Mariana154 Adult
October 4, 2020
age 17+

Definitely not for kids.

This movie is basically for young adults. There’s no way a kid should be exposed to this movie. There’s a scene where the mom, and her boyfriend were either having sex, or about to, and it was disturbing. The exposure to addiction was pretty strong.
ofwonderlands
ofwonderlands Adult
March 1, 2015
age 17+

This true story hits home, but is NOT for kids

I loved perfect sisters, for it's realism. It is based on a true story and I first heard about the production a few years ago because I follow Georgie Henley. Both lead actresses pass of very solid performances. It hit home for me as someone coming from an abusive childhood. It truly portrays the emotion that you go through, when being in that kind of situation. This movie would have been rated R, most likely, had it been in major theatres. It is, in my opinion, quality for older and mature teenagers that can sit down with parents and talk about the effects of abuse on children and a family. Despite what the two girls in the film (Sandra and Beth) chose to do is wrong, they are two sisters that have been through the worst and do not leave one another behind. It is a film for a family with older children, that want to learn, and can discuss things with their parents.
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What's the Story?

Sandra (Abigail Breslin) and Beth (Georgie Henley) are teenage sisters whose alcoholic mother (Mira Sorvino) is moving them once again to a new apartment with their younger brother. After making an effort to get her life back on track, their mother descends once again into alcoholism and irresponsible parenting, dating yet another boyfriend who is physically abusive to her and her son and who makes sexual advances toward Beth. Faced with an intolerable home life -- especially when their mother decides they're going to move again, this time into the home of her abusive boyfriend -- Sandra and Beth, with the help of Beth's boyfriend, Justin, and their new friend, popular "mean girl" Ashley, begin to plot ways in which they can end their mother's life. When Sandra and Beth actually go through with it -- feeding their mom vodka and pills, then drowning her in the tub and making it look like an accident -- they believe they're finally free to live with their kind aunt. But as gossip begins to swirl around them in their high school -- and Beth in particular begins to feel deep guilt and remorse, which she tries to drown out through drugs and alcohol -- their perfect plan begins to fall apart, especially as the authorities dig deeper and search the Internet trail they've left along the way.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (3 ):

Solid acting prevents PERFECT SISTERS from being worse than it is. Abigail Breslin, Georgie Henley, and Mira Sorvino take an over-the-top and melodramatic screenplay and turn in credible performances, all things considered. However, the secondary characters -- the "mean girl," the "sensitive emo boy," the "kind but stern aunt," "the nice boy who never gets the girl" -- are clichés straight out of pretty much every teen movie from the last 20 years, to say nothing of the overlong teen party scenes in which far too much time is spent on drinking games, pot smoking, and over-served partygoers stumbling around.

Although the movie goes to great lengths to show the horrible home life of these girls, it also inexplicably vacillates between wanting to be a "true crime" movie and a "teen life" movie. Scenes of alcoholic despair and graphic physical abuse are interspersed with attempts at quirkiness with an interlude called "How to Kill Your Mother." Such awkward attempts at trying to appeal to teenagers take away from the actual story. Overall, this is an interesting and very tragic story based on real events, but these real events get drowned out at the expense of attempts at cleverness and movie trickery that at times feels exploitative.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how adolescence is shown in this movie. Which parts of this movie feel real to what teenagers experience both inside and outside of high school, and what parts seem cliché or overdone?

  • This movie was based on a book based on true events. What do you see as the challenges in turning a book into a movie, especially one based on a true story?

  • Which parts of this movie seem true, and which parts seem embellished or exaggerated for the sake of the story?

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