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They say the heart of a clown is sad, yet we’re still always surprised when funny people give great dramatic acting performances. Craig Johnson’s 2014 indie movie The Skeleton Twins contains two such performances, and damned if I wasn’t surprised by both of them. Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig play twins Milo and Maggie. The movie opens up with both of them attempting suicide. But also the movie is funny, not a comedy necessarily, but both actors get to be funny. Still, that’s a hell of an opening and both actors sell it perfectly. Johnson has said the movie is about “dealing with dark shit with a sense of humor.” I would say that the movie is also about how we need to process our lives and we need at least one true partner we can be real with about all of our most vulnerable thoughts and feelings. About how we need to deal with our dark shit, and yeah might as well have a sense of humor about it.

We all have various trauma in our lives, and Maggie and Milo are no different. Raised by two very damaged parents, the twins have led subsequently chaotic lives of their own. In those early scenes, a drunk and heartbroken Milo attempts suicide in his LA apartment. His sister is called, while holding a handful of pills trying to psyche herself up for her own attempt, to come be with Milo at the hospital. She offers to have him come stay with her in her house in upstate New York, where they grew up, with her husband Lance (Luke Wilson). Though she projects an outward facade of normalcy to everyone in the movie, and doesn’t confess her own suicidal tendencies to anyone, even Milo, we in the audience get to see that these two aren’t far apart in where they are in their unhappy lives.

Milo and Maggie are not healthy people. Caught in their wake are not just Lance the husband, but Billy the sexy scuba instructor (Boyd Holbrook), Rich the former high school English teacher (Ty Burrell, another hilarious actor doing great dramatic work here), and even the twins’ mother Judy (Joanna Gleason). Some of the people in their lives are responsible for their trauma, and others are victims to it. All of the actors are wonderful, Holbrook’s not quite lived-in Australian accent being the only misstep. Luke Wilson just exudes goodness. He’s almost so honest and pure that you think it could be an act, but it’s not. He’s just a good simple dude caught up in Maggie’s pain and dysfunction. He’s an outdoorsy bro, but doesn’t judge Milo for being gay or suicidal and broken. He genuinely wants to connect and be friends with Milo, they’re family now even if this is their first time meeting. Joanna Gleason is only in one scene as the twins’ mother but you see how she has tried to grow and change from the mother they had growing up, to become a better person, more spiritually grounded and happy. Or is that all just her facade she puts up to the world? Different characters would have different answers and that’s good writing.

Craig Johnson directed and co-wrote the script, with Mark Heyman, and his hand is sure in the directors chair. This movie has a very tricky tone to it. There’s a lot of darkness to these people and their lives, but Johnson isn’t trying to make misery porn here. Milo and Maggie are also fun, and funny, and really click with one another. They tell us when she picks Milo up at the hospital that they haven’t seen each other in 10 years. We see over the course of the movie that they’ve really missed each other and are the 1-2 punch that each needs in their lives. They are obviously the best friends you would expect twins to be. But best friends know better than anyone how to cut you down too, they know your vulnerabilities as much as your strengths. Maggie and Milo are definitely that for each other. It’s a beautifully layered relationship and I think a lot of credit has to go to the script and the direction for letting that develop and grow throughout the movie rather than just telling us about it. We get to see it happen organically.

Johnson trusts his actors, and casted well. This is a classic actors showcase for Wiig and Hader. Hader plays Milo and his struggles with being a gay man from an already dysfunctional family with great sensitivity. The character could’ve easily ended up a caricature in a lesser actors hands. Hader gives Milo his own mask he presents to the world, the quippy gay brother, but let’s us see underneath that to the pain, the loneliness, and most importantly the humor within. We get some of the backstory of what’s happened in Milo’s life, but we don’t get the whole story. The rest is up to Hader to tell us through his eyes and his voice and his body language. It’s a remarkable performance. I knew Hader had this in him because I’m a huge fan of his assassin dramedy show Barry on HBO. As the artistic voice of that show he gave himself an amazing platform to show all sides of a character and person and it’s brilliant. So I wasn’t as surprised by Hader as I was by Wiig.

Kristin Wiig is phenomenal as Maggie. She’s done other dramatic work in movies, but I haven’t seen any of those yet. With the way she plays Maggie here, I will be seeking out more from her dramatic work now. Maggie is a woman desperately searching for her identity in the suffocating normalcy of suburban existence in her 30’s. She is shocked out of her coma a bit by the reappearance of her brother, obviously the person whom she’s closest to in the world and who brings out the real Maggie beneath. Wiig deftly takes us on Maggie’s journey through herself and through the pains that kept she and Milo apart for 10 years.

The Skeleton Twins is exactly the kind of movie made for Hidden Gems. It has big stars doing great work in a small movie. It’s almost the classic Sundance formula. But this movie doesn’t feel formulaic. I’ve not seen these characters before. And handled with such startling depth by supremely talented actors, it should be a must see for anyone who loves actor driven character pieces.