Earlier this year, I got a taste of the Sundance Film Festival. For a few days, I eagerly awaited the movies I would not get into (because Sundance sucks and you can't get into anything unless you have a lot of disposable income). Granted, I saw three movies that I really liked - Frank, Young Ones, and Kumiko the Treasure Hunter - but the one film I desperately wanted to see (and couldn't get into) was The Skeleton Twins.
Don't be fooled by the casting of some of SNL's best cast members of the past 20 years, though. Yes, Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig co-star as estranged siblings reuniting, and sure, Luke Wilson appears as a really sweet dude-dude, but the film is not a comedy. To be sure, there are funny moments, but it isn't a comedy. In some ways, it plays a bit like Little Miss Sunshine in that it's a drama and comedy. A lot of studios have tried to make such films that can't be put into one box. Few were as successful.
The Skeleton Twins tells the story of Milo and Maggie, two siblings whose relationship fell apart after their father killed himself. They haven't spoken in ten years, even living on total opposite sides of the country. Milo (Hader) has a bad break up with his long time boyfriend and attempts suicide as well. Having failed, he's got no one to care for him except his sister Maggie (Wiig), who brings him back to New York to live with her and her husband Lance (Luke Wilson). Recovering and back where he grew up, Milo sets off to reconnect with an old teacher with whom he has an intriguing and morally ambiguous relationship. Maggie meanwhile sets off to sabotage her marriage.
The structure of the film is quite wave like. Moments go by where the siblings are seen as connected only by blood. It's awkward and uncomfortable. Then a few scenes later, we see them starting to connect again, creating a heartwarming peak. And of course, that just serves to drive the drama later when that wave crashes again.
Dark and funny (but not a dark comedy), the film is one of the most honest stories out there. It might be trendy to say that - especially about smaller indie films - but it does feel genuine. In large part, this is because of Wiig and Hader, who straight up kill it in the film. Frankly, I would pay money to watch them just hang out for two hours. Presumably building off their real life relationship as friends and co-workers on Saturday Night Live, truly their performance is the strength and glue of the film. If their relationship didn't feel so natural, it would have been hard to buy into the idea that they aren't just connected by blood; that indeed they did once have a familial relationship and bond as well. The moments where the two can wing it and joke around comes off extremely naturally, further adding to the feeling that they are actually beginning to reconnect and grow their relationship.
It's a mistake to say it only stands up as a film because of the cast, however. While clearly the primary strength, the writing is also solid. One of the best things the film does is avoid hammering exposition over the head. Nothing really gets spilled out plain and simple. For a long time, we are meant to guess at Milo's relationship with his former English teacher (played by Ty Burrell). We know that something happened, we can guess, but even when it all finally comes crashing down and Maggie fills us in on more of the details, it's still not a complete picture. The Skeleton Twins is a film that exercises restraint and lets the natural progression of the story and its characters fill you in, rather than having a sequence that holds your hand through all the back story. Another example, at the very beginning of the film when Milo tries to kill himself, all we really know is that he's sad, he keeps looking at a picture of him and presumably his boyfriend, and then blood! It doesn't need to tell us anything else. That is enough to know exactly what happened.
Some people might go into the film expecting more humor, given Hader and Wiig's appearance, but it's not a comedy. Personally, I loved it. It's heartwarming and heart breaking all at the same time. To my mind, it is one of my favorite films of the year. It might be worth it alone for Hader and Wiig's epic lip sync performance. Still, I can see why it wouldn't be everyone's thing.
(And, ya know, I also was the only person in the world who loved The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, so...Take every opinion of mine with a grain of salt, I guess.)
The Skeleton Twins tells the story of Milo and Maggie, two siblings whose relationship fell apart after their father killed himself. They haven't spoken in ten years, even living on total opposite sides of the country. Milo (Hader) has a bad break up with his long time boyfriend and attempts suicide as well. Having failed, he's got no one to care for him except his sister Maggie (Wiig), who brings him back to New York to live with her and her husband Lance (Luke Wilson). Recovering and back where he grew up, Milo sets off to reconnect with an old teacher with whom he has an intriguing and morally ambiguous relationship. Maggie meanwhile sets off to sabotage her marriage.
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| Milo (Hader) and Maggie (Wiig) start off here as estranged siblings. |
The structure of the film is quite wave like. Moments go by where the siblings are seen as connected only by blood. It's awkward and uncomfortable. Then a few scenes later, we see them starting to connect again, creating a heartwarming peak. And of course, that just serves to drive the drama later when that wave crashes again.
Dark and funny (but not a dark comedy), the film is one of the most honest stories out there. It might be trendy to say that - especially about smaller indie films - but it does feel genuine. In large part, this is because of Wiig and Hader, who straight up kill it in the film. Frankly, I would pay money to watch them just hang out for two hours. Presumably building off their real life relationship as friends and co-workers on Saturday Night Live, truly their performance is the strength and glue of the film. If their relationship didn't feel so natural, it would have been hard to buy into the idea that they aren't just connected by blood; that indeed they did once have a familial relationship and bond as well. The moments where the two can wing it and joke around comes off extremely naturally, further adding to the feeling that they are actually beginning to reconnect and grow their relationship.
 |
| And they end up here, as close family. |
It's a mistake to say it only stands up as a film because of the cast, however. While clearly the primary strength, the writing is also solid. One of the best things the film does is avoid hammering exposition over the head. Nothing really gets spilled out plain and simple. For a long time, we are meant to guess at Milo's relationship with his former English teacher (played by Ty Burrell). We know that something happened, we can guess, but even when it all finally comes crashing down and Maggie fills us in on more of the details, it's still not a complete picture. The Skeleton Twins is a film that exercises restraint and lets the natural progression of the story and its characters fill you in, rather than having a sequence that holds your hand through all the back story. Another example, at the very beginning of the film when Milo tries to kill himself, all we really know is that he's sad, he keeps looking at a picture of him and presumably his boyfriend, and then blood! It doesn't need to tell us anything else. That is enough to know exactly what happened.
Some people might go into the film expecting more humor, given Hader and Wiig's appearance, but it's not a comedy. Personally, I loved it. It's heartwarming and heart breaking all at the same time. To my mind, it is one of my favorite films of the year. It might be worth it alone for Hader and Wiig's epic lip sync performance. Still, I can see why it wouldn't be everyone's thing.
(And, ya know, I also was the only person in the world who loved The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, so...Take every opinion of mine with a grain of salt, I guess.)
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