The Skeleton Twins sounds bleak, but its comic rhythm takes it to a higher, better place

REVIEW: The Skeleton Twins soon syncs up to an engaging comic rhythm that will ultimately propel both the film and its audience to a better place.

The Skeleton Twins (M)

Director: Craig Johnson (True Adolescents)

Starring: Kristin Wiig, Bill Hader, Luke Wilson, Ty Burrell.

Rating : ****

Life after two great depressions

Let’s not dance around the dire circumstances in which The Skeleton Twins starts out.

At the outset of this delicately poised comedy-drama, an estranged sister and brother have retreated after nearing the very brink of ending it all.

Back when Maggie (Kristin Wiig) and Milo (Bill Hader) were children, their father took one more step and tragically took his own life.

Now here they are in their mid-30s, virtually daring history to repeat itself.

Despite its bleak beginnings, The Skeleton Twins soon syncs up to an engaging comic rhythm that will ultimately propel both the film and its audience to a brighter, better place.

Comical rhythm ... Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig in The Skeleton Twins.

Maggie and Milo have not seen other for a decade. The reasons remain unclear, but are serious enough to have us glued to their every move for further clues.

That task becomes less difficult — and soon enough, quite inviting — once doctors recommend Milo move in with Maggie until he is feeling more at ease with his world.

It does not take long for the siblings to reclaim some of their long-lost closeness, enough for Maggie to let Milo know all is not well in her world either.

Though she has a doting husband (Luke Wilson) desperate to start a family, Maggie cheats on him regularly and methodically, as if to stop their plans from locking into place.

Real tenderness ... Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader in another scene from The Skeleton Twins.

As for Milo, a gay, unemployed actor, he is simply been unable to move on from a painful past. In fact, Milo is one of those people who won’t get moving until that past is just about to catch up with him all over again.

While this is undoubtedly tough stuff to be selling to all comers, there is a tenderness and truly-earned uplift to this tale that will resonate with receptive viewers in a special way.

And given the comedic track record of Wiig (Bridesmaids) and Hader (a decorated graduate of the Saturday Night Live school), it hardly hurts that the film can be very amusing when it needs to be.

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Originally published as The Skeleton Twins sounds bleak, but its comic rhythm takes it to a higher, better place