Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge in Spoiler Alert. Courtesy of Focus Features.
Spoiler Alert is the kind of realistic romantic tragicomedy that makes you feel nearly every emotion at once. Funny but not forced. Tragic but not overwrought. Romantic but not unrealistic. It hits all the beats in each of its genres while delivering a satisfying albeit devastating rom-com that says love is worth the pain. Am I romantic now?? I think so.
Spoiler alert: This romantic comedy is actually a tragedy. But it wants you to know that. Spoiler Alert opens with a shot of Michael Ausiello (Jim Parsons) lying across from his husband Kit Cowan (Ben Aldridge) in a hospital bed, clearly in his last moments, before flashing back to the pair meeting for the first time thirteen years earlier. Why, though, does the story spoil its tragic ending? Isn’t it enough that the couple doesn’t get their happily ever after? Instead, we’re forced to watch in dread knowing their fate. Well, that’s by design. While there are flashes of the romantic comedy tropes we’ve come to know and fall for time and time again, Spoiler Alert is grounded in realism — as it should be since it is based on Ausiello’s memoir Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Other Four-Letter Words. Still, the way it errs so closely to his actual story is admirable as it doesn’t shy away from the ugly.
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And not just the ugly of a terminal cancer diagnosis. It doesn’t present Michael and Kit as a glorified picture-perfect gay couple. We’re first introduced to TV-obsessed Michael when he’s a staff writer for TV Guide, a dream job since he was a child. He’s a workaholic, a bit of a prude, and a man of habit (he always needs his diet coke like half the gay men in New York City). That’s why when he meets photographer Kit out at a gay club on “jock night” it is truly a surprise — the only reason he goes is that his friend (Jeffery Self) goads him into it. Despite some initial awkwardness including a cringe Knight Rider reference, Michael and Kit hit it off.
They seem like complete opposites. Michael is uncomfortable in his skin in every way and especially as a gay man — it is the early aughts after all. Kit, on the other hand, breezes through like a hurricane — confident, assured, and swoony. The perfect romantic lead. Despite their differences, though, the pair make it to a second date that director Michael Showalter perfectly presents. One of those conversations that just never seems to run out and can go on for hours. Eventually, they make their way back to Kit’s apartment — where they have a hilarious run-in with his monosyllabic lesbian roommate — to extend their night. However, as they’re hooking up, Michael has a fit as he’s about to remove his shirt. Sensing his discomfort, Kit slows down and asks Michael if he’s doing anything wrong. He reveals he is an “FFK” aka Former Fat Kid. Instead of having him leave, Kit asks if he can just hold him.
It’s those moments that make the romance in Spoiler Alert feel so real. Figures since Michael himself said that the movie doesn’t take many creative liberties with the story. Their jagged line to love is imperfect but believable. The story doesn’t shy away from those moments of uncertainty — like when Michael reluctantly hosts Kit at his Jersey City apartment for the first time. I’ll save that reveal for the movie, but let’s just say it leaves them feeling a little blue. In another scene, Kit asks Michael to pretend to be his friend as he hasn’t come out to his parents yet (the charming and hilarious duo of Sally Field and Bill Irwin). It all culminates in a hilarious coming-out scene where three people confess they’re gay at once. Despite the bumps, Kit, who Aldridge plays perfectly as a swoony (and chiseled) romantic lead, sticks around long enough for the pair to move in together and we’re treated to the corny but genuine moments that make us love love — a montage of their Christmases together is warm enough to melt any anti-romance cynic’s heart.
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However, what is so refreshing is that 13 years down the line Michael and Kit are separated and in couple’s counseling drudging up every complaint, big and small, they have about each other. Some are universal and some are specific to the gay experience like being on Grindr (“you can look, but can’t touch”), feeling jealous of the hot gay coworker, missing an episode of Drag Race. It feels similar to director Michael Showalter‘s previous film The Big Sick, which similarly told an imperfect love story.
Just like that movie, Spoiler Alert takes a turn towards tragicomedy when Kit discovers he has an aggressive type of cancer — get your prostate exam, fellas. And with that, the movie becomes an exploration of regret, grief, trauma, and the boundaries of love. While it doesn’t lose its wit, it does inject understated moments that invoke feelings of loss. In perhaps one of the more quietly impactful scenes, Michael and Kit take photos of each other at a restaurant they’ve frequented — it’s Benny’s Burritos, which recently closed, for you West Village gays. There are no words, but Parsons and Aldridge quietly communicate to us (and each other) the fear, longing, and sadness they both feel. It’s those moments that elevate Spoiler Alert to greatness.
Sometimes the swings that Spoiler Alert takes don’t completely pan out. Flashbacks to Michael’s childhood that are presented as scenes from a sitcom do little to explain how his mother’s own battle with cancer colors his experience with Kit. There is also an underbaked subplot around Kit’s fidelity during the relationship involving his co-worker Sebastian (Queer Eye‘s Antoni Porowski) that could have been more impactful. Still, it never detracts from the tear-jerky effectiveness of the movie.
Spoiler Alert is funny but not forced. Tragic but not overwrought. Romantic but not unrealistic. It is the kind of romantic comedy that we gays in New York City can’t roll our eyes at. It wasn’t until Spoiler Alert that I realized the reason so many gay rom-coms fall flat is we’re immune to bullshit. To love who we want to love without prejudice takes years of trauma, therapy, and, eventually, acceptance. We are all too aware that love isn’t like what it is like in the movies — it’s imperfect, messy, and cruel. We want that kind of love. We fought to have that kind of love. The kind of love that even though it’s hard, it’s worth it in the end. Sure, more likely that not the great loves in our lives are not going to end quite as tragically as Michael and Kit’s. At the very least, though, it affirms that through it all life, love, and pain are just a part of the experience. Embrace every moment.
Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.
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