When an actor takes on multiple roles in a movie, you’re forced to wonder if this casting choice has been made to stoke the actor’s ego (and maybe earn them a bit more cash), or as a necessary component of the screen storytelling. Dylan O’Brien delivers two remarkable performances in James Sweeney’s indie-flavoured anti-romcom, Twinless: one as Roman, a hangdog lug who is mourning the recent death of his twin brother; and the other as Rocky, an intimidatingly confident gay pick-up artist and late brother to Roman.
There’s an extreme distinction between the two characters, and O’Brien doesn’t appear to be consciously emphasising any aesthetic or behavioural tic that connects the two. The twins inhabit such different social spaces and fields of interest that you’re also left to wonder what it was that made them so close in the first place. Is this the much ballyhoo’d mystical twin bond that exists beyond rational comprehension?
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Roman is introduced attending a therapy group for people who have lost a twin, and while taking advantage of the gratis comestibles table, he’s doorstepped by Dennis (James Sweeney), a young, awkward gay man who finds himself in the same de-twinned boat. The pair strike up a fast friendship despite their differences, and Dennis in particular claims to feel mentally consoled while in Roman’s tongue-tied presence. Soon, via flashback, we’re made party to details of the tragic event that led Dennis to the therapy session, and we discover that his motivations aren’t entirely true.
Sweeney’s film rides on a clever concept, and there’s a level of amusement to be had from trying to find justification for Dennis’ increasingly antisocial actions. Sweeney himself is less of a natural performer than O’Brien, and the arch tone of his delivery always makes it feel like he’s doing a bit for Saturday Night Live – the emotions never translate as sincere. His finicky nature and a constant need to add little cultural references or rhetorical asides to the dialogue grow tiring very quickly, occasionally creating haunting parallels with Zach Braff’s winsome indie nightmare, Garden State. But only occasionally, thank god.
From its sweet opening, Twinless soon lurches into an extended wallow into Dennis’ various humiliations and self-owns as his long-game deception soon comes undone. It’s a well-made and fitfully entertaining film, though by the second half, the Roman character becomes a fairly vacant cipher and merely a way for the camera to explore Dennis’ various neuroses. As a writer and director, Sweeney shows much promise, at times demonstrating the swaggering confidence of the Canadian upstart, Xavier Dolan – the pair even look quite similar. Yet the film works best as a showcase for exemplary range of O’Brien.