The film attempts to tackle themes such as suicide, marriage, closet gays and family dynamics. In the end there is surprisingly little meaning, other than it's good to have relatives' support in hard times. There are glimpses of interest, such as the twins' mother Judy being a hopeless parent who couldn't make it to Maggie's wedding and who the twins don't bother to tell about Milo's suicide attempt because they know her too well -- she wouldn't be supportive or even care. Milo's former teacher Rich is a convincing character as someone who is determined not to come out publicly as gay, and who ultimately doesn't care about Milo, despite being happy to sleep with him. As Maggie's husband, Luke Wilson does well as a cheerful, loving soul who nevertheless Maggie is not satisfied with. I feel the characters too readily turn to suicide as a solution to their problems. Is that something that should be portrayed as an option in life? It doesn't make sense that late in the film, Maggie makes Milo promise not to attempt suicide -- but then she herself attempts suicide. So to me this film is more of an indie character study. Not brilliant, but not a bad film. I think it tries to hard to be deep and meaningful. It throws a lot of ideas up on screen in the hope something will stick, but I wasn't moved by this picture.
Review of The Skeleton Twins
