When Roman’s brother, Rocky (Dylan O’Brien) dies, Roman (also O’Brien) decides to stay in Portland under the cover story of working on wrapping up the estate, but he is not ready to move on. He goes to a support group for siblings who lost their twin and meets Dennis (James Sweeney, who also writes and directs). The two men hit it off, bond over their respective grief and find each other to be fitting substitutes for their other half; however, Dennis is not telling Roman the whole story. Will their relationship survive? “Twinless” (2025) is a high stakes, emotionally nuanced, original dramedy about twisted soulmates who help each other even when they hurt each other.
It is the ultimate acting exercise: playing two different people in the same movie. In 2025, Theo James and Michael B. Jordan did it in “The Monkey” (2025) and “Sinners” (2025) respectively, and they can now welcome O’Brien to the club. If you are unfamiliar with O’Brien, then it may even take a second to even notice a resemblance between Rocky and Roman since they are so different. O’Brien’s physicality, speech and manner are completely different. The brothers are opposites.
Roman is adrift and was lonely long before Rocky’s death, but this loss has closed any doors that Roman left open in his mind hoping that he and his brother would return to their childhood closeness. He drinks in all the affection that Rocky’s friends offer at the funeral. He is a big lug with a hair trigger temper plus a childhood injury probably caused some long-term intelligence deficits, which probably does not help him make connections. On the other hand, because he is like a big kid, he often fits into groups like a missing puzzle piece, is laid back and easily amused.
Occasional flashbacks depict Rocky as confident, at ease and a great conversationalist, but what makes him unique is his lack of yearning or incompleteness. He was able to live fully in the present, find his own company sufficient and enjoy others without visibly carrying over the residue of his past, which may explain why his absence leaves a void that “Twinless” revolves around.
Sweeney is a triple threat. As Dennis, Roman’s friend, he is so endearing and open that the friendship really does feel as if two halves made a whole to become a misfit set of twins. Roman plays like a kid when they hang out, and has a Lenny (“Of Mice and Men”) quality to him. By himself, he is a snarky bitch who looks down on others, especially Marcie (Aisling Franciosi), the receptionist at his job who has conventional tastes and is sweet, which makes her basic in his eyes and easily handled. It is hard to believe that considering how Dennis dismisses Marcie, he simultaneously finds Roman to be scintillating company. Roman checks Dennis’ default conversational, glib disrespect, but Dennis course corrects immediately revealing that there are depths to this soul that reveal a better person, not worse.
Instead of including explicit chapter numbers, Sweeney fades to black when the perspective shifts. During the initial shift from Roman to Dennis’ point of view, it feels like a completely different movie and vibe, which is what makes “Twinless” feel so riveting. It is one of those set ups where the twist makes it impossible for the charade that the relationship is built upon to last. Once revealed, everything crumbles. The tension is how will the revelation occur and what will the fallout be. For two men who have already lost so much, carry so much guilt and do not have the emotional wherewithal to find a life alone to be sufficient, it sometimes feels like a horror movie or at least a thriller. It is still a funny and delightful movie, but also one of impending dread. They want mutually exclusive things from each other, but it is a way to alleviate the regret from the respective losses. It is an impossible promise that they make to each other that cannot be kept. I watch horror movies for fun, but secondhand embarrassment is what gets me to squirm in my seat as I watch a web of lies unravel, especially when the reason is so human because everyone wants to belong.
Dennis goes on an emotional journey where he must ditch his above it all demeanor as his need becomes palpable and visible. Sweeney’s composition, especially framing, is just delicious: the placement of mirrors, watching pairs then suddenly the visible third wheel. Eventually that third wheel separates and becomes a jealous, seething, glowering bystander in a ball pit of all places. Sweeney really cooks in one sequence at Marcie’s Halloween party when the screen splits to show how Roman and Dennis operate individually, but the sound only plays on one side. For me, the side with the sound was always less interesting than watching the other side. Eventually Sweeney merges the screen together when one of the two looks for the other and realizes that the brotherless duo will never be just the two of them again. It is simultaneously heartbreaking and elating. Sometimes filmmaking is a dance, and Sweeney is a superb choreographer.
Marcie gradually takes center stage in “Twinless,” and Sweeney deserves applause for wordlessly exposing misogynistic impulses then offering a tacit apology as Marcie becomes another example like Rocky of someone who is whole by herself and can become part of a pair or a group without losing herself. Franciosi always does a good job, but this may be the first chance that I got to see her play a three-dimensional every woman as hero, not a tortured woman. While she was a force of nature in “The Nightingale” (2019), Franciosi is more memorable here because standing out as a protagonist is easier than when she is playing a character who probably likes pumpkin spice. Making the ordinary special is a gift.
Sweeney’s use of location also feels like an unspoken character, specifically Portland. Opening the scene with a static shot of a simple restaurant front that becomes the focal point for many of Roman and Dennis’ interactions feels essential before its role is revealed. Restaurants are the true hallways that lead to home before ever seeing a living room. For Roman, Portland is sophisticated compared to his rougher hockey journeys to Seattle and the suburbs. For Dennis, it is beautiful but cold. His apartment, like Rocky’s, is gorgeous. Roman needs someone to fill it, but Dennis stays alone with an iconic skyline to keep him company. There is also talk of Japan, which is where Dennis’ father, the other half that is the origin of his feeling of separateness. It began with an ocean.
“Twinless” is the kind of movie that touches on a universal longing to fit that is virtually impossible as an adult when being a complete person requires being more than the person that your biological family knows, more than a partner to the person that you love romantically, more than an employee, more than a friend. It grapples with grief and regret in a way that does not offer easy answers but also is not so bogged down and depressing that it ruins the joy and hilarity of watching an entertaining movie. It is about being yourself and finding a way to live with yourself so others do not have to bear the brunt of ephemeral deficits that cannot be rectified. No sophomore slump for Sweeney.
