The Skeleton Twins is a 2014 American comedy-drama film directed by Craig Johnson and starring Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. The film premiered in competition at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014. It won the Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic at the festival. Wiig and Hader play twins in the film. The film received positive reviews; critics praised Johnson’s direction and the performances of Hader and Wiig.
Plot
Milo (Hader) writes a suicide note and cuts his wrists. Meanwhile, his twin sister Maggie (Wiig) is in her bathroom preparing to swallow a handful of pills, but is interrupted by a call from a hospital informing her that Milo–whom she hasn’t seen in 10 years—has attempted suicide. Maggie visits Milo in the hospital in Los Angeles, and suggests that he come to stay with her in their childhood hometown of Nyack, New York, to which he reluctantly agrees. Milo meets Maggie’s gregarious husband Lance (Luke Wilson), who tells Milo that he and Maggie are trying to have a baby. This surprises Milo, as Maggie never expressed a desire for children. Milo reacquaints himself with the town, and notices Rich (Burrell), a middle-aged man working in a bookstore, who had been his high school English teacher. Meanwhile, Maggie is taking scuba lessons, and having sex with the instructor, Billy (Holbrook). At Milo’s invitation, their mother (Gleason) makes a surprise visit.
Maggie asks Milo if he thinks that she would make a good mother. Milo replies that she would be overprotective and uptight, which upsets Maggie. Later, he apologizes, joking that the reason he said that was his concern about her “morbid obesity.” Maggie later confesses to Milo that she’s been taking contraceptive pills, both to avoid having a child with Lance and because she had been having sex with the instructors of all the classes she has been taking. She worries that she is not worthy of Lance, but Milo reassures her.
Milo meets Rich, with whom he had a sexual relationship when he was 15. Rich has a sixteen-year-old son, and is dating a woman. Milo lies about having an acting career, claiming to have an agent in Los Angeles, while he actually waits tables at a tourist restaurant. Milo and Rich spend the night together. Later Milo shows up at Rich’s house while his son is there, infuriating Rich by risking his past being exposed. Milo gets drunk and throws away a trinket that Rich had given him in high school as a keepsake.
Milo tells Maggie about a boy that had once bullied him, a boy who their father had assured him would reach his peak in high school and have a miserable adult life. But it turns out that the bully has a successful happy life, and it was Milo who had peaked in high school. Maggie asks for reassurance that he will not kill himself, and he promises to try not to. Maggie and Milo spend Halloween together, and reminisce about their father’s death. Milo leaves his phone behind when he goes to the bathroom, and Maggie sees an incoming call from Rich. She is upset with Milo for resuming contact with Rich. Maggie had exposed their sexual relationship, ending Rich’s teaching career.
Lance confides to Milo that he is concerned that he may be infertile. Milo mentions that Maggie used to hide cigarettes around the house, planting the idea for Lance to look for the contraceptives. Maggie’s menstrual period is late, and she considers buying a pregnancy test. She runs into an old classmate with a badly behaving child, which adds to her anxiety about parenting. She is relieved when she begins menstruating.
Maggie ends the relationship with Billy and returns home where she is confronted by Lance, who is painfully confused by the birth control pills he has found. She admits to her affairs, then confronts Milo, blaming him for ruining her marriage. Milo retorts that it was no “marriage” and she lashes back suggesting that next time he tries suicide he should do it right. Maggie leaves Milo a voicemail echoing his suicide note, and goes to the pool where she had been taking scuba lessons. Tying weights to her body, she jumps into the pool. As she begins to drown, she panics but is unable to free herself. Milo, having heard her message, jumps into the pool and rescues her.
The film closes with the twins at Maggie’s house, looking at their new fish tank filled with goldfish.
Cast
Bill Hader as Milo Dean, Maggie’s brother
Kristen Wiig as Maggie Dean, Milo’s sister
Luke Wilson as Lance, Maggie’s husband
Ty Burrell as Rich Levitt, Milo’s former teacher whom he’d had an affair with in high school
Boyd Holbrook as Billy, Maggie’s scuba instructor
Joanna Gleason as Judy Dean, Maggie and Milo’s mother
Adriane Lenox as Dr. Linda Essex
Kathleen Rose Perkins as Carlie
Paul Castro Jr as Eric
Reviews
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