“Hey Kristen…do you think the seat between us is symbolism for the distance in our relationship.” “Sure Bill.” Image via IFC

For a film starring a guy known for his Alan Alda impression and a girl known for her awkward stammering, The Skeleton Twins sure is sad. In fact, the biggest laugh you will get out of The Skeleton Twins is from a joke about a famous dead dog.

The Skeleton Twins checks off a myraid of indie movie cliches, from white people being sad underwater, to white people being sad while sticking their head out of a car window. A good alternate title for this film would be Little Miss Zoloft.

Bill Hader plays Milo, a struggling actor who hits rock bottom and attempts suicide. His twin sister Maggie (Kristen Wiig) is about to commit suicide, before she is informed about her brother. *cue Alec Baldwin voiceover* The siblings hadn’t spoken in 10 years. So Maggie takes Milo in to her quaint little home in Upstate New York, and the pair spends the next 90 minutes working out their problems. It’s like watching a therapy session for the small price of $15 (okay, so that’s not a lot in New York standards).

Like any good film, The Skeleton Twins is an example of empathy. Here are two characters that have done some terrible things, and yet it always seems possible that they can move on beyond their mistakes.

Writing and acting is something of a symbiotic relationship: one can’t be good without the other. While The Skeleton Twins has some quality dialogue and some killer dark humor, the performances elevate it to another level. Hader maintains some of the silliness that has made him such a comedy star. Then his amazing and unexpected monologue about peaking in high school becomes the film’s thesis statement. Meanwhile, Wiig does a great Margot Tenenbaum impression as a woman who maybe settled just a bit too much. Speaking of the Tenenbaums, Luke Wilson makes a great comeback to the big screen as Maggie’s unassuming and sincere husband. He’s the kind of guy who would wear a “Pain is Temporary, Pride Lasts Forever” t-shirt, and he is an unfortunate bystander during the twins’ reign of terror. Hopefully, this means Luke Wilson won’t have to act in any more AT&T commercials.

Typically, overly dramatic films can be painful to watch, as if the director is taking joy in making the audience sad. However, The Skeleton Twins feels like the right kind of sadness. It is the kind of story that believes there is a way out, and that even the tiniest gesture, like fixing a fish tank, can amend a relationship. This is not a film about characters who only know pain. It is about characters with a bright past, and a bleak present. However, that doesn’t mean that there best days are behind them.

Brain Farts From The Edge

• Okay, maybe I made this sound a tad too grim. Just know that there’s a scene where Milo and Maggie get high in a dentist’s office.
• I think I might have groaned like, twice during the film’s running time. Not bad.
• This isn’t exactly Luke Wilson’s big comeback. For that, you should watch every single episode of Enlightened right now.
• The Skeleton Twins was produced by Jay and Mark Duplass. Right now, the Duplass seal of approval is the indie world’s equivalent of the Colbert Bump.
• Good job, guy who won an Emmy for Modern Family this year for no reason.
• The film’s portrayal of suicide and depression was making me think of Robin Williams again. We still miss you, Robin.
• Having just graduated from Syracuse, the film, which is set somewhere in the Hudson Valley, made me miss that part of the state of New York that isn’t Manhattan.
• As I wrote recently, dysfunctional families are just more fun than normal families.

Any film or TV show that presents a completely normal family is lying to you. If the family was normal, then it wouldn’t be a real family.

Dysfunctional families are a perfect storytelling device which lend themselves to virtually any genre, whether it be comedy, drama, or horror. I just started watching Parenthood, in which a sprawling mess of a family is the center of the story. It is a great show, and it got me thinking about my favorite dysfunctional families. Dysfunctional families can be disastrous. However, often that is just because their love is so strong that it compels them to do crazy things.

I did some digging, and I compiled a list. Here are ten of the best dysfunctional families in pop culture:

The Tenenbaums- The Royal Tenenbaums

As one of my favorite opening monologues ever explains, the Tenenbaums were once a family of overachievers who have fallen on tough times. While they are all unique and have potential, none of them trust each other, which is why they have trouble functioning as a family. This is probably all the fault of failed patriarch Royal (but hey, he did get a film named after him). You know a family is dysfunctional when the only way to get close to anyone in it is to fake a disease.

The Bluths- Arrested Development

“And now the story of a wealthy family who lost everything…” The Bluths have a lot in common with the Tenenbaums. In fact, creator Mitch Hurwitz was so afraid of the similarities that he nearly didn’t go through with the show. We are all glad he did. The Bluth Family’s issues could probably be blamed on their terrible father, but everybody else is complicit as well, even Michael. They lie and steal from each other like it is no big deal. Yet, they are still a family, and if you mess with one Bluth, you mess with all of them. The Bluths are a close group. Sometimes, they are just a little too close though.

The Corleones- The Godfather

When your family is involved in organized crime, you know there is going to be some trouble. Funny, movie mobsters have such a strong sense of family, yet they never seem to act in their best interest. Michael Corleone wanted nothing to do with the family business, but circumstances forced him into it. That is the thing with a dysfunctional family: they will never let you leave. The worst part of it all is how Michael responds to his brother Fredo’s betrayal. It breaks my heart.

The Sopranos- The Sopranos

In the Soprano clan, it is hard to know how somebody is actually related to somebody, or if they are even related at all. Sometimes, Christopher is Tony’s nephew, and other times he is Tony’s cousin. Family members steal each other spouses, and even resort to killing one another. Don’t even bother asking a Soprano to organize an intervention for a loved one. Good families (if that is such a thing) look out for one another. In dysfunctional families, everybody is actually just looking out for themselves. And that is why Janice is still the worst.

Malcolm’s Family- Malcolm in the Middle

Malcolm’s family is never given a last name (though some say their last name is Wilkerson), because they could be any family. They often struggle financially and typically dance around in their underwear. They yell at each other and frequently destroy property. Yet, at the end of every episode, we are given reason to believe that this family actually works. Lois and Hal compliment each other, while Reese will fight anybody who lays a finger on Malcolm, even if Reese might just be Malcom’s biggest bully. They may scream and fight a lot, but they love each other, even if the rest of the world doesn’t feel the same way.

The Torrances- The Shining

As the famous twist ending of The Shining shows, we really don’t know jack about the Torrances. They seem like a happy trio until Jack starts hearing voices that tell him to murder his family. Then he picks up the axe. I am pretty sure that the moral of this story is never to bring your wife and children to Colorado.

The Bunkers- All in the Family

Don’t quote me on this, but the Bunkers might have been the first truly dysfunctional family on television. Archie’s ideological clashes with Meathead are the stuff on television history. As the theme song itself proclaims, Archie and Edith Bunker just weren’t made for these times.

The Cross Family- Chinatown

“She’s my sister! She’s my daughter! She’s my sister and my daughter!” Yes, this line means exactly what you think it means.

The Lannisters- Game of Thrones

Morality in Westeros is relative, as everybody that inhabits this world is a little insane in the membrane. There is something especially off about the Lannisters, though. They are like the Bluths of Game of Thrones, but with more access to Medieval weaponry. A brother and sister sleep with each other. A father tells his son that he never even wanted him alive. An illegitimate nephew becomes a murderous nightmare. Even Maury Povich would be too scared to have the Lannisters on his show.

The Bates Family- Psycho/Bates Motel

In Psycho, Norman and Norma Bates don’t necessarily share any screen time together, but the implication of some Freudian shades of love is creepy enough. They are basically Lucille and Buster Bluth, minus some bloodshed.