The Skeleton Twins

The Skeleton Twins stars Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader as estranged siblings, both at literal dead-ends in their respective lives, that reunite and attempt to reconnect. While this is no You Can Count on Me, it’s a fine example of the type of serious familial drama that has been absent from cinemas for far too long. Writer/director Craig Johnson (True Adolescents) and his cowriter Mark Heyman (Black Swan) craft a fine screenplay that deftly walks the line between a sardonic, emotionally distant indie and an overwrought mainstream melodrama. It’s too bad Johnson directs the script in a banal, rudimentary fashion that I can’t quite call textbook, since he seems to have skipped a few important chapters, but it’s certainly uninspired. However, his flat, casual shooting style enables the viewer to focus on the exquisite performances by his two leads.

Wiig and Hader are both recent alums of Saturday Night Live who graduated at the top of their cast--both received multiple Emmy nominations for their distinctive and uproarious character work on that ensemble show. Meanwhile, Wiig’s concurrent movie career demonstrated some dormant non-comedic acting talent waiting to be given the proper vehicle for expression.  We’ve gotten glimpses of her serious, vulnerable side in films like Greg Mottola’s Adventureland (2009), Drew Barrymore’s Whip It (2009), Jennifer Westfeldt’s Friends with Kids (2012), and Ben Stiller’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013). Unfortunately, most of these films suffer from a tonal imbalance between their observational humor and latent sentimentality, and Wiig has only been a supporting player in all of them. When she has had the lead role, as in the previous year’s disastrous Girl Most Likely, or in her over-praised breakout film Bridesmaids (2011), which she co-wrote, the broad comedy radically upstages any attempt at emotional depth, resulting in films and performances that are muddled and deeply unsatisfying. The Skeleton Twins puts quiet emotional exploration ahead of everything else and, in doing so, enables Wiig to create the kind of nuanced, authentic, and touching performance of which many of us assumed she was capable.

Surprisingly, Hader--a hilarious and masterful sketch performer on par with Wiig--delivers an equally impressive dramatic turn. Perhaps their shared history helped them create a completely credible dynamic as a brother and sister who use humor to mask and escape from their pain. Because of who these actors and these characters are, The Skeleton Twins features some very funny sequences, but these moments never upstage the interpersonal drama. On the contrary, the stuff that makes you laugh is where The Skeleton Twins feels the most genuine and honest. We understand how the comic aspects of these two people come from a place of real shared sadness. Johnson’s script has all the required big arguments and scenes where secrets are revealed, but they never come across as false or clichéd. This is a smart, mature film with two wonderful actors who never feel out of their depth.