Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader play estranged middle-aged twins Maggie and Milo. The film opens with an instagram worthy childhood flashback and a voiceover from Maggie blaming their father for turning them into screwed up adults.

Milo attempts suicide to the sounds of Blondie’s Denise. That same day Maggie’s own suicide attempt is thwarted by a call from the hospital where Milo has been admitted.

Despite moments of humour delivered by Wiig and Luke Wilson as her ditzy but sweet husband Lance, The Skeleton Twins is quite simply a boring film. Maggie and Milo’s troubled childhood as revealed throughout the film in snippets is nothing new nor is the way they deal with it as adults. You could almost write out each scene before it happens.

Hader is not particularly believable as Milo and sadly his character is at times nothing more than a mash-up of gay stereotypes. In one scene he goes to work with Lance and after announcing that he’s not an “outdoors kind of guy” gingerly picks at the branches he is supposed to help clear. The viewer is left to assume that this is on account of his orientation no doubt.

Adding to the cliché and melodrama is the mother of the twins who say things like “I’m sending you the light” but refuses to be accountable for any past neglect.

The Skeleton Twins perhaps really suffers from unsuccessfully trying to be too many things at once. For example, an entire film could have been made just about the relationship between Maggie and Lance or the relationship between Milo and his old highschool teacher/lover.

This is a film for diehard Wiig or Wilson fans only.

[star v=25]