The Skeleton Twins - Movie of the Week

Let me just say right off the bat: if you haven’t heard anything about Skeleton Twins so far, this is not the movie you would expect out of 2 SNL alumus…but it’s still one you should see.

The movie opens with both Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig (pictured above) both contemplating suicide, with Wiig’s attempt interrupted by the news of her brother’s unsuccessful attempt landing him in the hospital. And so the stage is set for this drama that was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic) this year at Sundance Film Festival.

What really captured me throughout the people was both actors’ dramatic chops. That being said I’ve always subscribed to the theory that if you can succeed at comedy, then you should be able to have success playing the opposite. (Think, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [Jim Carey], Stranger than Fiction & Everything Must Go [Will Ferrell], etc) Hader plays a gay character, however this is quite different from his caricature of Stefon on Saturday Night Live. It is really more of a muted performance that takes the high road. In fact I think that given how the season shakes out I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a Best Actor nod, however personally I believer given the dynamic of the film he may have a better chance campaigning for Best Supporting Actor.

The reason for this being that the decision to play Hader and Wiig against each other easily pays off. Playing brother and sister you can just see the chemistry that comes with spending 9 years together in the cast of Saturday Night Live. Their relationship just seems effortless and the most important…real. Believing in this brother/sister duo is paramount to the success of this story. The humor is not absent however, subtle digs, inside jokes, and sarcasm fit in will with the overall tone. There is however only one exception to this, where second time Director Craig Johnson should have not let these two improv legends as loose as he did, because it is so jarring when set in context of the world he had already created. Maybe in a film with a different tone, would that work out, but it really brought me out of the film.

I think if you are correctly prepared for what this film is, you will enjoy it. I give it a 3.5/5 and cannot say enough about the acting.