Review: 'Spoiler Alert' is a heartfelt and tear-producing romance about love, grief and cancer

If “Bros” was supposed to be the pioneering raunchy relationship comedy for the LGBTQ+ community, then director Michael Showalter’s “Spoiler Alert” does the same for the poignant romantic drama — with a great deal of help from its charming stars, Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge.

In the first shot of the movie, we see those actors lying on a hospital bed. Aldridge’s character, Kit Cowan, is clearly sick and about to die. Parsons’ character, Michael Ausiello, is with him for those final moments. 

What follows takes us back to the beginning of Michael and Kit’s relationship, as told by Michael. The movie is based on Ausiello’s memoir, “Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies,” which tells you exactly what that opening scene was about — and what the rest of the movie will capture.

Michael, a journalist writing about television for TV Guide, is goaded into going to a gay bar to flirt with the guys there. That’s where he meets Kit, a photographer. Flirting commences, when Kit tells Michael, “You’re a good dancer,” and Michael replies, “You’re a terrible liar.”

The script — by actor and “A Million Little Things” writer David Marshall Grant and activist and sex columnist Dan Savage — follows the steps of Michael and Kit’s relationship. There’s the awkward first time going to Michael’s apartment, which has an alarming amount of Smurf memorabilia in it. There’s the even more awkward moment when Kit has to tell his parents, Marilyn (Sally Field) and Bob (Bill Irwin), that he’s gay and that Michael is his boyfriend. (After the initial surprise, Marilyn and Bob take the news quite well.) And there’s when Michael and Kit buy a house together — and, years later, go to couples’ therapy to save their relationship.

Then there’s the moment you knew was coming from that first scene, when they learn that Kit has colorectal cancer.

Credit Showalter, the writers and the actors for not sugar-coating this part of the story. The movie presents the struggles of a cancer patient — the chemotherapy, the depressing news from doctors, and the fear that wells up in a cancer patient’s friends and family — with tenderness and authenticity.

When the movie is dealing with Michael’s emotions, and how he’s prepping his heart for the inevitable, Showalter goes for a more allegorical approach. The movie depicts Michael’s flashbacks to childhood — and losing his mother to cancer — in the format of an ‘80s family sitcom, where young Mikey (played by Brody Caines) and his mom (Tara Summers) are the central characters. The scenes make a rough kind of sense, based on Michael’s personal identification with TV, but they can be jarring in the context of a tearjerker.

The tears do come, in large part because of the strong performances by Parsons and Aldridge, who find sensational chemistry as the mismatched couple — the nerdy Michael and the adventurous Kit — work to overcome the obstacles the universe puts in their path. The paired performances make “Spoiler Alert” a deeply effective and powerful romance.

——

‘Spoiler Alert’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, December 9, in theaters. Rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug use and thematic elements. Running time: 112 minutes.