The Skeleton Twins ~ Film Review

by: Uel Ceballos

Funny yet not without a purpose, “The Skeleton Twins” presented the typical dark dilemmas of the mid-life in a witty, surprisingly entertaining screenplay. It told the story of the twins Maggie and Milo as they both dealt with their own mess. Maggie was a married woman who incontestably loved her husband Lance but despite that fact, she still got involved into multiple illicit affairs outside her marriage. It wasn’t because Lance had shortcomings as Maggie’s husband but due to the reason that Maggie was a sick person. She was a troubled soul often haunted by her past. It was shown figuratively by constant flashbacks as she kept remembering their childhood days with their father. She and Milo were the gruesome twosome as their father used to call them. It would show the young Maggie together with the young Milo in pretty wig and girl’s dress. Maggie would always remember how their father advised them to stick and stand by each other’s side no matter what happened. However as they reached adulthood, the two would separate their lives and lived on their own for ten long straight years.

The twins reunited after Milo failed on an attempted suicide and Maggie asked him to go back with her in New York. On Milo’s part, coming back to his home town was another phase on his life as he would see again his high school English professor with whom he had an affair way back. Milo was fifteen year old then and while he saw it as a sincere romantic relationship, his twin Maggie saw it as child molestation and exposed the thing in the open. Thus, Milo would keep this renewed affair from Maggie’s knowledge.

The story went through the seemingly insoluble quandaries of the twins as they both tried protecting and helping each other in the best way they could think of. However, like in the real life, the people we loved often missed out the main point why we’d done such a thing. While our purest intention was to look after and care for them, all they thought was that we ruined everything by meddling into their personal affairs. Like any most siblings do, Maggie and Milo went through the worst fight and hurtful exchange of words that almost brought their relationship into the brink.

What made “The Skeleton Twins” remarkable was its common twist but unusual pair of characters. The dialogues were not trying-hard to appear profound or clever. It sounded free and natural without overdoing the witty and dramatic parts. Its less pretension however, caused the tendency to minimize the overall emotional impact of the movie. But it was saved by Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader’s performances that were both plausible and amazing. They made a good tandem and Bill Hader, being a straight guy, had indeed given us a knockout performance in his portrayal of the troubled gay Milo. Personally, I loved the character of Milo and Hader’s portrayal made it all the more likeable.

“The Skeleton Twins” attracted viewers with its feature of the life’s downside moments. But its strong statement of the family concept is what really made it all the more magnetic and emotion-appealing. The funny side of it is what the other see as the film’s strongest point but for me it is the relationship and struggles of the two characters that made it a good story and a must-watch film. In one way or another, this film would inspire us to deal more maturely and bravely with our own mess. Who never got fucked up at one point in their lives anyway? Everyone did. Everyone reached that low times being damaged, broken, and injured and all it took for us to recover was to know that we have our own “skeleton twin” who will stand by our side no matter what happen, through the good and bad times. And we'll manage to get by then, picking up our fallen pieces.

P.S. I enjoyed the way the writer (who is obviously a literary freak) found a way to insert in the film those things about Marley and Me, Moby Dick, and Danielle Steel. :)