On paper, writer/director Craig Johnson’s sophomore film The Skeleton Twins is another effort from the Sundance school of downbeat, American-indie dramedies that centres on depressed white people struggling to grow up. But while it does have an air of indie cliché about it, this is a relaxed, sensitive and insightful film that’s enlivened by two fantastic lead performances.
Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader star as Maggie and Milo, an estranged brother and sister who haven’t spoken in 10 years. She’s a bored housewife and he’s a failed actor, working as a waiter in LA. We first meet Maggie staring at a handful of pills, contemplating an overdose until her potential suicide is interrupted by the news that Milo has slit his wrists in the bathtub.
To help Milo, Maggie invites him to stay with her and her nice-but-dim husband Lance (a surprisingly fantastic Luke Wilson) but returning to his home town just digs up old problems for Milo, including an inappropriate affair with his former teacher and lover Rich (Ty Burrell). Meanwhile, Maggie buries her fear of motherhood and doubts over her marriage in extramarital affairs, the most recent of which with her scuba instructor Billy (Boyd Holbrook).
When the two reconnect, their relationship forces each other to look at their problems, both past and present. Johnson and his co-writer Mark Heyman subtly weave in the background of these characters through small interactions, letting us discover more about them and their past as the film progresses instead of dumping in a pile of exposition.
While the material sounds dark and depressing, it largely isn’t thanks to Johnson’s ability to seamlessly blend comedy and drama, taking the edge off the heavier moments with some laugh-out-loud comedy, which is to be expected from comedians as gifted as Wiig and Hader.
After working together for eight years on Saturday Night Live, Wiig and Hader have an easy, convincing chemistry that makes them an authentic brother/sister pairing, especially in the film’s standout scene: a big, silly and hilarious lip-syncing duet to Starship’s Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us.
While Wiig has drifted towards roles with a dramatic slant recently, this feels like new ground for Hader and he proves to be just as adept at flitting between comedy and tragedy as Wiig.
The Skeleton Twins plays like Little Miss Sunshine with an edge, a story full of pain and regret that Johnson and his cast imbue with warmth, intimacy and humour. Its slight missteps into cliché are forgivable in a film this likeable, which isn’t an adjective you’d often throw at a film that opens on two suicide attempts.
EIFF 2014 — count: 24
Festivals — count: 132
