The Skeleton Twins

Milo (Hader) writes a suicide note and cuts his wrists. Meanwhile, his twin sister Maggie (Wiig) is in her bathroom preparing to swallow a handful of pills, but is interrupted by a call from a hospital informing her that Milo—whom she hasn't seen in 10 years—has attempted suicide. Maggie visits Milo in the hospital in Los Angeles and suggests that he come to stay with her in their childhood hometown of Nyack, New York. He reluctantly agrees, and meets Maggie's gregarious husband Lance (Luke Wilson). Milo is surprised when Lance tells him that he and Maggie are trying to have a baby, as Maggie never expressed a desire for children. As Milo reacquaints himself with the town, he notices his former high-school English teacher, Rich (Burrell), now a middle-aged man working in a bookstore. Meanwhile, Maggie is taking scuba lessons and having sex with the instructor, Billy (Holbrook). At Milo's invitation, their mother (Gleason) makes a surprise visit.

Maggie asks Milo if he thinks that she would make a good mother. Milo replies that she would be overprotective and uptight, which upsets Maggie. Later, he apologizes, joking that the reason he said that was his concern about her "morbid obesity." Maggie later confesses to Milo that she's been taking contraceptive pills, both to avoid having a child with Lance and because she had been having sex with the instructors of all the classes she has been taking. She worries that she is not worthy of Lance, but Milo reassures her.

Milo meets Rich, with whom he had a sexual relationship when he was 15. Rich now has a sixteen-year-old son and is dating a woman. Milo lies about having an acting career and claims to have an agent in Los Angeles, although he actually waits tables at a tourist restaurant. Milo and Rich spend the night together. Later, Milo shows up at Rich's house while his son is there, infuriating Rich due to the risk of exposing his past. Milo gets drunk and throws away a trinket that Rich had given him in high school as a keepsake.

Milo tells Maggie about a boy that had once bullied him, a boy whom their father had assured him would reach his peak in high school and have a miserable adult life. But it turns out that the bully has a successful happy life, and it is Milo who had peaked in high school. Maggie asks for reassurance that he will not kill himself, and he promises to try not to. Maggie and Milo spend Halloween together, and reminisce about their father's death. Milo leaves his phone behind when he goes to the bathroom, and Maggie sees an incoming call from Rich. She is upset with Milo for resuming contact with Rich, whose teaching career had ended when Maggie exposed his sexual relationship with her twin.

Lance confides to Milo that he is concerned that he may be infertile. Milo mentions that Maggie used to hide cigarettes around the house, planting the idea for Lance to look for the contraceptives. Maggie's menstrual period is late, and she considers buying a pregnancy test. She runs into an old classmate with a badly-behaving child, which adds to her anxiety about parenting. She is relieved when she begins menstruating.

Maggie ends the relationship with Billy and returns home where she is confronted by Lance, who is painfully confused by the birth control pills he has found. She admits to her affairs, then confronts Milo, blaming him for ruining her marriage. Milo retorts that it was no "marriage" and she lashes back suggesting that next time he tries suicide he should do it right. Maggie leaves Milo a voicemail echoing his suicide note, and goes to the pool where she had been taking scuba lessons. Tying weights to her body, she jumps into the pool. As she begins to drown, she panics but is unable to free herself. Milo, having heard her message, jumps into the pool and rescues her.

The film closes with the twins at Maggie's house, looking at their new fish tank filled with goldfish.

• Bill Hader as Milo Dean, Maggie's brother
• Kristen Wiig as Maggie Dean, Milo's sister
• Luke Wilson as Lance, Maggie's husband
• Ty Burrell as Rich Levitt, Milo's former teacher whom he'd had an affair with in high school
• Boyd Holbrook as Billy, Maggie's scuba instructor
• Joanna Gleason as Judy Dean, Maggie and Milo's mother
• Adriane Lenox as Dr. Linda Essex
• Kathleen Rose Perkins as Carlie
• Paul Castro Jr as Eric

The script went through several iterations, including one in which Milo is a drag queen and the film more closely resembles a road trip movie,[9] but eventually Johnson and his writing partner settled on a more low-key approach inspired by the work of Hal Ashby and Alexander Payne.[9] Writing the film, Johnson wanted to avoid writing along genre lines, as he believes that comedy and drama are both present in everyday life.[10] He has described the theme of the movie as "dealing with dark shit with a sense of humor." [10]

One notable scene features the two main characters lip syncing to "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship.[11] Initially, the song the writers planned to use was "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips, but as the song had already played a focal point in Bridesmaids, it was decided to choose another song.[11] Accordingly, Johnson "spent 24 hours listening to every cheesy mid-’80s ballad you can think of and looking in the mirror and lip syncing it myself."[11] The fact that "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is a duet opened up new possibilities: Johnson said, "the scene became a little more epic because it became about Bill’s character getting Maggie (Wiig) to sing Grace Slick’s part".[11]

Principal photography, which began on November 2012 in Brooklyn, New York,[12] took place over 22 days.[13] Although a full script was written, Johnson encouraged improvisation on the set.[10] Johnson has stated that an entirely improvised conversation between Wiig and Wilson involving Vibram shoes was his single favorite scene in the entire film.[10]

• Official website
• The Skeleton Twins at IMDb
• The Skeleton Twins at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Skeleton Twins at Box Office Mojo