This is a good, cute, little movie to watch and I'm glad I watched it but it's definitely not without its problems.
The concept of the movie sounds rather simplistic and not all that original and engaging but it actually works out surprisingly engaging and even original, within the actual movie. It mostly works because it isn't going for the typical- or sappy type of dramatic approach. Instead it features some very real feeling characters in it and lets things slowly and subtly develop, which gives it all a real sense of realism to it.
It's not just a movie in which 2 Dutch twin sisters try to connect to their American mother, who they have never met or seen (well, not since childbirth that is) but they also reconnected in a, for them, unexpected way to each other and start to rethink and evaluate their own lives. All sounds terribly deep and serious but don't worry, it isn't. The movie for most part still has a very light tone and style to it. In some ways it's also definitely more of a comedy than a drama but that doesn't mean that the movie is not without its serious moments and emotions of course.
But all of this is only true for its first half though. Only the first half of the movie feels like a truly effective, original and engaging one. Something changes in the story as it heads toward its ending. I won't say what it is, since that would be spoiling things but lets just say that this movie ends in a kind of way that lots of modern family drama's like to end in. Terribly disappointing, unoriginal but above all things, there was absolutely no need for the movie to take such a turn. It certainly went at the expense of the movie its drama and overall sense of realism- and even to some extent of the movie its characters.
But that's not all that bothered me about the movie. It's a movie that has basically 3 leading roles in it, without focusing too much on any other characters. These 3 roles are all female roles, which is totally fine of course but the movie doesn't leave things at that. You would think that having a movie with 3 strong female leads in it, directed by a female and written by 2 other females, would be enough for the movie to have a sort of female empowerment undertone to it but the movie also feels the need to 'villainize' the male species. Lets just analyze things things for a moment; basically every male character that has over 2 lines in this movie is either a total douchebag, a sexist pig, or even a rapist. A bit offensive if you asked me and again, also totally pointless- and a completely unnecessary thing for this movie to do.The movie also mostly focuses on just the Carice and Jelka van Houten characters, which all goes at the expense of the Holly Hunter character of course. i feel that the movie potentially could have had some more depth and better drama in it, had it focused a tad bit more on the Holly Hunter character as well. She remains kind of shallow and mysterious, for perfectly understandable reasons but I would have loved to learn more about that character and her backstory. it's as if the movie could only afford Holly Hunter to show up for just a couple of weeks and had to shoot its way around her, for most part.
It was a great move by the movie to cast real life sisters Carice and Jelka van Houten as twin sisters in this movie. They play very well off each other and are obviously very convincing sisters in this movie as well. Makes you wonder why they have never worked before- and also still as of yet, never again, since making this movie.
All in all, this still for most part remains a well made, fine acted and effective enough little movie, that's perfectly pleasant to watch as well, despite all of the issues I still had with it.
7/10
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