Director: Craig Johnson
Talent: Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Luke Wilson, Ty Burrell
Release Date: 7th November 2014
Maggie (Kristen Wiig) is interrupted while attempting to kill herself by a phone call informing her that her estranged twin brother Milo (Bill Hader), who she hasn’t seen in 10 years, is in hospital after slashing his wrists. She serially cheats on her good, if somewhat simpleminded, husband, while he is an unsuccessful gay actor in Los Angeles with unresolved feelings for the teacher who seduced him as a teenager. Maggie takes him into her home as a precautionary measure, and both are forced to re-evaluate their relationship and the effect their father’s suicide and their mother’s abandonment has had on their adult lives. The Skeleton Twins approaches these lofty issues with a tragicomic tone that has become the staple of the American indie scene. Ty Burrell and Luke Wilson provide strong support as Milo’s former lover and Maggie’s husband respectively, but the film belongs to Kirsten Wiig and Bill Hader in the title roles as both give career-best performances, sensitive and layered, suggesting previously untapped dramatic potential. Craig Johnson directs unobtrusively, allowing his intelligent script and the talented cast to do most of the heavy lifting. This is a nice movie, even if not a particularly original one.
Words: Felipe Deakin
