Twinless Review: BFI London Film Festival 2025

One really is the loneliest number in dark comedy, Twinless

Roman (Dylan O’Brien) is devastated by the sudden death of his identical twin, Rocky (also O’Brien,) in a car accident. Stricken with grief and feeling adrift in the world, he attends a bereavement support group for people who’ve lost their twin, where he meets Dennis (James Sweeney), a fellow survivor. The two bond over how hard they find it to do even simple daily tasks alone, and are soon meeting up to go grocery shopping, fold each other’s laundry and eat late-night sandwiches.

As the two men’s friendship grows and they attempt to replace their lost twins with each other, the relationship quickly spirals from something comforting to complete co-dependency. Dennis is jealous of anyone else Roman spends time with, and as his behaviour becomes increasingly irrational, we start to learn that there may be more to his story than meets the eye.

Written and directed by Sweeney, Twinless is a hugely entertaining dark comedy that, despite its morbid subject matter, is absolutely packed with laughs. From quips and one-liners to searing observations, miscommunications and sight gags, it’s built on layer upon layer of clever and nuanced writing. An offensively good time, it’s no wonder this won the audience award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Yet Twinless is also a masterfully well-balanced piece of storytelling. Audacious, ridiculous, laugh out loud things keep happening, and yet it also manages to be a deeply compassionate film about grief and loneliness. Roman’s journey out of shocked numbness towards healing is punctuated by bursts of violence and rage, all portrayed with raw honesty by Dylan O’Brien. His short scenes as the flirty, gregarious twin Rocky are also an absolute hoot – it’s impressive range from the former teen actor now using his 30s to make risky and exciting work.

Conversely, some of the things Dennis gets up to might seem absurd, but it’s emphatically understood that they come from a place of sadness. Even when he should be at his most reprehensible, Sweeney never pushes either the joke or the cruelty too far, and never turns his audience against his character. Twinless at its core is a story about healing, empathy and growth.

Stylishly shot and put together with artful framing, it’s fair to say that James Sweeney establishes himself as an absolute triple threat here. There’s a mesmerising, kaleidoscopic mirror within a mirror scene, a gorgeous sequence filmed inside a Portland immersive art gallery and a playful split-screen moment that pays homage to the boy’s love of the Sims – plumbobs and Simlish and all. It’s a surprising visual feast in a genre that doesn’t often pay much heed to looks.

Smartly written, stylishly captured, performed with nuance and sensitivity – but crucially, very, very funny – Twinless is my surprise of the year so far. A surefire crowd-pleaser of a film, I’ll be watching intently for whatever James Sweeney does next.

Twinless is playing as part of the BFI London Film Festival 2025. A UK cinema release is expected early next year

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