This new unconventional dark comedy has the most delicious twist

I went into Dylan O’Brien’s new dark comedy, Twinless, expecting a pleasant enough time – I came out already wanting to rewatch. 

I hadn’t read much about the movie beyond the main premise: when Roman’s polar opposite, identical twin, Rocky, dies (both played by O’Brien), he forges a friendship with Dennis (James Sweeney) at a local support group for those who are now – as it says on the tin – twinless.

Alone, it was an intriguing enough hook to reel me in with its promise of a fresh take on grief, but, boy, am I glad I went in totally blind to how the story truly pans out. 

After opening up on Rocky’s death (off-screen), we are plunged right into the funeral, which immediately sets the tone for the next two hours – finding the absurd humour in unexpected grief.

There’s a delightful sequence as the guests pay their respects to Roman and his mum (played by Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham) in which, one by one, they declare they simply can’t look at him, given he shares the face of a now-dead man. 

It’s hilarious for all the reasons it should be tragic – a theme that runs throughout.

After making a name for himself in hit coming-of-age dramas from The Maze Runner franchise to Teen Wolf, in recent years O’Brien has shifted away from the genre where he honed his craft to star in subversive indie movies like Ponyboi.

Following in the footsteps of YA darlings turned acclaimed adult actors before him – Daniel Radcliffe, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson – O’Brien is proving he means business.

His turn in Twinless cements his leap into this next phase of his career with ease, as it shows a magnificent mastery of human emotion – and the complexities of processing sudden death. 

As we soon discover, Roman is a small-town boy who never left home and lives under his more worldly brother’s shadow, which only grows tenfold upon Rocky’s death. 

O’Brien manages to capture the quiet rage at being left behind – both literally and metaphorically – that simmers within Roman as he tries to understand who he is without his other half, while portraying the endearing shyness of this macho man who doesn’t know much about most things. 

He may not be the ‘brightest tool in the shed’, in his own words, but he’s got plenty of heart to make up for it.

Where Roman was the down-to-earth, heterosexual son who spent his time in the gym, his deceased counterpart was the stylish gay man living it up in the big city. 

In an attempt to understand his ever-distant twin better, he bonds with Dennis over his sexuality as a gay man and soon gets taken under his wing. 

Sweeney matches O’Brien toe-for-toe, creating gorgeous chemistry onscreen as you find yourself rooting for this unexpected friendship to go the whole hog.

What takes this portrait of grief to the next level, however, is the twists and turns the story takes, which had my entire cinema letting out a shocked laugh as the penny dropped… and then dropped again. 

I spent a good chunk of the movie on the back foot, confused and trying to connect the dots, which made it all the more satisfying as the pieces came together in an Eureka moment.

Where Twinless is slightly let down is in the occasionally clunkily executed tonal shifts.

As an ambitious movie, with plenty of moving parts straddling various genres, some scenes leaned too much on either the heavy or the humorous, not allowing the audience to fully immerse themselves in either feeling. 

At times, keeping up with the swinging pendulum of emotions could take you out of the momentum as the movie decided exactly what it wanted to evoke in its audience.

All in all, however, O’Brien and Sweeney shock and delight in this dark comedy that never goes where you’re expecting it to – until it does.

And even if you guess the winding course of the movie early doors, it’s worth sticking around to watch the fallout.

Twinless premieres at the BFI London Film Festival on Thursday, October 9, and Saturday, October 11. Tickets can be found here.

There is currently no UK release date.

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