I was pleasantly surprised by The Skeleton Twins this weekend. Portrayed in the previews as just another comedy (and maybe a silly one at that), it is actually a very serious, heavy drama, albeit with good laughs thrown in to keep the movie from feeling too dark.
On the same day that Maggie (Kristen Wiig) is contemplating suicide, she gets a call that her brother Milo (Bill Hader) has just had his own attempt and is recovering. They haven’t spoken in 10 years, but the reason why is left a mystery for most of the film. She brings Milo home to live with her and her husband Lance, played by Luke Wilson. Both Maggie and Milo are a little strange, the product of their upbringing. They were raised mostly by their dad who was also a little out there, until his suicide when they were 14 years old. Their mother, as we learn, never wanted to be a mom and was never there for them either before or after their father’s death. Both siblings struggle with relationship issues and depression in their own way. You learn as the film progresses why each has become the person they are, and though the viewer begins to piece things together before the end comes, the final big reveal will still induce a gasp from you.
This movie shows Wiig and Hader can do much more than just SNL style comedy, with Hader in particular being tremendous as the troubled Milo. The Skeleton Twins is not a huge blockbuster and I don’t see it hanging around theaters for long (and you might have to search for a theater even showing it in your area), but it is well worth a watch.
Jons Movie Takes 