Spoiler Alert is a romantic drama about a gay couple who, after being together though various ups and downs for 13 years, are truly tested when one of them is diagnosed with cancer. I know what you might be thinking: "Oh no, another "dying" movie." Well, yes, it is, but it's not artificial and dreary like, say, Autumn in New York, Dying Young or Sweet November. No, Spoiler Alert is a movie that is often funny and smart, and has characters and situations that feel real.
The film opens on Michael Ausiello (Jim Parsons), a writer for TV Guide, who has always been addicted to television shows, and who is also a workaholic. A co-worker coaxes Michael into going out to a club, and that is where Michael meets the man of his dreams, Kit Cowan (Ben Aldridge). They approach their relationship slow and cautiously, and Michael's lifelong obsession with The Smurfs almost derails it. However, they do become a couple and move in together, but 13 years on, they are having problems, and are spending time apart. Then, everything turns upside down when Kit is diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Michael then becomes Kit's main caregiver.
The acting is uniformly good here. Parsons, who portrayed one of the great sitcom characters of the 2000s - Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, delivers a quiet and emotional performance in this film. Aldridge is powerful as a character going through the fear, anger, frustration, and ultimately acceptance of dying. Then we have Sally Field and Bill Irwin, who are just terrific as Kit's parents. They love their son, and don't care one bit that he is gay. In fact, their only irritation with Kit is that he was scared to tell them about his sexual orientation.
The movie is based on Michael Ausiello's memoir Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, and has a sharp screenplay by David Marshall Grant and Dan Savage. Handling the directing chores is Michael Showalter (The Big Sick, The Eyes of Tammy Faye), and he knows when to go in for those emotional close ups, and also when to pull back. When Kit decides to tell his parents that he is sick, that scene takes place at the dinner table. As he begins to tell them, Showalter cuts to a shot just outside the dining room window, because a son telling his parents that he has terminal cancer is an incredibly painful moment, so the director backs off and gives us some momentary relief, because the worst is still to come.
Spoiler Alert is a tearjerker for sure, but it is honest and not at all schmaltzy. It's in theaters now.
