Film review: ‘SPOILER ALERT’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
With its contemporary catchphrase title, Spoiler Alert sounds like it should be a snarky teen comedy. Instead, this romantic comedy/drama ,which is based on memoir of the same name by Michael Ausiello, is a sensitive, at times very moving but also tonally erratic film about the impermanence of life and the short time we have with one another.
Jim Parsons, aka Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory plays TV critic Michael Ausiello, an introverted workaholic gay man still dealing with an assortment of childhood traumas, most notably his mother’s death. After reluctantly going with a work colleague to a nightclub, he meets the confident, square-jawed Kit (Ben Aldridge). After a tentative start to their relationship, which is almost derailed by an incident involving Smurfs, they become a serious couple. Their world is shattered, however, when Kit is diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. While based on real events, this is in cinematic terms a familiar storyline, one most famously explored in Love Story in 1970.
In adapting Michael Ausielllo’s book to the screen, writers Dan savage and David Marshal Grant and director Michael Showalter (The Big Sick, The Eyes of Tammy Faye) have attempted to capture the characters’ quirks through comical segments, some of which are genuinely funny while others feel as if they’ve been awkwardly shoehorned into the story.
They also employ the device of Michael recalling his childhood as an 80’s sitcom a little like Oliver Stone did in Natural Born Killers. Showalter doesn’t quite get the tone right in these sequences as they shift awkwardly between comedy and drama, lack the needed pathos and just seem a bit gimmicky.
Still, the film generally works because of the two leads’ sensitive and perceptive performances. Ben Aldridge, who bears a striking resemblance to Julian McMahon, gives a fine performance depicting Kit as a complex mix of confidence and uncertainty, he seems the more assertive of the two but is yet to come out to his parents (Sally Field and Bill Irwin). Jim Parsons has a slightly tougher task here. He spent more than 10 years creating an indelible comic character in Sheldon, so it takes a little while for us to acclimatise to him in a more serious role. Still, he delivers an affecting performance as someone who has, since childhood, tried to control everything in his life but is now having to deal with something over which he has no power. Despite playing a more serious character, Parsons still occasionally has the chance to demonstrate his comedy chops, particularly when the calm, witty and slightly bemused Michael is pitted against Kit’s well-meaning but exhaustingly energetic mother.
Showalter does a decent job of giving a story about a grim subject light and shade. It’s much more a romance than a medical drama and focuses largely on the positive nature of their relationship but he doesn’t shy away from some of the more confronting aspects of illness.
We’ve seen this sort of film many times before but for the most part it’s handled here with impressive warmth, sensitivity and honesty that prevents it from becoming too cliched or tired.
Nick’s rating: ***
Genre: Drama/ Romance/ Comedy.
Classification: M.
Director(s): Michael Showalter.
Release date: 9th Feb 2023..
Running time: 100 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.