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Show AT'S A WRAP .4* "The Skeleton Twins" balances dark subjects with bright humor WITH STEVE STAFSHOLT STAFF WRITER nfidelity, estrangement, repressed homosexuality and dysfunctional family dynamics are themes that develop "The Skeleton Twins:' This may sound like the ultimate tearjerker, but "The Skeleton Twins" is just as much of a comedy as it is a drama. Without being facetious, the film keeps the audience laughing while it follows two adults trying to make sense of their broken lives. The two protagonists, Maggie and Milo Dean (Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader), are estranged twins who are both contemplating suicide. In the opening scene, Milo chugs vodka straight from the bottle then slits his wrists in a bathtub. The film then cuts to his sister Maggie, who is mustering up the courage to eat a handful of pills. Before she decides whether or not to go through with it, she gets a call from the ER telling her about her brother's suicide attempt. She flies out to Los Angeles to visit her brother, and possibly spurred by the fact her brother saved her from committing suicide herself, she invites him to stay with her and her husband Lance (Luke Wilson) back in New York. Living together brings out all of their pain and playfulness, and seeing it unfold is emotionally satisfying. Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader's history of working together on the set of Saturday Night Live is apparent in their easy chemistry. They feed off of each other's humor and this comedic synergy makes it seem as though they actually did grow up under the same roof. Whether it is the silly potty jokes, the deadpan banter or the exceptional lip syncing, the juxtaposition of humor and gravitas makes this film feel real. Milo and Maggie's husband Lance constitute the film's second laughable duo. Lance tries to connect with Milo, but their differences in character — city slicker vs. outdoorsy townie, cripplingly depressed vs. unflappably optimistic, washed-up actor vs. content handyman — are too wide a gap to cross.Their attempts to bond and Lance's inability to understand Milo's sense of humor serve as counterpoints to Milo and Maggie's exchanges. Laughs aside, this film has enough drama to rival a Greek tragedy. Milo and Maggie's flirtations with suicide have a familial origin that is referenced frequently. Milo suffers from the pain of unrealized dreams and tries to cope by binge drinking. Maggie faces the guilt of not being able to love the only good guy she has ever dated by sleeping with other men, including her scuba diving instructor (Boyd Holbrook). Maggie and Milo take low blows at each other's flimsy self-esteem, and the calamity that caused their separation comes to surface towards the end of the film. Despite the disheartening storyline, the film ends on a hopeful, if not necessarily, happy note. The film's biggest shortcoming is its ending. The reassuring resolution doesn't feel out of place, but the entirely unrealistic means by which it is achieved undermines the realism of the script and the plot. The film also could have benefited by delving a little deeper into the Dean family history. Milo and Maggie making brief mentions of their past, their mother coming for a short visit (leaving more questions than answers) and a single vignette from a childhood Halloween are the only information ever given about their life before the movie. A little more background would have made their estrangement and their reunion all the more evocative. For all its darker subject matter, "The Skeleton Twins" has an optimistic theme — humor's power to bring people together and heal old wounds. Catch it at the Broadway Theater with a friend who you are willing to laugh and cry with. s.stafsholt@chronicle.utah.edu @ChronyArts WITH ADDISON BUTLER "BUY CLOTHES THAT KEEP YOU WARM AND WEAR CLOTHES THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY" T here has always been something oddly comforting to me about having rules. Seeing signs demanding swimmers not to dive in the shallow end of a pool eases the internal anxiety caused by my natural inclination to assume the absolute bloodiest outcome in high-risk activities such as swimming and ping-pong. We seek rules for just about everything. How many rings can I wear before it's considered "bad taste"? Which shirt best matches my skin tone? Is this bun all right? And to questions like these there are automated responses that seem to spurt out within a matter of seconds. "Four rings per hand; no more, no less' "With your complexion I would stay away from peaches and oranges, they wash you out:" "Messy buns should only be utilized if you've woken up late and don't have the time to fix your hair. Like, c'mon, Jenny:" You've heard phrases like these a million times, half the time grumbled from your own mouth in the frenzied, early-morning moments in front of your mirror. While some of the guidelines frequently tossed around in fashion ring true, the bottom line is that most are fictitious, mindlessly blurted out to quicken the process of getting ready with minimal damage. With autumn finally making its way to the Salt Lake Valley, we're all ravenous for this season's rules to explain what is considered permissible and what should be locked far away. Like you, the thought of knowing all the secrets to fall fashion exhilarates me, but I know deep down that having all of the answers to style would become tedious. To me, at least, fashion's value as an art form lies in its fluidity and flexibility. Where other modes of self-expression eventually come to an end, fashion pushes itself to change and encourages constant rejuvenation. At its finest, fashion rejects all rules in favor of beautiful experimentation. But I'm not paid to drill my philosophy on fashion into 10 { THECHRONY I NEWS I OPINION I ARTS I SPORTS I FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10 2014 } your heads. Rather, I am here to give you my earnest, thoughtful advice. Don't let all the rules on what to wear get you down. People tend to stick to pastels and dark neutrals for fall, but if your heart is screaming for you to display that neon green mesh top under your barn jacket, by all means wear it. Your Mickey Mouse sweatshirt you snagged on your last trip to Disneyland may not necessarily be on trend, but if you can find a way to sport it with panache and style, you definitely shouldn't dismiss the opportunity. When it comes to transitioning your wardrobe into fall, there are only two true requirements to consider: buy clothes that keep you warm and wear clothes that keep you happy. With a watchful eye for what aesthetically works and a dash of brash confidence, you're set for life. a.butler@chronicle.utah.edu @ChronyArts DC S tudent debt is JONATHAN a societal drain. While some debt incurrence is reasonable and manageable for most college students, escalating tuition costs and institutional constraints have yielded record student debt sums that have begun to damage other economic sectors. One practice that falls in the latter category is the mandatory — and usually unpaid — internship. It is high time for the phasing-out of unpaid internships, which are nothing more than the thread in a legal labor loophole. While some major programs include internships as graduation requirements, it is a poorly guarded secret that nearly all employers expect students to have completed one, regardless of undergraduate curriculum. Professionals are increasingly beginning to compensate interns, though the wages they offer tend to be paltry. Unpaid internships remain the norm, however, as suggested by a cursory search through any university internship database. Undergraduates are not the only students reduced to free labor. Businessweek recently ran the story of Joe Zeidner, a law student at Drexell University and member of the student contingent of the American Bar Association, who was forced to go on food stamps due to a school rule prohibiting the accreditation of paid law internships. "It is patently unfair to make law students choose between getting class credit and being able to pay their rent' he said. Zeidner is the victim of curricular stipulations. But countless other students are being taken advantage of by opportunistic professionals who exploit the social — and often academic — requirement and inexplicable legality of unpaid internships to either vet potential future employees or simply delegate banal tasks to a never-ending string of interns in lieu of making official hires. Numerous civic and legal actors take issue with this approach and have instigated backlash. The Fair Pay Campaign is a movement that champions the already financially strapped student in vying to eliminate unpaid internships. "Any time you post an ad for an unpaid internship, you're writing 'poor people need not apply' in big letters at the top',' said founder Mikey Franklin. The Unpaid Interns Lawsuit, a litigation prospecting campaign from Outten & Golden Llf; is another movement aimed at procuring compensation for interns. "If you have held an unpaid internship during the past six years, even if you received school credit for the internship, we would like to talk to you:' reads the group site's heading. Both the Fair Pay Campaign and Unpaid Interns Lawsuit emerged on the heels of several high profile intem-driven lawsuits, including one initiated by Outten & Golden against Fox Searchlight Pictures for failing to compensate two production assistant interns who worked overtime. The suits magnified the fact that, while some unpaid interns only work part-time, many work more than 40 hours, making their plight particularly grievous. Regardless of required time commitment, unpaid internships skirt minimum-pay laws and leave students in dire financial straits. Students without an infinite reservoir of familial financial support are forced to borrow additional funds during internship periods, which further increases their post-graduation burdens. The withering of numerous sectors of the economy is at least partially attributable to increasing student debt burdens, which, as illustrated above, are aggravated by unpaid internships.The real estate market embodies this phenomenon perhaps better than any other. According to The Denver Post's Alicia Caldwell, student debt will have caused "$83 billion in lost [housing] transactions" by the end of 2014. The detrimental economic effects of rising student debt are not PARK limited to the housing sector. Other reports show student debt adversely affecting the automobile industry and rendering graduates less likely to start their own businesses, phenomena that increase the suffering of America's already ailing economy. With the nation's financial health progressively worsening from skyrocketing aggregate student debt, it is imperative all pertinent debt-spurring factors be addressed. Unpaid internships constitute one such factor that can be promptly remedied.They allow businesses to save cash on the margins but have devastating effects on the finances of alumni and the nation at large. Moreover, they are an assault on common, objective ethics. Free labor is a relic of a past society that has been almost universally condemned. Couching it in terms of "necessary experience" is both euphemistic and disingenuous. letters@chronicle.utah.edu C 19 • 011 112 TI Bring equipment in Oct. 6, 7, 8 Mon-Wed DTZ l UTAH ACADEMY AWARD* WINNER REESE WITHERSPOON Custom Footbed with any new Adult Ski Boot purchase ($200 value) TH GOOD Miracles are made by people who refuse to slop believing. ,, .,, , Iii.Ild 112 Mt T119317,0 4111116i 801111111116111MMON91111111111[113111111111 MI il WHIM "Ti 11111111111111011111111481111BENIINIIMEIll 1E0 1 1 ll[1111611M191PHIPill 1 COMING SOON IF - wogiriP t . = dult Season Rentals $125 mo. STOP BY ROOM 321 - OLPIN UNION TO RECEIVE A PASS FOR YOU AND A GUEST One pass per person. While supplies last. Each pass admits two. PG-13 FOR THEMATIC ELEMENTS, SOME VIOLENCE, BRIEF STRONG LANGUAGE AND DRUG USE Please note: Passes are limited and will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis. No phone calls, please. Limit two passes per person. Each pass admits one. Seating is not guaranteed. Arrive early. Theater is not responsible for overbooking. This screening will be monitored for unauthorized recording. By attending, you agree not to bring any audio or video recording device into the theater (audio recording devices for credentialed press excepted) and consent to a physical search of your belongings and person. Any attempted use of recording devices will result in immediate removal from the theater, forfeiture, and may subject you to criminal and civil liability. Please allow additional time for heightened security. You can assist us by leaving all nonessential bags at home or in your vehicle. IN THEATERS OCTOBER 24 THEGOODLIEMOVIE .COM IN FOOTHILL VILLAGE 1 www.sportsden.com 1350 Foothill Drive • 582-5611 |