SPOILER ALERT – Review

Sure, I know that Valentine’s Day is a couple of months away, but romance can be found, or at least blossom, during the holiday season at year’s end. Plus it’s awards time for the movie studios, so why not release a love story based on an acclaimed recent memoir? And they’re “hedging their bet” since its cast includes a lauded sitcom TV star and a two-time Oscar winner. Plus its director is a friend of the “golden guy” as he’s helped to guide some collaborators to big wins (note the “b” word). Now, I could tell you much more, but that would require a big SPOILER ALERT.

As many romance stories commence, we’re first introduced to one-half of the couple. Michael (Jim Parsons) is such a devotee of situation comedies that his childhood memories feel (and look) like part of the ABC “TGIF” lineup of the late 1990s, with bouncy music score, brightly lit sets, and an enthusiastic audience (more like a loud laugh track). Naturally, in his adult life, he’s a staff writer for TV Guide magazine (a decade or two ago, of course). After hours he prefers to go back to his apartment for “homework”, but a co-worker convinces him to join him at a “watering hole” for a “sports-theme” night. Wearing his yankees cap (he’s not a jock, okay), Michael spots the gorgeous Kit (Ben Aldridge). The attraction appears mutual as the two “test the waters” by getting dinner, and, finally, have a “sleep-over”. Despie Michael’s insecurities (he’s sure that Kit’s outta’ his league) and Kits’ qualms about “coming out” to his straight-lace parents (Sally Field and Bill Irwin), the two decide to share a home. But that’s not the “happily ever after” as the duo hit some “rocky patches” and after seeing a therapist, Tony (David Marshall Grant), take a “time out” (Michael goes back to his old “digs”). However, they remain close. When a nagging ailment doesn’t go away, Kit asks Michael to be his “back-up” for a doctor visit. But could this reunion, not to mention Kit, be coming to an abrupt end?

In his first actual feature film “lead” role, Parson doesn’t completely jettison his small screen Sheldon “persona”, but rather builds upon it. His Michael is smart, shy, and awkward, but with a surprisingly caustic wit. The major additions are his warmth and swooning passions, for Kit of course, but also for his favored medium (and especially a cartoon classic of the 1980s). And with that slight Texas twang, his narration compels us to root for the couple. The other half of that sad duo is Kit played by relative newcomer Aldridge who balances the quirks and skittishness of Michael with a “bro” confidence, which makes his clumsy sexual identity dance around his folks funny and a tad bittersweet. Yes, he’s a good “straight” (um…maybe) man for the nervous Michael, but he does dare to “challenge” him on his often odd notions. As his mom Marilyn, Field displays her considerable comic gift as a supportive but often exasperating parent who ends up as a nurturing friend to Micheal, often “double-teaming” Kit. Counterbalancing her “no filter” nature is the gifted Irwin as the stoic Bob, who attempts to “push down” his intense affection for his son.

Oh, that “Oscar-aiding” director I mentioned earlier is the gifted comic actor Michael Showalter, who helmed last year’s also “inspired by true events” dramedy THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE. And though this effort doesn’t have the real gravitas of a “ripped from the headlines” scandal, he brings a confident style to what the old studio execs used to label a “weeper”. This is balanced by his satiric TV jabs in the candy-colored flashbacks of Michael’s youth, luckily ending them before they get too heavy-handed and repetitive. The screenplay by Grant and Dan Savage, adapting Michael Ausiello’s memoir “Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies” doesn’t opt to go for constant bliss when the dup finally commit and connect, as few romances would have their characters taking a “break” to heal their “rifts”. My main qualm about the film concerns another very recent film which also closely “mirrors” many of this one’s plot “points and beats”, namely the comic BROS. Of course, that one doesn’t have the medical drama, but the structure up to that point is so close, down to the clueless parents of the “hunky dream guy”. Another problem is Michael’s “meltdown” at a hospital that’s an intending “riff” on a Best Picture winner that still feels clunky even as it “name-checks” the earlier flick. This is part of the troublesome “third act” which derails much of the “off-beat” charm of the first two “acts” (though I’m sure that ‘ shrine-like digs would drive most beaus fleeing). Oh, I almost didn’t mention the terrific East Coast location work. And that’s certainly not worthy of a SPOILER ALERT.

2.5 Out of 4

SPOILER ALERT opens in select theatres on Friday, December 9. 2022