THE TWITS - Mark Reviews Movies

The Twits, Netflix

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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 16, 2025

The Twits are truly miserable, cruel, and awful people, so when The Twits puts forth that this married couple will try their hands and succeed at politics, the move only makes too much sense. The screenplay by director Phil Johnston and Meg Favreau, based on Roald Dahl's book, nearly gets at something with that narrative choice that might have justified how formulaic the rest of the story is, as well as the blandness of the movie's general theme.

The Twits here truly are wretched and disgusting people, even though they're voiced by the always-admirable character actress Margo Martindale and the charming, teddy bear-like English comedian Johnny Vegas. We get a good view of their lives and routines throughout the story, which revolves around their schemes to open a health-code-violation-happy amusement park in their backyard. A little bit of these two goes a long way.

Their thing, as a mother flea (voiced by Emilia Clarke) tells her child before bedtime in Mr. Twit's ragged beard, is that the Twits hate everything and everyone. After 40 years of marriage, they might hate each other more than anything else, so they play assorted "pranks" on each other, such as when Mrs. Twit serves worms to her husband instead of spaghetti or when Mr. Twit puts a frog on his sleep wife's chest. Because the movie is so safe in its thinking, it hints at the idea that these two genuinely love each other deep—very deep—down, while also making a point of giving them the briefest of tragic back stories to remind us of their basic humanity.

That's all well and good on the level of a moral for kids to take away from this story, perhaps, but isn't the mere existence of the Twits, wholly self-involved and greedy and causing so much unnecessary pain for others, and their comeuppance also a good lesson for kids? Maybe the filmmakers' thinly veiled efforts to connect the Twits to modern American politics gave them cold feet to really follow through on Dahl's original point. Whatever the rationale behind it may be, the decision to somewhat mellow the Twits directly and by way of some other characters is an odd one.

It's especially so after witnessing how much damage the two do to those around them, simply out of unearned ego. The Twits have built a theme park—with the theme being how gross they can make an amusement park, apparently—and are horrified when the city shuts it down before the park can even open. The spinning ride made of portable toilets might have done it, but the bouncy pit filled with dirty mattresses probably sealed the deal.

As revenge, the couple fill the city's water supply with that pink liquid meat product, and dogged orphan Beesha (voice of Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and her friend Bubsy (voice of Ryan Anderson Lopez) decide to track down the culprits, because the contaminated water is ruining the kids' chances of being adopted. They get a confession on video from the Twits, but because economic times are tough in the city, the two become quite popular, simply because the Twits stated their delusional belief that this terrible amusement park will bring back tourism.

This is wickedly funny—and unfortunately relevant—stuff. The Twits are bailed out of prison by the most gullible in town, desperately wanting to believe that their empty promises are real. They're more than happy to give the couple money, too, since the Twits say that financially supporting them will somehow pay the population back a thousand times over.

At a debate with the current mayor (voiced by Jason Matzoukas), the Twits rally the audience into a frenzy of blaming some indistinct "you" for all their personal troubles and the city's woes. If not for the fact that the scene is also played for broad comedy (including Mr. Twit's malapropism for "diorama" and the payoff of an earlier promise of what will happen to the sitting mayor's backside), it might be a struggle to call the scene satirical. It hits a bit too close to home, and within a collection of forgettable songs by David Byrne, the crowd's rallying cry against a vague enemy is rather chilling.

The rest of the movie, unfortunately, doesn't live up to the promise of that scene and that satirical conceit. It mostly follows the orphans, as they're attacked by the Twits, come up with a plan to undo their foes, and learn some lessons with the help of a family of blue-haired, monkey-like "muggle-wumps" (The parents are voiced by Natalie Portman and Timothy Simons), who were held in captivity by the Twits for the creatures' powerful tears. The Twits, their antics, and the potency of the idea of turning them into politicians have an inherent comedic energy to them. Whenever the story gets away from those things, its vigor deflates, and the momentum slows to a crawl.

Everything surrounding the Twits might be too pleasant and considerate for its own good, really. The eponymous characters are so unapologetically appalling that The Twits really cannot make an argument in their favor or for making this a story about the importance of taking the high road. It tries, to be sure, but that rings hollow and insincere, as does the notion that some cosmic justice will set things right. As pointed as the movie can be, it's ultimately a confused one.

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