Skeletons

Nick Whitfield's self-consciously quirky feature tracks two practitioners of the paranormal, who travel into strangers' dubious pasts to extract suppressed secrets. The investigative team of Davis and Bennett are played by Brit comedy duo Ed Gaughan and Andrew Buckley, who spend the first half of Skeletons engaging in a lot of argumentative banter that's neither interesting nor amusing. It's not just a matter of the usual transatlantic differences between Brit and American humor: Davis and Bennett are no Fry and Laurie, but rather irascible, obtuse, and, often tedious. Luckily the supporting cast adds color and personality to the mix: Jason Isaacs as the Colonel, their demanding boss; Paprika Steen as Jane, the oddball mother who hires them to investigate what happened to her estranged husband; and Tuppence Middleton as Rebecca, Jane's mute, angry, 21-year-old daughter, who eventually uses the pair's Victorian-era supernatural weaponry (magical teleportation stones, basically) against them. The script comes across as an ill-conceived shambles that's not artful enough to qualify as art-house fare and not coherent, funny, or entertaining enough to appeal to a wide audience. Not recommended. (M. Sandlin)