Spoiler Alert (2022, dir. Michael Showalter, US) by Kymm Zuckert

“Oh, that guy is definitely into you.”

“He was with a woman.”

“No man in this club has been with a woman in years, if ever.”

After Bros, the first real big studio gay rom com with sex and everything, we get a second major gay love story in a single year! And neither film is about AIDS, or gay bashing, or being rejected by your family when coming out, which is a nice treat. Gay people die of cancer, too. Wait, am I getting spoilery about Spoiler Alert?

Spoiler Alert is not so much a rom com, however. Plenty of rom, also much com, but since the movie is based on a book titled, Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, you get the picture in the first moment that this won’t be a carefree romp. 

Michael is a writer for TV Guide, and it took me half the film to realize that I know exactly who Michael Ausiello is, that I have been reading his TV writing for years. He is shy and awkward, and played by Jim Parsons, so that is his wheelhouse. 

He is dragged to a club by a friend, where he spots Kit (Ben Aldridge), whom he thinks is too handsome to be interested in him (similar to Bros, gay men only ever meet in clubs, it seems), but he is, and they whirl off into a wonderful love story. 

Kit is close to his parents, but not out to them, which Michael was out to his single mother, but she passed. When Kit’s parents (wonderfully played by Sally Field and Bill Irwin) come to town, Kit has Michael hide everything gay in his apartment. But his parents aren’t actual morons, and finally his mom starts wondering why this random guy is hanging around!

Mom: “What is going on here? Who is this guy? What’s happening? Why is he still here? I don’t understand. You’re acting so weird. And you don’t even look us in the face. You’re acting so weird!”

Kit: “He’s my boyfriend, Mom!”

Mom: “Your boyfriend?”

Kit: “Yes, I’m gay.”

Michael: “I’m gay, too.”

One of the best things in this movie is the relationship between Kit and his parents, who love him so much, and then also their relationship with Michael. Mom calls them “the boys,” which is just so lovely. 

So the years go on, and Kit and Michael have a great relationship, then a not great relationship, and then Kit gets cancer, which turns out to be good for the relationship, but only in the short run, of course. 

This is a beautiful, funny, sweet, sad film. Michael, being a TV fanatic, imagines his memories as television shows, which is less twee than it sounds. I was not just weeping, but emitting loud, hiccuping sobs that could probably be heard in one of the other screening rooms. I would have felt slightly self conscious, but for the guy behind me to the left, sobbing nearly as loudly. 

This is a movie where you have to brace yourself, but it is worth it. 

Kymm Zuckert is an actor/writer/native Angelino. When Kymm was a child, her parents would take her to see anything, which means that sometimes she will see a film today and say, “I saw that when I was eight, I don’t remember any of that inappropriate sex stuff!” Check out her entire 365 day blog @ https://365filmsin365days.movie.blog