'The Skeleton Twins': Cuts to the Bone
 Popcorn Column
by Michael S. Goldberger
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Roadside Attractions
Longtime SNL colleagues Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader are on the same wavelength in 'The Skeleton Twins.' |
Director Craig Johnson's "The Skeleton Twins," although deceivingly simple of plot on first blush, stealthily weaves a hypnotically engaging, bittersweet tale about estranged male-female twins who try to reconnect following a rather eerie coincidence. The small-town scenario ostensibly serves as a psychologist's couch, with a silent and unseen Dr. Freud interpolating the cause of the title characters' profound unhappiness. They are troubled individuals to be sure, tormented by their past, all of which will become dramatically unraveled in whodunit fashion.
We become absorbed thanks to superbly empathic performances by Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader as Maggie and Milo, respectively, who, although rife with their own specific neuroses, mine lots of pungent, universal thoughts about human beings in general. Unafraid to seem too severe or incredible, the tale's preamble posits its own, peculiar affirmation of the special wavelength that exists between twins. It happens that, just as we're tuning into their lives, both parties are about to bid adieu to this cruel world.
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Lucky for us and them, at least for the time being, either the fates or random happenstance dictate that the saga shall here begin rather than end. Given this initial shove, a cerebral pendulum is set in motion, a nervous mood swing that will sally back and forth between optimistic and pessimistic, the mercurial tone signaling the challenge at hand.
One thing is a given, though, as L.A.-based Milo accepts Maggie's invitation to come live with her and hubby in the upstate New York burg where they grew up, at least until he can sort things out a bit. Despite whatever reason caused the thirtysomethings to hardly speak to each other in 10 years, they share an abiding devotion. It's a homecoming for Milo and a rediscovery of her surroundings for Maggie, ignited by bro's culture shock. A flood of emotions and old memories, sad and happy, rush forward as they traipse through the bucolic little village.
Slowly but surely, the interactions and expository conversations between brother and sister catching up work backwards to divulge the awful truths that have caused them such Sturm und Drang. Prior to this smartly constructed elucidation, one might have accused the duo of throwing a pity party. Milo, who is gay, has failed thus far in his quest to become a movie star on the Left Coast. Whereas Maggie has been trying to ease into domestic bliss with Lance, a nice enough if not very invigorating, regular sort played by Luke Wilson. But there are intervening demons.
Because the subplots are all clues to the pathologies being unveiled and dissected, it is difficult to go into detail without giving away some secrets that essentially comprise the story. But I will allow that Maggie and Milo are haunted from the dark recesses of what they care to remember. The sad truth is that dearly beloved Dad solved his problems by jumping off a bridge. It then follows that Maggie and Milo's very touching travail is often a stirring delve into what it takes to keep one's sanity and to seek those bright paths that celebrate our natural urge to survive.
Much less problematic is the seriocomic paean to siblinghood ... a study in the dynamics of this special love, rivalry, hate and whatever other emotions one may feel for their blood-connected others. Wiig and Hader, who've had many years as regulars on "Saturday Night Live" to hone their chemistry, leave no doubt that they are brother and sister, let alone that they were formed by the very same biological spark.
When they criticize each other, it cuts with an especially jagged knife. But when they happen upon a commonality, the affirmation of their naturally born friendship is joyously heartwarming.
Complicating the Yin and Yang of their reunion, which the pair view as an essential component of the healing they seek, Milo looks up an old lover several years his senior who still lives in town. Maggie sees it as a major no-no. Still, that doesn't stop the equally anguished twin from engaging in some pretty verboten behavior of her own. Ah, the heart is indeed a lonely hunter, spurred on to sometimes regrettable doings courtesy of inconsiderate hormones and mysterious dissatisfactions.
At such fragile junctures in our lives, one can only hope that an inherent wisdom coupled with a benevolent bit of luck will ultimately prevail and steer us carefully between the seductive Sirens that would deny our dreams and full potential. Hence, while consciously cheering for these flawed but fundamentally good siblings, the fact that we're inwardly also rooting for the human condition makes "The Skeleton Twins"a doubly gratifying entertainment.
"The Skeleton Twins," rated R, is a Roadside Attractions release directed by Craig Johnson and stars Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader and Luke Wilson. Running time: 93 minutes
