The
Skeleton Twins (2014/Lionsgate Blu ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: B- Film: B+
I'm
surprised that more critics didn't take the bait for The Skeleton
Twins - a comedy/drama about sexuality, friendship, and family
starring Kristen Wiig, Luke Wilson, Ty Burrell, and a shockingly good
performance by Bill Hader as Milo.
Following
many years of estrangement, twins Milo (Bill Hader) and Maggie
(Kristen Wiig) have an unexpected reunion after a set of
near-tragedies. The situation forces them to confront how their
lives became so broken. For Maggie, it means examining why she's so
unhappy in a marriage to a loving husband. For Milo, it means
meeting with his first love to see if their romance can reignite.
Eventually, they learn that living truthfully and accepting each
other is the only way to move forward.
The
film has an unbelievable critical reception and won awards at both
Sundance and the Edinburgh Film Festival. Not bad for new-coming
director Craig Johnson who proves that he can direct dramatic scenes
as well as those feel loose and improvised. Overall, the film feels
very realistic and that it could be based on any modern family in
this situation.
Plot
spoilers ahead:
The
Skeleton Twins starts out with heartwarming memories of two
little children playing with their masked Dad on Halloween. The
little boy is dressed up as a girl and the girl a boy. The Dad gives
them each a skeleton keychain - one of which sinks to the bottom of a
fish tank... flash forward to the present where we find Milo (Hader)
who, after a terrible breakup with his gay partner, writes a brief
impersonal suicide note, and slit his wrists while laying in a
bathtub. Meanwhile, Maggie (Wiig) is also in her about to attempt
suicide but is interrupted by a call from a hospital informing her
that her brother - whom she hasn't spoken to in 10 years - has
unsuccessfully attempted suicide. Right away we can tell that Maggie
and Milo, though disconnected are connected to each other. Maggie
goes to the hospital in California, and suggests that he come to stay
with her in their hometown in New York for a while where Milo
reluctantly agrees.
Milo
meets Maggie's gregarious husband Lance (Wilson), who states that he
and Maggie are trying to have a baby, which surprises Milo, as Maggie
said in the past that she never wanted children. Some of these early
scenes are great at setting up character development where we see
Milo generally bored and unimpressed whilst Maggie at first tries to
craft a positive image of her new life. Milo reacquaints himself
with the town, and observes Rich (Burrell), a middle-aged man he
clearly knows, working in a bookstore. (We later find out that they
had a teacher/student fling and caused a big scene years before -
leading to his disconnection with Maggie.) Meanwhile, Maggie is
taking scuba lessons, and having a compulsive sexual liaison with the
instructor, Billy (Holbrook) - one that we find out of several since
her marriage to Lance. A surprise visit from their distant Mother
meets Maggie with rage as they discover she came by to visit more for
a social event than to see her grown children. This sheds some light
into the back story for our lead characters and sets up more tension.
Maggie
struggles with her feelings about Lance while Milo discovers that he
still has feelings for Rich Burrell's character and they have a brief
fling... only to realize later that Burrell has moved into a more
socially accepted relationship with a woman and has a son. While
both characters face their own personal demons in the film, they
ultimately come back together in the last act where the script gets
looser and the two start to realize how much they love each other
despite their past differences.
End
Spoilers:
Sound
and Picture on the disc are just fine with a crisp 1080p high
definition transfer with an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. The sound is a
lossless English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix along with a Spanish 5.1
Dolby Digital track and subtitles in English, Spanish, and English
SDH.
Extras
include:
Gag
Reel
Deleted
Scenes
Featurettes,
Commentaries by Cast and Crew, and more!
If
you're a fan with an offbeat personality and enjoy heart breakingly
real romantic comedy/ dramas then this is definitely for you!
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
