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TWINLESS

(The 2025 Sundance Film Festival runs January 23- February 2 in and around gorgeous Park City, UT. HtN has you covered for all the hottest titles like Matt Delman’s Twinless movie review. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)

James Sweeney and Dylan O’Brien have incredible chemistry in Twinless, Sweeney’s Straight Up-follow-up that has Sundance crowds roaring. While his first film was a screwball comedy, Sweeney’s new screenplay dials in his delectable dialogue with a more naturalistic ear. While Straight Up was cute, Twinless is somewhat devilish. Upon rewatching HBO’s Girls, you realize Lena Dunham’s dialogue was just so much better than every other show about young adults. One gets that same feeling watching Twinless, a script so fresh, funny and well-written it makes its contemporaries seem stale by comparison. Combine that with a powerhouse performance from Dylan O’Brien, who is perfectly cast to play two very different roles with the same DNA, and it’s a recipe for a great movie.

The structure of the screenplay is formally daring, rearranging events for maximum surprise and humor. It begins with a funeral for Roman’s (O’Brien) twin Rocky and goes for laughs right away. Imagine all these people coming up to you and you look just like their dead friend. “It’s like I’m seeing a ghost,” one of them says to Roman. He meets Dennis (Sweeney) in a support group for those who’ve lost a twin, but there’s something more sinister going down that diverts the script from John Green territory. A third party enters the chat, played by Aisling Franciosi (Speak No Evil), a co-worker of Dennis’ who starts dating Roman. She threatens their bromance, despite being the nicest young woman you’ve ever met. Though her part may seem insignificant at first, by the third act she becomes an integral leg of the tripod.

But O’Brien is the emotional anchor of the film, and keeps the humor grounded in something real. In addition to the repartee between his character and the sardonic Sweeney, there are a couple of longer monologues that he really nails. He is kind of a lovable lonely oaf, but that keeps him aloof to what is really going on. In the scenes where he plays his twin Rocky, he’s a completely different confident person and the big flip is one of the film’s great charms. O’Brien doesn’t put on a British accent like Lindsay Lohan–although Sweeney does at one point, hilariously–but he does grow a mustache. Also, the fact that we’re meeting Rocky after his death gives those flashback scenes a spiritual overtone.

Sweeney brings with him his Straight Up collaborator, cinematographer Greg Cotten, who captures dynamic imagery including an exquisite use of split-screen that follows Dennis and Roman separately through a crowded party, and seamlessly blends the final shot in the sequence through a mirror trick. There’s another scene of Dennis trying out different voicemail messages that plays like an optical illusion. But mainly Cotten’s framing is there to highlight the dialogue which is the star of the show. I don’t want to spoil all the best lines, but the timing of Dennis’ delivery of, “I thought Gen Z were supposed to be nice,” received a riotous response.

The title of the film comes into sharper focus after you watch it. Twinless will be a film that people are talking about all year, and I’d suggest watching it before it’s spoiled for you. Even if you see the twist coming, which I didn’t, there is still a lot of movie to go, and Sweeney reaches emotional heights that feel electrifying. Balancing darkly humorous witty banter with real grieving and loss is a challenge in itself, but Sweeney shifts tones effortlessly throughout while keeping the audience on their toes. If we judge his first two films as a pair in need of distinguishing, then Straight Up was a charming calling card, and Twinless is a revelation.

– Matthew Delman (@ItsTheRealDel)

2025 Sundance Film Festival; James Sweeney; Twinless movie
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Matt Delman is the Editor-at-large for Hammer to Nail, spearheading the redesign and relaunch of the site in January 2020. Delman has been a frequent contributor since 2015, with boots on the ground at film festivals across North America. He also runs a boutique digital marketing agency, 3rd Impression, that specializes in social media advertising for independent film. He was recently featured in Filmmaker Magazine for his innovative digital strategies.

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