Twinless (2025) review

Distraught over the death of his openly gay twin brother Rocky (Dylan O'Brien), Roman (O'Brien again) starts attending group therapy for others who have lost womb buddies which is where he meets Dennis (Sweeney) and the two form a close bond (shared trauma and all that) ... except Dennis is infatuated with him and lying about losing a sibling.  The setup for this sophomore feature from Sweeney is quite insidious - it's indebted to the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen - and O'Brien is superb playing dual roles (to get the fanboys and girls in a tizzy), although the tone throughout is off: it tries to be flippant and there are some good one-liners, but it's a little too taken with its own sadness and feels self-absorbed.  Sweeney casts himself as the "villain" (of sorts), who is a pathological liar and sociopath, and yet he still expects to be pitied when the ruse is up ... and, like Cooper Raiff, he makes the mistake of filming himself weeping.  This was a hit at the Sundance Factory - rest in peace, Mr. Redford - but unlike the other 'indie products' that are praised there, I genuinely think Sweeney has the insight to potentially make a major film one day.