SPOILER ALERT
Starring: Jim Parsons, Ben Aldridge, and Sally Field
Director: Michael Showalter
ADRIANO
While I can definitely understand people calling Spoiler Alert simple, I was very much into this movie. Michael Showalter is a director that consistently gives bare minimum direction, and all semblances of specific styles just felt inconsistent here. However, what the film lacks in originality, it makes up for in heart. Honestly, this movie emotionally destroyed me throughout the second act, not only because of its heartbreaking plot, but also the endearing chemistry between Ben Aldridge and a career-best Jim Parsons. It was hard not to feel anything for these two, which helped make this film a nice surprise.
JACOB
Spoiler Alert is decent, working at its best when Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge are running purely on their terrific chemistry, but the trappings of its cancer narrative are decidedly conventional and some filmmaking choices hamper its inherent power. Though the true story basis provides an emotional center, the film is continually interrupted by unnecessary narration and sitcom-style cut-ins, as though it doesn’t trust Aldridge and Parsons are good enough actors to sell those notes themselves. That said, it’s hardly the boomer-humor doom piece its marketing suggests, even if the presence of Sally Field and Bill Irwin are more distractions than enhancements.