Twinless – The Dark Comedy That Will Make You Cry - by Megan Dawn
I got the pleasure of seeing Twinless when it premiered at Sundance, back in January.
As a major Dylan O’Brien fan, I had been looking forward to this movie since first
hearing he was attached to it. And it did not disappoint.
If you have never heard of the movie, you should really look it up. It is about Roman
(O’Brien) who loses his twin brother, Rocky (also O’Brien), to a tragic accident. Not only
does Roman have to figure out how to maneuver through his loss, he also has to learn
how to deal with the fact that he and Rocky were barely on speaking terms at the time
of Rocky’s death. After a brutal argument with his mom, Roman finds himself at a
support group for twins who have lost their other half. Here he meets Dennis (James
Sweeney). They strike up a friendship and Dennis proves to be very helpful to Roman.
Enter the dark comedy.
If you were paying attention to the funeral scene, at the beginning, you will wonder why
Dennis looks familiar. He was there, in disguise. If you missed it, go back and watch the
scene, again. See if you can spot him. I’ll wait...
Okay, now that your curiosity is sufficiently peaked, let’s get into the movie.
After the funeral, we see Roman and his mom, Lisa (the fabulous Lauren Graham),
back at Rocky’s apartment. As Roman is on the phone trying to close Rocky’s accounts,
Lisa is packing up Rocky’s belongings. With the most ill-conceived timing ever, she
keeps asking Roman if he wants things. After a few times of this happening, Roman
loses his cool and we get our first look at Roman’s anger.
An intense fight ensues with Lisa saying she is leaving and there is no way that Roman
can pack up the whole place by himself. Roman insists that he can. This fight ends with
Lisa telling Roman he needs help. In classic middle school fashion, Roman comes back
with ‘You need help.’ To which Lisa agrees that he is probably right. By the way, Dylan’s
delivery is absolutely adorable!
I love this scene for so many reasons. Knowing Lauren and Dylan’s acting styles like I
do, I knew they were going to be good together. But they were even better than I
imagined. The way they played off of each other was pure magic.
Lauren managed to express Lisa’s sadness, pain, her frustration with Roman, and her
worry for him with her stunning blue eyes, facial expressions, and body language. If
Lauren would not have had any lines in this scene, I would have still been able to sense
what she was going through.
Dylan gave us Roman’s pain, guilt, anger, and the lost little boy inside of him that was
also grieving. The way he switched from angry adult to hurting little boy so quickly was
nothing short of brilliant.
Over the next few scenes, we watch Roman and Dennis get closer and closer. And you
really start seeing just how good they are for each other and are grateful that they are
there for each other to help the other get through this unimaginable tragedy. The
marshmallow scene is gross, though.
Interspersed with those scenes, we see Roman really struggling with his grief, the
uncertainty of how to express it or get through it on his own. This just brings home, even
sharper, just how good Dennis is for him.
I absolutely love the connection between Dylan and James. It makes the building
friendship between their characters that much more believable. Dylan is one of those
actors that just seems to bond with every actor that he works with. The man just has
natural charisma and chemistry with everyone. And I will die on this hill.
Now we go back in time and Dennis’ point of view. And if you have been thinking, all
this time, that there was something off about Dennis and there had to be more to his
story – well, you’re not wrong. I just had a feeling that the connection between Dennis
and Roman was beyond what Roman could have imagined.
In this time traveling look at the past, we discover that Dennis knew Rocky. They met at
that diner and proceeded to have a night that Dennis was unable to forget. Enter that
scene that some twisted soul leaked to the internet during Sundance. You know, the
one that had all the socials losing their minds and caused Sundance to pull the movie
from their streaming option days before they were scheduled to do so.
As an asexual, the sex scenes didn’t hold my attention. Nope, not even ones that
consist of a very well built and unclothed Dylan O’Brien. Yeah, I know. I’m weird. But it
gets weirder, because what did hold my attention was the conversations that Rocky and
Dennis were having during all the sex. I am pretty sure this is not normal ‘pillow talk’, but
I found the topics fascinating and hilarious.
The conversation after was much deeper, but equally fascinating. It seems that Rocky is
much more than the playboy he has been trying to convince us that he is. Turns out,
Rocky is sweet and funny and sentimental and he misses his twin very much. The
estrangement between the brothers seems to have had quite an impact on Rocky.
When Dennis asks him what happened, Rocky explains it away as ‘just life.’
Speaking of Dennis, we also find out HE DOES NOT HAVE A TWIN!!
Remember, a few paragraphs ago, when I said that something was off with Dennis and
there was more to his story and his connection to Rocky? Well, dear readers, we have
arrived at that reveal! If you think that reveal shocked you, wait until you see what it
does to Roman.
Let me also take this moment to say just how impressed I am with Dylan’s portrayal of
Rocky. As a Queer person, I have seen, and participated in, many conversations about
straight actors playing gay characters. There are arguments for both sides of the fence,
of course.
I am one of those Queers who is not opposed to a straight person playing a Queer
character, as long as it is done with authenticity and care. Dylan does this, and so much
more, in spades. Seriously, the guy knocked it out of the park. And if I wasn’t such a fan
of this man and already know he’s straight, I would have been thoroughly convinced
that he belonged to the LGBTQIA+ community.
Anyway, it turns out Dennis is a bit of a stalker and maybe even a little psycho.
Remember the very beginning with the shot of the diner window and the sounds of a car
crash? Now we see what happened. While Dennis may not have been the one to hit
Rocky with a car, he most definitely holds some responsibility in Rocky’s death. And
now we are left wondering just what is Dennis’ end game here? Is his friendship with
Roman a way to ease his guilt? Is he hoping to find with Roman what he imagined he
had with Rocky? Is it all of that? And poor Roman, how is he going to feel when he finds
out? Because we know he is going to find out.
We do know, now, why Dennis was at the funeral in a disguise, though. And that his
stalker tendencies are not limited to just Rocky. Okay, and now we are back in the
present.
There are so many great scenes in this movie. But one of my favorites is the car ride
when Roman and Dennis are going to the hockey game in Seattle. The song Crazy for
this Girl by Evan and Jaron plays and the two guys start singing along. If you have
heard Dylan discuss his audition for ‘Frozen’ or seen the YouTube video of him singing
‘Let It Go’ you’ll know why this is so funny. I also love that Roman plays a bit of air
drums. This is significant for two reasons – Dylan is a drummer and once played with a
band called Slow Kids at Play, and there is viral behind the scenes video of Dylan and
Tyler Posey doing some epic air drumming on the set of Teen Wolf. This scene is
definitely a fun little easter egg for the Dylan fandom.
Then there is the hotel scene. And if you have not been impressed with Dylan, so far, -
well, what the hell is wrong with you?! But, also, if this scene doesn’t do it, nothing will.
This entire movie allows Dylan to show just how extensive his range is. But this
moment, when Dennis allows him to speak to him as if he’s speaking to Rocky, is so
intense. And the true power of Dylan O’Brien shows itself. The pain, the anger, the
sadness, the fear, the confession of his reaction to Rocky coming out and the truth of
their estrangement, the absolute raw emotion that Dylan gives us is dynamic and
insane. I am not a crier, but Dylan gets me to break.
From here, we get more of watching Roman and Dennis’ friendship grow and Dennis
become more and more obsessed with Roman. The catalyst – the beginning of the end
– is when Dennis takes Roman to Marcie’s Halloween party. Roman and Marcie are
immediately attracted to each other; an occurrence I can guarantee our dear Dennis did
not see coming. And it comes back to haunt him, as the three of them spend more time
together and Dennis is forced to watch them fall in love. I’ll give him credit, he does do a
good job of keeping his feelings inside, mostly. There are some moments where he is
particularly sardonic with Marcie, but she’s too sweet to notice. And then she almost
blows his secret, that he does not have a twin and that he knew Rocky. Quick thinking,
and a fake panic attack, saves the moment. For now.
The moment it all comes out totally flips the movie upside down. Up until this point,
Dennis has been a sardonic, stoic guy. All of which James played very well. But we
didn’t get to see much emotion from James. Until now. In a fit of drunken conscious,
Dennis tells Roman everything. And I mean everything! He tells the truth about not
having a twin and he confesses that he was the crazy guy yelling at Rocky when he got
hit by the car. And I am so impressed with James and the way he played this. The way
the whole thing started, the way the secrets started quietly, before pouring out of him
like a waterfall. It is a true masterclass in acting.
And then there is the ending. I love that Roman agreed to meet up with Dennis and talk.
I love that the conversation was awkward yet so deeply honest. You get to see that,
when he is being himself, Dennis is actually a really good guy. I love that I am left
feeling for both Roman and Dennis. And I love that the ending is not your typical happy
ending where they end up forgiving everything and being best friends forever.
The state of their friendship, if it even still exists, is left up in the air. These are my
favorite endings. I hate endings where everything is tied up in a neat little bow. I prefer
my endings to be ambiguous. It allows my own writer’s mind to imagine what comes
next, uninfluenced by the writers or producers of the movie. This movie gives me that. It
is just one more of the many things to love about it.
And now, just a few closing thoughts.
I didn’t touch on Marcie too much in this review, but I really like her. She is good for
Roman. A big part of that is because of Aisling Franciosi and the way she plays her. In
other hands, Marcie could have easily come across as too much. But Aisling made her
sweet and funny and lovable and relatable.
I read an article, a few days ago, that said this movie should get Dylan an Oscar
nomination. And I wholeheartedly agree with that opinion. And I am not just saying that
because I have loved Dylan for a very long time. In all the projects he has done, both
mainstream and Indie, he gives his heart and soul to them.
If you have seen any of his movies, you know what I am talking about.
But this one feels different, somehow it’s more. Maybe it’s because of the emotional
range that Dylan gets to show. Maybe it’s the complete opposite of characters he plays
and how he is so careful to give each one their own personality and look and
perspective. Maybe it’s just because Dylan has always been an epic actor and that just
grows with each year and each project that he does.
So, if you want to see a beautiful, tragic, funny story that will make you cry and make
you go ‘wait, what?’ more than once, check out Twinless. It is absolutely worth it.