"The Skeleton Twins" has so much raw material to work with that it's nearly tragic it didn't turn out to be a better movie.
Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig have a tremendous amount of chemistry as dysfunctional brother and sister who are brought back together by his attempted suicide after years of being estranged. The point of the movie -- which I only know because it was told to me by the film, not because it actually does a good job of conveying it -- is that these two siblings, contentious though they may be, are the best thing for each other, and that their lives are better when they're together than either's is for them when they are not.
I'll have to take the movie's word for it, because Hader and Wiig create such messed up characters that it's utterly inconceivable they could possibly help one another until they've helped themselves. I think we're supposed to think they're likable underneath their gloomy angst, mostly because they burst into spontaneous lip synch performances of 80s movie ballads, but they sure as hell aren't any fun to spend time with. The film drags on and on, giving these two talented comedians virtually no opportunities to be remotely funny, and then forces a completely implausible ending on us that we're supposed to accept as evidence that this particular brother and sister can't live without each other.
The character I identified most with was the one played by Luke Wilson, good guy husband to Kristen Wiig who she and Bill Hader treat like crap. I wanted to ditch the two tortured souls and go have a beer with him instead.
Oh, and the award for most heavy handed symbolism of the year (the goldfish) goes to...you guessed it...."The Skeleton Twins."
Grade: B-
Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig have a tremendous amount of chemistry as dysfunctional brother and sister who are brought back together by his attempted suicide after years of being estranged. The point of the movie -- which I only know because it was told to me by the film, not because it actually does a good job of conveying it -- is that these two siblings, contentious though they may be, are the best thing for each other, and that their lives are better when they're together than either's is for them when they are not.
I'll have to take the movie's word for it, because Hader and Wiig create such messed up characters that it's utterly inconceivable they could possibly help one another until they've helped themselves. I think we're supposed to think they're likable underneath their gloomy angst, mostly because they burst into spontaneous lip synch performances of 80s movie ballads, but they sure as hell aren't any fun to spend time with. The film drags on and on, giving these two talented comedians virtually no opportunities to be remotely funny, and then forces a completely implausible ending on us that we're supposed to accept as evidence that this particular brother and sister can't live without each other.
The character I identified most with was the one played by Luke Wilson, good guy husband to Kristen Wiig who she and Bill Hader treat like crap. I wanted to ditch the two tortured souls and go have a beer with him instead.
Oh, and the award for most heavy handed symbolism of the year (the goldfish) goes to...you guessed it...."The Skeleton Twins."
Grade: B-