It is difficult to write – and direct, produce and start in – something with a fantastic premise. I can imagine that it is even more difficult to garbage that condition after 20 pages in favor of connecting to a completely different one. But James Sweeneys ”Twinless“Is one film It depends on the agility of the stories we tell about ourselves (among several other things), and this confident, smart and cutting Dark comedy Almost never misses a chance to indulge in the courage with their beliefs, especially when these beliefs feel so wrong.
“Twinless” introduces itself as an easy but murder bromance About the friendship that develops between two boys who both have lost their identical brothers. On the one hand we have Roman (Dylan O’BrienIn a double performance that confirms the former teen Heartthrob as an important talent), whose twin rock was only flat to death by a car in the middle of a Portland Crosswalk. Rocky was a flamboyant gay charm that carried himself with windy self-insurance-if novel was some more straight and less articulated he would be a bar stool podcast.
On the other hand, there is Dennis (Sweeney), a droll and calculation of Twink whose life was radically transformed by a childhood meeting with Olsen Twins Classic “It Takes Two.” He and Roman may not be friends in any other circumstance, but it is easy to appreciate why these sad strangers are drawn to each other when they meet in a support group for twinless twins: they each play a role as siblings they lost. CUE: Food date, Late Night Gab Seshes and even a road trip to a Kraken game in Seattle. It’s fun, it’s adorable, and it’s probably enough for maintaining a spiky 90-minute charm that accused a wide cross-section of young viewers.
It is also not the movie that Sweeney wanted to do, and “Twinless” is all the better for it. I don’t even want to reveal what happens after the late title card case (always a good sign), so let’s just say that the story makes a sharp and neatly executed turn away from apatow and towards Almodóvar or de Palma – less floral and operational than such high Comparisons may imply, but equally eager to enjoy the psychose-ecosual deficiencies in its characters (a process involving at least one wig, several ominous zooms and a liberal use of some very effective and thematically motivated split screen).
Most of these deficiencies belong to Dennis. Sweeney may be struggling to sell the more anxious moments of melodrama that fall his character towards the end of the movie (which makes it so much easier to appreciate O’Brien’s skill as an actor), but it denies nothing that he knows this material inside and out and out and out “Twinless” can only maintain its high -thread act of a story because Sweeney makes Dennis sympathetic and sociopathic to almost the same size. Even after losing his twin brother, Dennis still feels like he is two separate people divided in half. More than that, he embodies the imagination to wish you Where Two people split in half, if only you can end your loneliness by finding the other part of yourself.
Even before the action is wrinkled beyond discomfort, there is something a little squirmy about Denni’s romantic love with his new bestie, which is obvious to everyone except the novel. In fact it is squirmy because It is obvious to everyone except novel. “Twinless” will eventually confront the latent homophobia that the audience expected from films about queer-on-stigaight fixations (and it will do so with a tenderness showing Sweeney’s fresh attitude to old tropes) but the friendship in its The core is so wonderfully skin -crawling because Dennis fetishes the novel for his similarity to Rocky while Roman appreciates Dennis to facilitate the pain from Rocky’s death. It is a recipe for disaster.
“Twinless” mines a steady drum of firm laughter from the uneven energy from its co -lines, and the pinter -like precision in Sweeney’s dialogue is particularly well suited for the scenes where Dennis and novel talk to each other at completely different wavelengths. Dennis is SLU and sarcastic, and Sweeney delivers every line with a withered knowledge that would feel the workshop half to death if it was not so fun. However, novel is sincere and shiny. His anger flares when he feels like the butt of the joke, but most of the best go over his head (when Dennis asks if he comes from Moscow, PiketRoman shiny answers “You know another?”).
The novel turns out to be a little more complicated than his “AW shucks” construction can suggest at first (and O’Brien does a fantastic job of selling the credibility of the hidden layers), but there is a “looney -melody” -like Elements to look at such a committed schedule try to manipulate someone who is just trying to get through every day in one piece. Sweeney maintains the psycho-thriller-shenanigans on the strength of expressive 35 mm cinematography and a satisfactory recursive script that doubles back to get the most out of each detail; The streets in Portland are saturated with loss, and the running gags that “twinless” weave through them are so good that it feels like a great flex to keep them in the margins. I would look at a whole comedy about the girl in Denni’s office whose whole business is that she does not talk about her personal life at work.
A moment there seems as if the constantly smiling receptionist at Dennis’ company may be another of these one-joke roles (especially if you, like me, not clock that she played by a note-perfect Aisling Franciosi, a million miles from ” The Nightingale “), but” Twinless “has much bigger plans for Marcie. Misdiagnosed by Dennis as a Blue NPC, Marcie turns out to be the emotional ladybug for the entire movie – even more than novel and Rocky’s mother (Lauren Graham), which pops in just long enough to suggest losing a twin can stick with the same intensity like losing a child.
The romance that develops between Marcie and Roman should be enough to remind these characters of the upside of co -dependency and to show them how valuable it is to have someone to lean on – regardless of luggage that can be worn between you. Dennis and novel are both in need of forgiveness that only they can give each other, and only they can make each other feel whole again, but it is impossible to replace a brother, and perhaps even harder to be reminded of it.
Harder than “Twinless” is ultimately willing to wear. For all its cheeky flirtations with bad taste, this is a very nice movie in the heart, and Sweeney lacks the killer instinct to follow this story to some of the darker places it seems that it is begging to go. It may be the best, as the film’s most serious moments strain the emotional credibility in its underlying scenario, but it is swinging to look at such a smart and surprising story about grief is content with such a predictable result. Sweeney makes these characters honest to solve – or at least start treating – their pain so neatly. It’s like Winston Churchill Praised Never said, “If you are going to hell, go on.”
Rating: B+
“Twinless” premiered at 2025 Sundance Film festival. Republic Pictures release it later this year.
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