Attention everyone! The Oscar race officially begins with the release of the wonderfully poignant The Skeleton Twins. You heard it here first.

Knowing that this tender movie stars Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader as complicated twins, with a little Luke Wilson and Ty Burrell thrown in on the side, you might think this dark “dramady” would be a slapstick laugh riot full of one-liners, ala Saturday Night Live. But you couldn’t be more wrong. This is a thoughtful character study, which, like life itself, has its humorous moments. You haven’t seen such realistic, bittersweet chemistry between two dysfunctional siblings since Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney starred in The Savages.

The film starts when the two hit bottom in their own separate lives, and come together to heal after ten years apart. Hader’s character Milo has just had a nasty breakup with his boyfriend, but Wiig’s Maggie, married to a Labrador Retriever of a husband (Wilson), seems to have the perfect life and nest in which her brother can mend. Their story gradually unfolds, and one of the many wonderful aspects of this film is the fact that there’s no initial exposition explaining everyone’s backgrounds. Finding out about them little by little is one of the movie’s most intriguing pleasures. Another is reminiscing about high school with them, Thompson Twins and all, appropriately enough.

It’s obvious that Writer/Director Craig Johnson (True Adolescents) has a close and comical relationship with his own sister, because he has captured this dynamic so perfectly (he also says as much in his Director’s Statement). Anyone with a sibling will recognize it, and long to reconnect and recollect. Perfectly cast, perfectly written, produced and directed, it’s already won a screenwriting award at Sundance. I predict it will be recognized again come awards season.

Rated R

92 Minutes