'The Skeleton Twins' A Review

The Skeleton Twins is a familial dramedy about suicidal estranged twins. The film opens with Milo(Bill Hader) attempting suicide in his LA apartment and Maggie(Kristin Wiig) contemplating suicide in her upstate New York bathroom. A call from the hospital notifying her of her brother's situation stops her and she heads to LA after ten years of no communication. Maggie brings Milo back to New York to stay with her and her kind but clueless husband Lance(Luke Wilson). Giggles and growth ensue.

Although Wiig and Hader put in great performances and have incredible chemistry it can only do so much to elevate the overly dramatic, by-the-numbers indie, imbalanced script. The shifts from impending suicide to lighthearted drug use ring false and despite all Wiig and Hader's efforts their characters aren't quite likable, understandable, or realistic. Luke Wilson gives his most charming and watchable turn since Idiocracy, he's been missed.

The themes of suicide and depression are blunt tools which bludgeon the audience into exhaustion, the moments of levity and connection between the siblings are wonderful but after each one the rug is pulled out with another awful thing they do to each other. No harmony is found between the comedy and drama of the film and the dramatic moments are so on-the-nose they don't particularly work.

There is the potential for a great movie in The Skeleton Twins but it would require better direction and more revision from writer/director Craig Johnson to see it realized.

Don't See It.