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The Skeleton Twins Rebuild Their Bones

The Skeleton Twins is a small movie with a big heart. Estranged twins Maggie (Kristen Wiig) and Milo (Bill Hader) both attempt suicide on the same day, unaware that the other has done so, but to no avail. Maggie and Milo are a pair of broken skeletons who had parted ways 10 years ago because of a dark past that the twins haven't seemed to shake. A cheated death brings them together again. 

Hader and Wiig play their dark, conflicted characters as if they'd never been a comedy duo before - as if Saturday Night Live, Adventureland (2009), and Paul (2011) had never happened. It is really something to watch these actors at the top of their game, moving in unison. Bill Hader's Milo is a struggling actor, and Maggie's gay brother from Hollywood who is now staying with her and her husband (Luke Wilson) at their home in New Hampshire. Milo is completely comfortable with his sexuality and in his own skin, unlike the people he encounters away from home. Milo uses comedy to keep him going through this dark situation. The Skeleton Twins is really a vehicle for Bill Hader - he carries this movie. He makes it seamless for the audience to laugh with him, and then cry with him. Ty Burrell (Modern Family) really shines as Hader's closeted former teacher who lives his life in a lie. Kristen Wiig always has a way of winning the viewer's sympathy with her glowing soul that shines through, yet this time it is more powerful with her heartbreaking portrayal of a damaged woman stuck on a destructive path. Luke Wilson provides solid backup support as Kristen Wiig's polar opposite husband, who is optimistic about life. If he has demons, they are nowhere to be seen. 

Who knew it would take getting high off Novocaine to bring the twins together? Which then leads to their legendary lip sync to "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" and cross-dressing Halloween stroll. Playing dress-up; donning disguises serves as an alternate reality from a fractured childhood. The Skeleton Twins is a mood movie - a dramedy of familial proportions. At times the dialogue can cut like a knife when it mirrors reality. The film is relative to anyone because we can all be disappointed with the way some aspect of our life has turned out. We have big dreams (like Milo's of being a famous actor). We try our hardest not to give them up. Some of us live our lives in hiding, exposing the truth only to certain people. The Skeleton Twins is a beautiful, quirky, touching ode to siblings. Sometimes you feel like you only have each other in this world. Rebuild your bones.

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