THE SKELETON TWINS Cuts Deep

THE SKELETON TWINS Review:

- For years, Bill Hader was the unsung MVP of Saturday Night Live - the modern-day Phil Hartman who simply elevated the quality of any sketch by virtue of being in it. Hader was effortlessly funny on SNL, but there was also a manic darkness to many of his characters that made you wonder if he might have a Jim Carrey-like ability to transition from comedy to drama. Well, wonder no longer. Bill Hader absolutely kills in THE SKELETON TWINS, a dramedy in which he gets to be very funny, but also show some previously-unseen dramatic depth. This is, quite simply, a total breakout performance for the SNL alum. The film pairs Hader with SNL colleague Kristin Wiig. The two play brother and sister, and the chemistry between them is incredibly naturalistic. There is a sense of intimacy with this film that helps to sell the drama. The laughs are bigger and the gut-punches hit harder because there is such a clear sense of authenticity that these actors bring to the table. The result is that, while THE SKELETON TWINS has some flaws, it's so earnestly likable that you can't help but be won over. Hader and Wiig's fantastic performances seal the deal.

The movie - from writer/director Craig Johnson - opens with Hader's Milo and Wiig's Maggie each contemplating suicide. Milo goes through with it first, and just as Wiig is about to do the same, she receives a call from the hospital that her estranged brother tried to off himself. The two live on opposite coasts and haven't spoken in ten years, but Maggie goes to see her brother - a failed actor living in LA - and convinces him to come live with her and her fiance in New York. So yeah .. as you can tell, the tone of this one is comedic, but the humor is decidedly pitch-black.

However, that's not to say that the film isn't ultimately uplifting. The characters go to some dark places, but the great joy of the film is seeing this brother and sister duo - who have each arrived at a pretty bleak place in their lives - help each other up and into the light. Before that can happen though, Milo and Maggie each have major obstacles to overcome. Maggie is married to Lance, a likable-enough lunkhead played by Luke Wilson, in classic Luke Wilson fashion. Lance is a pretty solid dude, but his basic-bro lifestyle is a bad match for Maggie. Maggie keeps her unhappiness repressed around Luke, only finding solace by going behind his back and cheating on him with any number of random men. Milo, meanwhile, seeks to get out of his failed-actor funk by reconnecting with an old lover. Problem is, the old lover (played with creepy cowardice by Modern Family's Ty Burrell) is Milo's old high school English teacher, with whom he had a nearly life-ruining affair as a teenager. Suffice it to say, both siblings are seemingly locked into downward-spiraling behavior patterns. Their only hope, cheesy as it may sound, is each other.

And again, what might have been unbearably emo somehow works in the capable hands of Hader and Wiig. The rawness of their performances - and the comedy chops they bring to the table to keep things from getting too self-serious - allow the movie to reach unexpected heights. The highest of those heights is an instant-classic sequence in which Hader's Milo turns up Starship's cheesy 80's ballad "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" and coerces Wiig's Maggie into joining him in the lip-synced duet. Maggie resists at first, but soon enough, she gives in to the moment and, finally, Maggie goes full-Wiig, and Hader goes full-manic-awesome, and the scene is just transcendent in its sheer joy and greatness. And yet, as hilarious as it is to see these two SNL vets get goofy and riff off each other, there's a real power to the scene as well. The music provides the catalyst for these two troubled siblings to lift each other up out of the darkness - a theme that comes into play repeatedly throughout the film.

At times, I do think the movie overdoes it a little. The more cynical part of me had a few moments where I was tempted to roll my eyes a little, and shake my head at the contrivances the movie throws at us in order to get to some of its big emotional-catharsis moments. Still, Johnson does an admirable job of making most of the movie's emotional beats feel earned. The director seems to have a definite knack for creating and maintaining a moody, absorbing aesthetic.

THE SKELETON TWINS is a really worthwhile indie flick that is elevated by two fantastic lead performances. We've seen that Wiig can do more dramatic roles, but this to me is a coming-out party for Bill Hader as a more-than-viable dramatic actor. He's hilarious in the film, but also brings real rawness and pathos to the character of Milo. He and Wiig make even the smallest moments in this movie memorable.

My Grade: A-

MUPPETS MOST WANTED Is Very Funny, Very Muppet-y

MUPPETS MOST WANTED Review:

- I enjoyed the last Muppets movie a lot. After so many relatively Muppet-less years, it felt good to have these characters back on the big screen and back in a place of prominence in the world of pop-culture. When I think about the influence that Jim Henson and his creations had on me as a kid - the way they cultivated in me a love for comedy, satire, imagination, and creativity - I think about how all kids should be exposed to these great characters and the values that they stand for. I'm not usually one to make that kind of pronouncement, but what I love about the Muppets is how their message is ultimately wholesome and good, but they're also just edgy enough to make you think outside the box. As a kid, The Muppets influenced not just my values, but spurred my interest in everything from science-fiction to comedy to rock n' roll. And so, while the last Muppet movie was a nice and heartfelt love letter of sorts to the characters and what they meant to a generation, what I like about MUPPETS MOST WANTED is that, now that the re-introductions and meta-commentaries are over with, the Muppets can get back to doing what they do best. This is the Muppets in their purest form, and I like that. No, it may not be the grand thesis statement of Muppetdom that the last film was (no existential "man or Muppet?" questions here). But this sequel is funny, clever, and just a blast from start to finish. It reminded me of the kinds of Muppets stories that made me a Muppets fan in the first place.

The plot of the film is silly, but in the best sort of way. It involves a notorious criminal frog named Constantine, who - save for a telling mole - looks exactly like Kermit. The thickly-accented Constantine escapes from imprisonment in a Siberian gulag, and hatches a scheme to take Kermit's place in the Muppets. The newly-reunited Muppets, planning a world tour to celebrate their return, hire bigshot manager Dominic (Ricky Gervais) to to guide them. What the unsuspecting Muppets don't realize is that Dominic is in league with Constantine. The two arrange for Kermit to get frog-napped, and taken to the prison from which Constantine escaped. Their master plan: to use the Muppets' shows as a front for a series of elaborate heists, culminating with the theft of the Crown Jewels of England.

The plot offers many opportunities for inspired zaniness. For one, seeing Constantine try to pass himself off as Kermit is oftentimes hilarious (the way he pronounces Muppets in his poorly-veiled Russian accent cracked me up every time - "Maaahpits!"). Before Kermit was taken out of the picture, he'd been getting cold (webbed) feet about popping the question to Ms. Piggy. But Constantine - who wants to marry Ms. Piggy as part of his evil plan to steal the Crown Jewels - is amusingly, um, aggressive in his wooing of the world's most famous pig (encapsulated in the hilarious song "I'll Get You What You Want"). I really liked Gervais here as Dominic - his brand of awkward humor is a great match for the Muppets, and his character's David Brent-esque persona - a bit pathetic, but misguidedly ambitious - makes for a great comic foil to Constantine and a great villain.

While Constantine and Dominic try to con the Muppets, poor Kermit is locked up in prison with a motley crew of inmates, which include such recognizable faces as Danny Trejo (playing himself!), and Flight of the Conchords' Jermaine Clement. The gruff warden of the prison is played by Tina Fey, whose tough exterior softens a bit when she develops a bit of a crush on Kermit. The prison scenes are a highlight though, as Fey, Clement, and the rest of the prison crew are very funny, and in top form. Seeing Kermit lead the rough-looking prison gang in a musical revue is comedy gold.

The other inspired subplot involves stone-faced Muppet Sam Eagle - now a CIA agent - investigating the criminal activity around the Muppets with the help of bumbling French inspector Jean Pierre (Modern Family's Ty Burell). Burell and Sam Eagle are such a great pairing. What can I say, I laughed a lot at their back-and-forth. All the French jokes at Jean Pierre's expense are probably old hat to older viewers, but it made me smile a bit that so many surprisingly un-PC jokes were slipped into the movie involving Burell. It's all pretty harmless stuff, ultimately ... but again, I dig that there was just a bit of edge to some of the humor.

And the movie's jokes really hit hard, in my opinion. I laughed out loud a lot at this movie, in a way that I didn't during the first film. Again, without all the re-building that the first movie had to do, it seems like the script here by Nicholas Stohler and director James Bobin is free to just be silly and entertaining and funny. There are a lot of clever bits - movie parodies, pop-culture riffs, and just general wackiness that really hits. The songs, too, are very funny, very Flight of the Conchords-ish (and no wonder, since the movie's music supervisor is the Conchords' Bret McKenzie). My favorite is the slyly funny "Interrogation Song", in which Jean Pierre and Sam Eagle question the Muppets one-by-one about alleged crimes - which becomes an increasingly, hilariously futile effort (culminating with the unintelligible musings of the Swedish Chef).

From some of the trailers, I was worried that the movie would be celebrity cameo overkill, but that's not the case. There are a lot of cameos, but they're mostly brief and often funny. And hey, who could object to Salma Hayek teaming with Gonzo to take part in his genius "indoor running of the bulls" performance?

Of course, even though this Muppet movie is wackier and sillier than its predecessor, there's still a lot of heart. I don't know what it is about these characters, but somehow - and it really is incredible - the felt forms of Kermit and co. always manage to feel more human than many of the human actors in these films. When newest-Muppet Walter sets out with Fozzie Bear and Animal to find and free their missing frog friend, you can't help but smile at the lengths these intrepid creatures will go to to help out their friend in need. And when Ms. Piggy must take part in the classic "which Kermit is the real Kermit?" test, well ... you will believe in the love of a sheepish frog and a bullish pig. What I love about the Muppets is that while the humor can be a little edgy, a little boundary-pushing given the target audience - there's always a very tangible sense of goodness and decency that shines through with these characters and these stories.

I'm not sure why I've seen so much cynicism crop up in recent reviews of MUPPETS MOST WANTED. Maybe it's just a rebellion against the resurgence in Muppetude over the last few years. Perhaps without the meta-commentary of the first film, jaded critics couldn't find an "important" enough reason to get behind this sequel. Or perhaps there's simply an opposition to the Muppets continuing on without the involvement of some of the original creative driving forces. But I found that this film pays a lot of homage to what's come before while still feeling modern and fresh. At the same time, it just-about-perfectly captures the right Muppety mix of playful humor and positive vibes that make the Muppets what they are. The human cast here is excellent, and Constantine proves a fun adversary for Kermit and co. At the end of the day, the film had me smiling and laughing throughout: what more can I ask for in a Muppet movie?

My Grade: A-