The Story:
Spoiler Alert begins at the end, with Kit on his death bed and his lover, Michael, by his side. From there it goes back fourteen years and we see the romantic lead, Michael, played by Jim Parsons, being dragged out to a club by a friend so he can “get laid.” As expected, this is where he meets Kit, played by Ben Aldridge. They have a conversation that is clearly to make sure we all know that Michael is the nerdy, non-social one and Kit is the sexy guy with lots of friends.
As the movie quickly progresses, we see the relationship between Michael and Kit move along at a steady clip, with Michael reluctantly allowing Kit to see his apartment, which is filled to the brim with Smurf memorabilia. Michael nervously explains that the Smurfs bring him back to a time when both his parents were alive. At first it seems as if they may linger on this subject, but instead they each admit that they’re afraid of being hurt. I would have loved to get more information about Michael’s relationship with his parents and how he dealt with his mother’s death, but I guess there wasn’t enough time for that.
From there, Michael moves into Kits apartment, which he shares with a socially awkward woman. There isn’t a whole lot of time to see how the dynamic with the three roommates plays out because Kit suddenly becomes ill and has to spend time in the hospital. Kit’s family comes to visit when Kit is released from the hospital, and we find out that they don’t know he’s gay. As it turns out, Kit’s parents are going to spend the night at the apartment, so Michael has to de-gay the apartment before Kit is discharged and pretend to be Kit’s friend. And yes, it all happens that fast.
The scene where Kit is forced to come out to his parents is amusing, but his parents are okay with everything, and it passes with no tension, drama, or questions. Much like the hospital visit, it’s here and gone faster than you can blink. And that’s the main problem with Spoiler Alert, it’s in such a rush to get to the end that it never lingers on anything that would give the story more depth. While Michael talks briefly about his parents, we never know anything about Kit’s relationship with his parents until they visit him at the hospital. Michael doesn’t drink or use drugs when he and Kit first meet, so how did he handle Kit’s pot smoking and drinking? And when Kit is initially sent to the hospital, how did that effect their relationship? It had to have been a bit of a scare, but we don’t get a real sense of that. They don’t talk about it or even try not to talk about it, it simply happens and is gone, which makes it feel like nothing more than a plot device.
As the movie continues and aspects of their relationship begin to unravel, we find out that Michael becomes a bit of a drunk, Kit smokes too much pot, and their sex life has stopped. Aside from going to therapy, which is nothing more than a method to let us know that their relationship has hit a rocky patch, it’s all kept on the surface and skimmed over. There is never any depth given to any of it. Michael goes from being sober, to becoming an alcoholic, to having his drinking under control with no explanation. It’s as if the director, Michael Showalter, had to get to the end of movie as quickly as possible and put the pedal to the metal.
Final Thoughts:
Despite being rushed and not having time to actually cover any aspect of Michael and Kit’s relationship, Spoiler Alert does have some moments with honest emotion. Parsons and Aldridge have an odd sort of chemistry that I found believable, and Sally Field, who plays Kit’s mother, is always a delight. I’d love to see what Field would have done with the role if it had more substance.
Overall, the acting ranged from not great to fine, but then, nobody had anything to work with. I liked the characters and the story; and think it would have made for some great television if it had been given the time to flesh everything out. Instead, we got a mediocre movie that delivered some decent emotional punch. This should have been an eight episode limited series and not a 112 minute movie.
You can stream Spoiler Alert on Peacock.