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A common complaint about LGBTQ+ movies from LGBTQ+ people is that they always end tragically. The new dramedy "Spoiler Alert" doesn't break this mold, but given that it's based on the life story of TV journalist Michael Ausiello , it gets a pass. Besides, Ausiello does issue a warning up top that this tale will have a sad ending. At least, he does in the book: The title of his memoir is Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies at the End , shortened to "Spoiler Alert" for its movie adaptation. 

This is a nice film. A sweet film. A film you can watch with your mother-in-law. Jim Parsons from "The Big Bang Theory" stars in a sensitive performance as Michael, a shy pop-culture junkie who doesn't drink or do drugs and is emotionally guarded because of his traumatic past. Michael is grossed out by Grindr and timid about sex, which means he's a poor fit for the musky dance floors of the Manhattan gay-bar circuit. (Incidentally, he does get on quite well with his eventual mother-in-law, played here by Sally Field .) 

But it's on one of those dance floors, on a rare night out with a colleague from TV Guide , that Michael meets Kit Cowan ( Ben Aldridge ), the man who ends up being the love of his life. Kit has everything that Michael wishes he had: Confidence, cool friends, and a muscular physique. And yet, Kit is willing to wait for Michael to let down his emotional walls. Besides, Michael's not the only one with neuroses—Kit has baggage he has to work through if he and Michael are going to live the monogamously partnered life that Michael, in particular, seems to want. 

The chemistry between Parsons and Aldridge is easy and flirtatious, mainly when they engage in witty banter. And "Spoiler Alert" does a good job of showing the lovable side of both of these flawed, vulnerable characters. You can see how these two could fall so deeply for one another that they'd stick it out through the hardest of times, from ordinary spats about sex and commitment to the far more serious threats to Kit's health that drive the second half of the movie. (This is one of those dramedies that shifts from comedy to drama, instead of blending the two throughout the film.) 

The film is very honest about the struggles involved with long-term relationships and filled with true-to-life detail that could only have come from a memoir: Michael's obsession with Diet Coke and The Smurfs. Kit's love of smoking weed out of a tiny metal one-hitter and ever-present digital camera. (The film is set between the early '00s and mid-2010s.) The packaging of their love story is more generic, however, soundtracked by "Woah OH oh" handclap music and structured around Facebook posts and visits with Kit's parents. Director Michael Showalter does attempt one flight of surrealist fancy by inserting sequences from an imaginary sitcom based on Michael's childhood. But given that the best things about "Spoiler Alert" are its realistic characters and setting, these pivots into broad '80s archetypes never quite click. 

Showalter covered similar territory in 2017's " The Big Sick ," which is also about a relationship (a heterosexual one this time) that's tested by a health crisis (only it's early in the courtship, rather than later on during a rough patch). That film was also based on a true story, but with a more fortunate outcome. In a media landscape where gay romances are rarely allowed the happy endings of straight ones, it's an inarguable fact that in these real people's real lives, the (presumed—she hasn't publicly stated otherwise) straight woman survived, but the gay man didn't, what do you do with that? Probably leave the question open (I'm certainly going to) and let "Spoiler Alert" be what it is: An effective PG-13 romantic tearjerker for mainstream audiences who are increasingly comfortable with LGBTQ+ content—a positive development, whether you're a "clubbing on a Wednesday" type or a "fall asleep on the couch watching 'Felicity'" one.

Now playing in theaters. 

Katie Rife is a freelance writer and critic based in Chicago with a speciality in genre cinema. She worked as the News Editor of  The A.V. Club  from 2014-2019, and as Senior Editor of that site from 2019-2022. She currently writes about film for outlets like  Vulture, Rolling Stone, Indiewire, Polygon , and  RogerEbert.com.

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Spoiler Alert (2022)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug use and thematic elements.

110 minutes

Jim Parsons as Michael Ausiello

Ben Aldridge as Kit Cowan

Sally Field as Marilyn

Josh Pais as Scott

Tara Summers as Mrs. Ausiello

Winslow Bright as Kelly Roswell

Allegra Heart as Franny

Sadie Scott as Kirby

• Michael Showalter

Writer (based on the book "Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies" by)

• Michael Ausiello
• David Marshall Grant

Cinematographer

• Brian Burgoyne
• Peter Teschner
• Brian H. Kim

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‘Spoiler Alert’ Review: Perfect Strangers Form Family Ties

Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge star in this tear-jerker romance adapted from the memoir by the television journalist Michael Ausiello.

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By Amy Nicholson

The awkward weepie “Spoiler Alert” charts the rocky romance of the Manhattanites Michael (Jim Parsons) and Kit (Ben Aldridge) from meet-cute to cancer. Its director, Michael Showalter (of the coma comedy “The Big Sick” ), is becoming a medical specialist. Jean-Luc Godard needed a girl and a gun; Showalter prefers a couple, their in-laws and a hospital bed.

The tears — which, yes, are in time duly squeezed — stem from Michael Ausiello’s memoir of the same name. A television journalist, Ausiello interjected digressions on his love for “Felicity” into his recollections of biopsies and scans. The screenwriters David Marshall Grant and Dan Savage (of the sex advice column “Savage Love”) expand on Ausiello’s depiction of himself as a bashful screen obsessive whose insight into human behavior comes mostly from fiction. Their Michael continually clicks over from reality into an imaginary TV show where saxophones and canned laughter take the sting out of his pain.

It’s a clever conceit, though the execution flounders in part because Parsons, who had a 12-season stint on “The Big Bang Theory,” can’t shake the sitcom off himself in the serious sequences. A bigger problem is that the so-called sincere dialogue is either blunter than a soap opera (“It’s his mother. He told her not to come. I’ve never even met the woman.”) or hammier than a Hawaiian pizza (“Hey honey, I’m cancer! I mean, I’m home!”) These clunkers could work if the film had the moxie to demand a laugh. Instead, you can practically see the actors wince.

The story opens with serious piano chords and synthetic strings, then rewinds to let Michael narrate the beginning of his courtship with Kit. They’re an odd pairing: Michael’s a teetotaler who collects Smurf figurines; Kit, a semi-closeted stoner who collects admirers at the gym. As patient as these early scenes are, we’re still unconvinced they make an ideal match when the film leaps ahead over a decade and concedes that they don’t. Enter cancer, which holds the two together against the threat of permanent separation.

The film is strongest when it falls silent, allowing the actors to communicate their thoughts with a look. A glance at an older couple at a restaurant tells us everything about Michael’s panic that his fantasy future is slipping away; later, when Kit breaks the news of his diagnosis to his parents (Sally Field and Bill Irwin), the camera steps outside into the yard to bear witness to the moment through a window. As the mood darkens, even this underwhelmed critic misted up at the sight of the two men quietly holding each other in bed. It’s the ideas left unsaid that linger, the film’s observation of how couples make room for each other’s foibles, visualized here by a phalanx of Smurfs siloed to a display shelf in their shared apartment. Showalter seems torn about tying up this tale with a scripted bow, as Michael might prefer. Ultimately, he chooses to leave the audience with enough threads that we can, or not, pull them together ourselves and decide that life must go on even after someone calls “Cut.”

Spoiler Alert Rated PG-13 for sexual situations and pot smoking. Running time: 1 hour 52 minutes. In theaters.

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‘spoiler alert’ review: jim parsons brings heart and conviction to michael showalter’s rom-com tearjerker.

Ben Aldridge co-stars in this moving adaptation of TV journalist Michael Ausiello’s relationship memoir, also featuring Sally Field and Bill Irwin.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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Inside out film festival: first look at gala movie 'sisters', jason schwartzman, eva longoria, danielle brooks join michelle pfeiffer in amazon mgm holiday comedy 'oh. what. fun.' (exclusive), spoiler alert.

While box office pundits had a range of opinions about the commercial failure of the Billy Eichner vehicle Bros a couple months back, the general view was that the gay rom-com under-performed even within its core demographic. Spoiler Alert potentially has a shot at appeal beyond that niche, particularly with audiences starved for a genuinely moving, pleasingly old-fashioned four-hankie tearjerker whose sentiments are backed by lived experience. It won’t hurt that the December Focus Features release is also a stealth Christmas movie.

The full title of Ausiello’s book is unequivocal — Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies — and the script by actor-turned-writer David Marshall Grant and author and LGBTQ activist Dan Savage clues the audience in pretty much from the outset that this will be a grief drama.

In a mildly worrisome opening, TV Guide feature writer Michael (Parsons) gives a quick overview of a life he imagines as an ‘80s sitcom called The Ausiellos , yielding clunky inserts with studio laugh tracks that, despite Showalter’s grounding in TV comedy, needed a stronger stylistic command in order to work. Thankfully, it’s not too long before Michael interrupts his voiceover with, “OK, I’ll shut up now,” after explaining that he never planned for his story to go from sitcom to hospital soap.

The movie becomes instantly more engaging when he gets dragged by a co-worker to jock night at a queer bar and locks eyes with Kit ( Ben Aldridge ), whose standard-issue best girlfriend Nina (Nikki M. James) — cracks wise, drinks too much, falls for gay guys — encourages Michael by informing him that Kit’s type is dweeb. Which is lucky because from his failure to get Michael’s Knight Rider reference alone, Kit seems an unlikely match for the vegetarian teetotaler. That’s even before the Smurf obsession is revealed, its roots traced to Michael’s loss of his mother at a young age to cancer.

Uptight Michael would seem to have the most to gain from their union, but it turns out to be a two-way exchange. Kit has never been in a long-term relationship, always believing that quick hookups were enough, and he has never found the right moment to come out to his parents, Marilyn ( Sally Field ) and Bob ( Bill Irwin ). Stability with Michael gives him the courage to make that happen when the folks visit New York, a scene that unfolds with awkward amusement under the watchful eye of Kit’s monosyllabic roommate Kirby (Sadie Scott).

Audiences accustomed to more fireworks might grumble that Marilyn and Bob’s swift acceptance means the script sets up conflict it doesn’t deliver. But Field (who starred in Showalter’s Hello, My Name is Doris ) and Irwin are so appealing in the roles that it makes sense when they turn it around and admonish Kit for not trusting them enough to share such a fundamental part of his identity sooner.

The tone shifts smoothly once Kit discovers a growth diagnosed as a rare neuroendocrine tumor. Although they are living apart by then, Michael steps in to book appointments with New York’s best oncologists, leading to false hopes, reprieves and eventually, grim reality, faced together.

Where the drama is headed is never in doubt, and the steps it takes to get there are often familiar. Yet by this time we are sufficiently invested in the couple to care deeply. If anything, the intrusion of mortality makes the relationship more believable as both Parsons and Aldridge (Epix’s Pennyworth ) imbue their scenes with warmth and heart, regret and exquisite sadness. A visit to Kit’s parents in Ohio to break the awful news to them will have all but the most hardened viewers tearing up, as will a lovely interlude where the four of them spend a weekend together in Ocean City, New Jersey, after Kit’s radiation treatment has bought him some time.

Showalter and the writers don’t hold back on the sentiment, and it could be argued that a cut to Michael’s TV fantasy version of his life, just as his pain reaches its zenith, clouds the pathos. But this is a well-acted movie with far more authentic feeling than mawkishness; it provides a welcome reminder that there’s nothing quite so emotionally cathartic as a good cry. Home-video footage of the real Michael and Kit on the end credits adds weight to the lingering poignancy.

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Review: In ‘Spoiler Alert,’ the tears will flow despite the narrative gimmicks

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In the summer and fall of 2022, “Fire Island” and “Bros” made inroads as high-profile gay rom-coms, queering the familiar genre. Now, arriving just in time for Christmas, we have “Spoiler Alert,” a heart-rending holiday weepie about two men in love, facing cancer together. Based on the memoir by TV journalist Michael Ausiello, “Spoiler Alert” tells the story of Ausiello’s marriage to Kit Cowan: how they fell in love and forged a partnership, with all the attendant struggles of a long-term relationship, and then walked together through Kit’s battle with a rare form of neuroendocrine cancer.

“The Big Bang Theory” star Jim Parsons plays Michael, the dweeby-cute TV nerd who writes for TV Guide and collects Smurfs paraphernalia, while English actor Ben Aldridge plays Kit, an undeniably hot aspiring photographer. One night, a co-worker drags Michael to “jock night” at a bar after work, where he locks eyes with Kit on the dance floor, and the rest is history.

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The screenplay marks the feature screenwriting debut of Dan Savage , known for his sex advice column “Savage Love” in the Seattle alt-weekly the Stranger, as well as his long-running podcast, “Savage Lovecast.” Savage adapted Ausiello’s 2017 book with David Marshall Grant, and the screenplay maintains the grounded honesty that feels typical to Savage’s work, despite the sappy Hollywood romance trappings of the film.

Directed by TV and film veteran Michael Showalter (“The Big Sick,” “Lovebirds” and “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”), “Spoiler Alert” is aesthetically unshowy, aside from a few meta moments meant to demonstrate how Michael copes with life’s challenges through media. The characters watch “RuPaul’s Drag Race” or “Felicity” for connection and comfort, and there’s also the matter of the Smurfs collection, with which a psychoanalyst could have a field day. Showalter also employs TV tropes to capture Michael’s childhood flashbacks to his mother’s own battle with cancer, shot and styled like a ‘90s family sitcom, complete with laugh track. During one particularly heart-wrenching moment, Showalter allows Michael to step out of his own grief to assert his TV journalist side, interviewing Kit as he would an actor on set.

Spoiler alert: Ben Aldridge, star of ‘Spoiler Alert,’ is on the cusp of stardom

The English actor is vaulting from the stage and TV into two major film roles: romantic tragicomedy ‘Spoiler Alert’ and horror thriller ‘Knock at the Cabin.’

Nov. 15, 2022

Showalter is not a cinematic stylist, per se, but more of a nuts-and-bolts filmmaker, managing tone and pace. The meta TV moments make “Spoiler Alert” more interesting to watch, and help illustrate our protagonist’s mind-set, but you almost wish the filmmakers took the conceit further. There’s a challenge to balance this experimentation with the other goal of the film, which is to be a big, right-down-the-middle mainstream romance.

Though Parsons’ performance doesn’t always work, “Spoiler Alert” is a breakout role for Aldridge, who demonstrates his leading hunk potential as Kit, as well as his ability to break your heart. Along with Sally Field, who plays his mother Marilyn, the pair bring a sincerity to their performances that provide the gut-punch that will draw your tears. Despite the narrative elements that are part of Michael’s coping mechanisms, Aldridge and Field effectively salvage the emotional core of “Spoiler Alert,” bringing us back to the heart of the matter, and giving space to the feelings that should flow freely in a film like this. Spoiler alert: Don’t forget the tissues.

Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

‘Spoiler Alert’

Rated: PG-13, for sexual content, drug use and thematic elements Running time: 1 hour, 52 minutes Playing: Starts Dec. 2, AMC The Grove, Los Angeles; AMC Century City

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Spoiler Alert review: A ridiculously charming leading man anchors a genre-defying love story

Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge star in a heartbreaking romance that subverts expectations.

For decades, gay love stories have been presented as tragedies, with rare exceptions swinging over to broad comedy. Spoiler Alert refuses to be either. That's not to say the real-life story of Michael Ausiello and Kit Cowan doesn't end (and begin, actually) in a hospital bed — or elicit a few laughs — but the new film spends the bulk of its 112 minutes sitting in the mundane of Michael and Kit's life: the awkwardness of early dates, the meeting of parents, the nights on the couch watching Drag Race . Yes, it chronicles Kit's cancer battle and death, but Spoiler Alert is ultimately a relationship story, one we see on screen far too infrequently.

Just like its source material — TVLine founder Michael Ausiello's bestselling memoir Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies — the movie lets you know from the start that Michael ( Jim Parsons ) will lose Kit ( Ben Aldridge ) to a rare and aggressive form of neuroendocrine cancer. Getting that out of the way up front frees director Michael Showalter ( The Big Sick ) from any inclination to inject a sense of manipulative hope. A happy ending is not an option here. We know Kit's fate and, just like Michael, can only focus on enjoying the time we have with the charming photographer.

And oh, how charming Aldridge is as Kit. The Pennyworth and Fleabag actor effortlessly exudes movie-star charisma with all the approachability of a Hallmark romantic lead. Parsons is distant in comparison (though colleagues who worked with Ausiello at EW in the late 2000s say the Big Bang Theory star successfully captures the essence of the witty man they knew), but that reservedness doesn't hinder the magnetism of the couple's early scenes together.

Screenwriters David Marshall Grant ( A Million Little Things , Brothers & Sisters ) and Dan Savage (the columnist behind " Savage Love ") seem an equally suitable match, the latter infusing a kick into what could have played out as an oversentimental episode of Grant's television work. Spoiler Alert nimbly shifts tone and time periods, and whenever it gets a little too cute for its own good, the film finds its way back into an intimate, real moment between Kit and Michael.

The central couple is so appealing that the story deflates a bit any time their world expands (through no fault of his own, Queer Eye 's Antoni Porwoski is a distracting casting choice as Kit's coworker). That observation initially includes the intrusion of Kit's parents ( Sally Field and Bill Irwin ), whose first appearance plays out more like a Will & Grace story line — though their presence is increasingly welcome as Kit's health declines. Spoiler Alert 's delicate restraint is on full display as Field's Marilyn is informed of her son's diagnosis. The actress, known for her Oscar-worthy scene-chewing, goes subtle for a change with her understated yet still heartbreaking response.

Spoiler Alert defies expectations throughout, refusing to adhere to one genre or storytelling convention. Some unexpected twists are successful (a multi-cam sitcom setting provides Michael's backstory) while others are jarring (one hard left turn in the final act, in particular), but Showalter ultimately succeeds because he never loses focus of the heart at the core of his story. Grade: B+

Spoiler Alert is out now in limited release, available wide on Dec. 9.

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It’s been a while since there was a film that falls under the tear-jerker category. For the screening of this film, there were even small tissue packs handed out to audiences. On that front, Spoiler Alert absolutely delivers without being contrived. Directed by Michael Showalter from a screenplay by David Marshall Grant and Dan Savage, the film is based on the 2017 memoir by Michael Ausiello, called Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies . Packed with genuinely heartfelt moments, plenty of humor, and solid cast performances, Spoiler Alert makes for quite a lovely watch.

Michael Ausiello ( The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons) is an entertainment journalist living in New York. Michael is consumed with his work, which includes watching several hours of television and occasionally writing about Fear Factor , but he’s convinced to go out to a bar, where he meets and instantly clicks with Kit Cowan (Ben Aldridge) , a photographer. It’s not long before they’re seeing each other all the time, and, over several years, Michael and Kit’s relationship grows stronger. But after 14 years together, and a few speed bumps, everything changes when Kit is diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Related: Michael Ausiello Interview: Spoiler Alert

Spoiler Alert knows exactly the kind of film it is and sits comfortably in the space it has created. There is comfort in this, and the film has the right amount of heart and humor that one doesn’t find in romance films much anymore. While based on Ausiello’s real-life relationship with his late husband, Spoiler Alert effectively employs certain tropes without ever feeling particularly trope-y. As a director, Showalter has a firm grasp on what the film is about and where its heart lies, giving the audience a well-paced and heartwarming story that is elevated by its lead and supporting actors.

Parsons and Aldridge are fabulous together; they’ve got a good amount of chemistry and, even when their characters are not in a particularly good place in their relationship, the actors exude a warmth that showcases how much Michael and Kit care for and love each other despite everything. Sally Field and Bill Irwin — who portray Kit’s parents, Marilyn and Bob, respectively — are also excellent, grounding the film and filling it with support and a spirited energy that livens up their scenes.

What works the least, however, are the 80s sitcom scenes, which are interspersed throughout Spoiler Alert as a way for the audience to glimpse Michael’s past and, crucially, his relationship with his mother. However, these scenes don’t add anything meaningful to Michael’s personal story, nor are they funny as standalones. They distract from the overall narrative, and take up time that could have been better spent on deepening Michael and Kit’s relationship. That said, these moments, unnecessary as they are, don’t take away from the overall story.

Spoiler Alert doesn’t force its sorrow on the audience to make them cry or feel sympathy. Rather, the film develops the characters’ relationship enough so that when cancer rears its ugly head, the audience understands the gravity of the situation without being exploited by the narrative. What’s more, the film provides space for the characters — through lingering eye contact, heartbreaking pauses, and humor — to feel their feelings, which adds authenticity and vulnerability to the story. Yet despite the heaviness of the situation, the romantic drama doesn’t take itself too seriously; there is always a glimmer of hope or comedic dialogue breaking through the fog of despair.

Spoiler Alert may not be the film leading awards chatter this winter, but it is touching, funny, hopeful, and full of love. Paired with genuinely moving performances, the romantic drama is like a warm embrace, with an equal amount of humor, sorrow, and love wrapped up in it.

More: Empire of Light Review: Colman & Ward Are Stellar In Sam Mendes' Bland Film

Spoiler Alert was released in theaters Friday, December 9. The film is 112 minutes long and rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug use and thematic elements.

Our Rating:

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clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

‘Spoiler Alert’: This tear-jerker earns its tissues

Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge star in a romantic dramedy based on Michael Ausiello’s memoir of life with husband Kit Cowan

As an ending, happily ever after works in love stories. In real life, it’s more often just the beginning. The real story comes after Cinderella starts to notice that the prince is pathologically incapable of putting his socks in the hamper, or when Beast notices that Beauty can’t tell the difference between recycling and trash. In the movie “Spoiler Alert,” happily ever after is what happens only after the foundation of a relationship gets chipped away at by resentment and stress and distance.

Based on entertainment journalist Michael Ausiello’s 2017 memoir, the film tracks the relationship between Michael (Jim Parsons) and his photographer husband Kit Cowan (Ben Aldridge) from its beginning to its sad end, which is more than hinted at in the book’s subtitle. Spoiler alert: It’s a tear-jerker. At a recent press screening, the studio sent along tissues with “You might need these” emblazoned on them. Those tears are earned by grounded performances and a solid screenplay (by TV writer David Marshall Grant and sex columnist and author Dan Savage).

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When the protagonists meet, Michael is a teetotaling, vegetarian writer for TV Guide who’s ready for a verbal throw-down with anyone who disrespects “Felicity.” Kit is a bit more of a hedonist, with plenty of casual hookups under his belt and weed on his nightstand. It is not love at first sight, and their connection isn’t an easy one. Each man grapples with emotional baggage; there are conflicts about monogamy, Kit’s choice to remain partially closeted and an obsession with a childhood TV show. (To reveal more would kill the movie’s most hilarious scene.) Over the years, the two transform and grow and bicker and watch “RuPaul’s Drag Race” together. In other words, they live their lives. Then comes a grave health diagnosis for Kit, and with it the gut-punching revelation that they, like the rest of us, have been living on borrowed time.

Director Michael Showalter (“ The Eyes of Tammy Faye ”) has assembled a stellar cast and guides them well. Parsons is one of the few actors who are just as interesting to watch when they’re listening as when they’re speaking; he is fully present in each moment in a way that elevates his performance above potential treacle. Aldridge has an unenviable task: playing a very sick person, accompanied by all the required tropes. Still, he manages to make it clear that Kit is not just a patient, but a person . As Kit’s parents, Bill Irwin and Sally Field are lovely together; Field in particular is blazingly funny, while breaking your heart.

The script is an asset and, at times, a hindrance: Mike and Kit share quick banter, but sometimes their dialogue pulls back and slows down, right before going full Aaron Sorkin. The one gimmick that doesn’t work is the film’s reliance on flashbacks to Mike’s childhood, which are shot and written like a 1980s sitcom. It’s a technique that has promise initially but by the end only serves to distract. It’s as if the filmmakers were so committed to the shtick that they couldn’t notice when it became a problem.

Just as Kit isn’t defined by a health crisis, “Spoiler Alert” isn’t defined by its less-than-happy ending. The film’s focus is the life the two share, not what follows. Yes, the final scenes are brutal and grueling and awful, but also lovely — and never manipulative or exploitative. Unlike so many “illness movies” — I’m looking at you, Nicholas Sparks — Kit’s life is not mined for the lessons it teaches us.

In “Spoiler Alert,” living is its own end . Ultimately, the movie tells a story about two lives: complicated, filled with both love and pain, but well and fully lived.

PG-13. At area theaters. Contains sexual material, drug use and mature thematic elements. 112 minutes.

‘Spoiler Alert’ Review: A Gay Couple Gets the ‘Big Sick’ Treatment in Funny-Sad Rom-Com

Michael Ausiello's memoir about how a successful TV journalist found himself in the middle of his own tragic melodrama doesn't push the Charlie Kaufman-esque touches far enough.

By Peter Debruge

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As a film critic, I don’t watch much television. There simply isn’t time, what with all the new movies opening each week. As for the critics and columnists who cover television, I don’t know how they do it. How do these people — folks like Michael Ausiello , editor-in-chief of TVLine (owned by Variety parent company PMC) and author of “ Spoiler Alert : The Hero Dies” — manage to keep up with the sheer volume of new shows on TV, much less nurse a partner through a terminal battle with Stage 4 neuroendocrine cancer?

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Consider how banal most of Kit and Michael’s conversations come across. Kit watched “zero television” before they started dating, which keeps the zero-calorie pop-culture trivia to a minimum, and yet the couple isn’t much chattier than Kit’s “monosyllabic” roommate (Sadie Smith). The book is flip, irreverent and disarmingly familiar, like a one-sided conversation with your funniest gay friend. The movie removes the “The Hero Dies” subhead and withholds that information. From the opening scene, we know Kit winds up in the hospital, but we may well spend the rest hoping for his recovery. Zoe Kazan’s character pulled through in “The Big Sick,” after all, so why can’t Kit, folks may wonder? Because that would be all wrong, and yet, Showalter can’t help teasing the possibility.

You can feel Savage’s touch in several of the movie’s best scenes, like the first time Kit brings Michael back to his place, and the “FFK” (former fat kid) feels uncomfortable about removing his shirt. The monumental shift in gay acceptance of the past 20 years has happened alongside the explosion of pornography, which amplifies body shame and confidence issues for so many. “Spoiler Alert” is one of the only films to confront the toll this is taking. (This may just as likely be Grant’s influence, mind you. The co-writer, who is also an actor, plays the couple’s therapist.)

Later, when Michael finally allows Kit over to his apartment, we discover the reason he’s been reluctant for Kit to see it — a would-be deal-breaker for most guys that the script is sensitive enough to recognize as an unresolved dimension of his childhood trauma. The conversation that follows, in which both men admit to being scared, is another terrific moment, rhyming with a touching scene later in the movie, when Kit gets his cancer diagnosis. Throughout, “Spoiler Alert” shows a maturity toward modern relationships, whether straight or queer, that’s refreshing and instructive.

Unfortunately, too much of the movie simply doesn’t work. While plenty experienced at playing geeks, Parsons seems miscast, stuck giving supporting-actor energy in a big-screen leading role. It was clever getting a popular TV star to play Michael, who’s perhaps 30 when introduced, but Parsons looks older than Ausiello does today, and there’s a weird problem with the lighting where everyone (but especially him) seems buried beneath layers of bad makeup.

While the movie’s self-aware title lends itself to Brechtian touches, the director doesn’t go far enough in the Charlie Kaufman direction — or, as TV inspirations go, he stops far short of “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” the groundbreaking ’80s sitcom that frequently broke the fourth wall. “Spoiler Alert” stumbles when attempting such tricks, as in Michael’s moving farewell to Kit, when the camera pulls back to reveal the crew.

Reviewed at Wilshire Screening Room, Nov. 21, 2022. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 112 MIN.

• Production: A Focus Features release and presentation of a That's Wonderful, Semi-Formal production. Producers: Michael Showalter, Jordana Mollick. Executive producers: Michael Ausiello, Eric Norsoph, Jason Sokoloff.
• Crew: Director: Michael Showalter. Screenplay: David Marshall Grant & Dan Savage, based on the book “Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies” by Michael Ausiello. Camera: Brian Burgoyne. Editor: Peter Teschner. Music: Brian H. Kim.
• With: Jim Parsons, Ben Aldridge, Nikki M. James, Bill Irwin, Jeffery Self, Sally Field

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‘Spoiler Alert’ Review: Michael Showalter’s TV-Obsessed Tearjerker Is Short on Surprises

David ehrlich.

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One of the more memorable episodes of Michael Ausiello’s 2017 memoir finds the television journalist (and obsessive) visiting the Brooklyn set of “The Americans” on the same afternoon his longtime boyfriend, photographer Kit Cowan, sees a colorectal specialist about the severe pain he was experiencing. Mere seconds before sitting down for a chat with stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, Ausiello receives a text informing him that Cowan’s doctor has found a growth; already traumatized by watching his mother die from cancer when he was a child, Ausiello jumps to the worst possible conclusion.

Time would tragically justify such catastrophizing (Ausiello’s book is called “ Spoiler Alert : The Hero Dies”), but for the moment, he can only sit through an interview he’d been too excited about to reschedule, his mind entirely in Manhattan as he struggles to do a job that often seemed more like a fantasy.

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Powerful beyond the obvious reasons, the scene also inverts the sacred pact Ausiello made with television as a child, when he was a closeted young outsider who found warmth and comfort in the suds of his favorite soaps. Once upon a time, TV was where he would turn when everything else was too painful; on the other side of the looking glass, he finds himself pretending to care about the fantasy world so he can return to his pain. While (very proud about being) friends with the talent, Ausiello recognizes how unhelpful it would be to share his private distress with the public figures sitting across from him, and the specificity of that tension allows the entire scene to ring true.

That same moment is revisited in Michael Showalter’s “Spoiler Alert” — a weirdly generic seriocomic weepy that betrays the fact it wasn’t scripted by Ausiello himself at almost every turn — but it’s abbreviated beyond any discernible point and stripped of the details that made it scar on the page. Instead of sitting its protagonist down with Russell and Rhys on the set of “The Americans,” the movie puts Michael (a sweet if simpering Jim Parsons ) in the middle of an on-camera with an unnamed actor on an unnamed show.

If either of those elements were real, I didn’t recognize them, and if either of them is meant to have special meaning for Michael, he seems as oblivious to that as I was. As it’s staged here, the scene doesn’t register as anything more profound than “someone gets some ominous news about their partner.” I’m obviously not suggesting Showalter needed to rebuild the set of “The Americans” for this adaptation to work (Russell’s other major TV show gets a cameo instead). But that tendency to lose specifics in favor of broad emotional beats proves typical of a movie that offers all the surprise and immediacy of a rerun, even as its drama hinges on the idea of someone processing their own story for the first time.

It’s a wasted opportunity, as David Marshall Grant and Dan Savage’s standard-issue screenplay hints at the uniqueness of Ausiello’s lived experience, and how a richer film might’ve leveraged it into a portrait of how people use fictional narratives to frame their very real pain — for better or worse. From the opening scenes, “Spoiler Alert” taps into the idea that Michael spent his childhood sitting at the foot of a black mirror that rarely allowed him to see his own reflection (in part because his TV was always on, and in part because there were few gay characters on it during his glory days as a couch potato).

Even as an openly gay adult in the early aughts, which is when this movie begins, Michael’s continuing struggle to feel comfortable in his own skin seems to stem from the sense that TV never allowed him to entertain the idea that he might be the main character in his own story. There’s also the implication that he’s used television as a buffer to protect himself from personal drama since his mother’s death, and “Spoiler Alert” clumsily explores both of those ideas at once through snippets from a fake ’80s sitcom about Michael’s childhood, which are too unnerving to jive with the fluff that Showalter pads around them.

Michael also generates some discomfort on his own. When a TV Guide coworker convinces him to ignore the “Fear Factor” listicle he’s working on and join him for jock night at a local gay club, Michael rolls up in a flat-brimmed Yankees hat and a grimace that screams, “I’d rather be watching ‘Survivor.’” And when a hunk named Kit hits on him anyway, Michael’s only move is to make an extremely painful “Knight Rider” reference.

This will not be the most cringe-worthy or revealing expression of his obsessive viewing habits. Michael soon likens himself to a network sitcom in contrast to Kit’s premium cable show (adding to the meta-joke of Parsons’ casting), and Showalter upholds that self-image by shooting “Spoiler Alert” with all the grace and will of “Will & Grace.” The director’s unfussy style feels anonymous without the wit that propped up “The Big Sick” or the larger-than-life absurdity that animated “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” and while some of the more unexpected gags make for laugh-out-loud moments (a TV-themed bit on the steps of City Hall that feels like a nice little gift to the New Yorkers), most of the movie is streaked with a weak lightness that awkwardly hovers between funny and not.

One easy source of comedy: The fact that Kit doesn’t even own a TV. He’s played by a smoldering and semi-tender Ben Aldridge, who uses his muscles to force some nuance into a movie that starts losing his character to cancer long before it actually kills him. What does register about the semi-closeted Kit is that — for all his J. Crew looks and natural confidence — he’s more insecure about how he presents himself to the world than meek little Michael has ever been. Michael is an orphan, while Kit is still closeted to his restless triathlete mom ( Sally Field , seizing on the part like a septuagenarian wind-up toy) and his seemingly inflexible dad (the ever-reliable Bill Irwin).

Epitomized by the lovely and lived-in scene where Kit reveals the truth to his parents, these two men answer each other in a way that allows their turbulent love story to achieve an implicit residue of truth. “Spoiler Alert” sticks to that residue through thick and thin, even though it stumbles through its efforts to give it more texture (e.g. a cheating subplot that barely makes an impression before it returns, at the worst possible moment, for a self-reflexive climactic reveal that confuses far more than it clarifies). By the time we reach the “crushingly bittersweet handjobs set to blubbering ambient music” part of the story, that over-cranked music cue feels right at home in the kind of movie that uses Julien Baker songs to pave over patchy screenwriting as it races to surrender its characters to their circumstances.

Terminal cancer has a nasty habit of sanding everyone down to the same shape, but anyone touched by it can feel like they’re being plunged into unexplored territory — even if they’ve already been there once before. Where “Spoiler Alert” winds up is a moot point, but it loses its sense of self so completely along the way that it can only force you back on your own fears of loss in lieu of anywhere else to go. It made me cry at the end, but my tears were as canned and untrustworthy as the sound of a sitcom laugh track. I could barely remember what I had just watched, only that it was often honest enough to make me want to be with my family but never specific enough to justify the fact that I wasn’t.

Focus Features will release “Spoiler Alert” in theaters on Friday, December 2.

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In spoiler alert , the hero dies—but the jim parsons-sally field film undercuts the emotional impact of its inevitable conclusion every chance it gets.

To say grief comes in many forms is such an overwrought understatement that to trot it out at the start of a review feels like a cop-out. And yet Spoiler Alert , based on Michael Ausiello’s memoir by the same name (with the added clarification: The Hero Dies ), made me think about the ways in which we cope with grief. Not just the grief over losing a loved one—which this film is very squarely about—but about the grief of losing parts of yourself whenever you’re in a long-term relationship. Or the grief of having said goodbye to how others once saw you as.

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Grief, this tender-hearted tearjerker of a film seems to suggest, is an integral part of queer life. There’s no way of escaping its trappings even when you’ve successfully (or so you thought) built a life for yourself with a partner who loves you. The “yourself” in that sentence is Michael (Jim Parsons), a TV blogger/writer who seems to hit the jackpot when he meets Christopher “Kit” Cowan (Ben Aldridge, in what should be a star-making leading role). The two, in true Hollywood meet-cute style worthy of the film’s romcom-skewing first half, fall for one another despite obvious red flags. And then, more than a decade later, when a cancer diagnosis threatens to disrupt what was already quite a precarious relationship between Michael and his boyfriend Kit, it proves that sometimes all you need is love.

If such a premise sounds all too cloying, you should know that in that sense, Spoiler Alert is, in many ways, familiar and novel in equal measure. After all, since the 1980s, queer and straight filmmakers alike have been telling stories about romances interrupted and lives shortchanged due to illness. Yet, in telling a cancer story (rather than an HIV/AIDS one), the film sets itself apart from that cinematic lineage all the while joining a similarly robust one. And director Michael Showalter makes no attempt to disguise such a lineage. During a scene where Michael is tasked with “de-gaying” Kit’s apartment, we see a DVD of Beaches —the film where a pair of friends learn they’re one another’s wind beneath their wings—falling over a shelf before he scoops it up. Later, Michael himself channels Shirley MacLaine’s Oscar-winning turn in the tearjerker cancer drama Terms Of Endearment as he demands his husband (shush, it sounded more dramatic that way!) be! given! a! bed!

It’s in that familiarity that this adaptation thrives, achieving that “normalcy” American audiences so often clamor for when talking about contemporary LGBTQ cinema. Here is, after all, a “normal” couple tackling an unspeakable tragedy in slow motion in ways many others have before. And within that template, David Marshall Grant and Dan Savage’s script sneaks in often quite nuanced takes on gay male intimacy and the scars the closet has taken on these two otherwise well-adjusted gay professionals. Even the quiet moments Kit shares with his parents (played by the luminous Sally Field and the always-game Bill Irwin) are lovely and grounded, allowing us to witness the way in which Michael and Kit’s long-term partnership had turned them into a family.

Tonally, then, the only glaring misstep is the choice to depict Michael’s childhood as a 1980s family sitcom. This makes for a jarring juxtaposition with the grounded rhythms of the rest of the film. The scenes, which are designed to showcase Michael’s obsession with television’s tropes as coping mechanisms for how he understands his life, continually jolt the film out of any pathos it’s building toward. They feel gimmicky, almost, and come to detract from the emotional heft of the movie.

Ditto the moments when Spoiler Alert opts to (whether intentionally or not) reference another pop culture artifact Ausiello (writer and character alike) so adores: not just those soaps he used to watch as a kid but its primetime Shonda Rhimes-produced heir, Grey’s Anatomy. The film has so many montage/needle drop moments—including a head-scratching Robyn one!—designed to make you be in your feels that you wish Showalter would take a different approach toward balancing the moments of loss and anger and sadness and grief that are so threaded throughout this loving story.

Similarly, there is a choice late in the film that leans into that same meta-fictional/“my life is a movie set” conceit that feels so ill-conceived you wonder why the impetus toward short-circuiting the sentimentality of a deathbed scene feels so necessary for Grant, Savage, and Showalter. (Related: the less we talk about the casting of a certain notable celebrity in a crucial bit-part cameo with one devastating-yet-ill-delivered line, the better.)

But perhaps all these missteps are what help make Spoiler Alert feel so ruggedly endearing. When the film lets its guard down—namely, whenever Aldridge gets to deploy his charm as Kit or manages to let Field echo a weathered kind of Steel Magnolias screen presence—the film sings. Yet its attempts to distance itself from the very genre of a film it so clearly is (there wasn’t a dry eye in the house by the time I left my screening) end up shortchanging its impact. The film may not carry Ausiello’s entire title. But the desire to skip to the end, or, really, to pre-empt how you’ll feel knowing how it will end, is all over the way the film organizes itself—for better and for worse.

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James cameron-backed $950m uk film studio refused planning permission, ‘spoiler alert’ review: jim parsons & ben aldridge in adaptation of michael ausiello’s memoir.

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Spoiler Alert is about as funny and upbeat a film you could possibly make when the subject is the illness and death of one of the partners in the central relationship. It’s a gay Love Story with laughs, albeit with a twist, as the film challenges itself to be both amusing and emotionally involving where matters of life and death are concerned. Fortunately, it manages to more or less succeed on both counts due to its ever-ready wise-crack nature and sympathetic direction.

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Despite such potential turn-offs, Kit pursues the relationship for reasons that may initially remain unclear but are nonetheless plausible enough given the charm of watching these two very different men interact; given Michael’s childlike proclivities, one wonders if he’s had any significant sexual experiences at all (addressing this question might have been interesting). Whatever the case, he has something that pleases Kit and the two make for an unusual and appealing odd couple.

With its straightforward, presentational approach, Spoiler Alert mostly satisfies as an engaging and sympathetic account of an unusual but credible relationship; from emotional and experiential perspectives, Kit induced Michael to finally cast his lingering childhood attachments aside and become a man, while Michael inspired Kit to become more serious and focused about life and work. Undoubtedly, it was rather more complex than that, but then those interested in the details and difficulties of their relationship can double their pleasure by diving into the book by Ausiello, who is the founder and editor-in-chief of Deadline’s sister site TVLine.

The film will no doubt be too simplistic for those close to the scene and the individuals involved, but it does helpfully and engagingly illuminate a moment in time that, despite persistent difficulties and challenges, involved palpable progress and societal change.

Focus Features releases Spoiler Alert in select theaters Friday before it expands wide the following weekend.

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Spoiler alert, common sense media reviewers.

Emotional gay romantic dramedy has drug use, swearing.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Themes of love and loss are addressed through the

When Michael's ex-boyfriend gets a terminal illnes

A gay couple (played by gay actors Jim Parsons and

The sad, difficult road of trying to fight cancer

Plot revolves around a long-term romance. Passiona

A few uses of words including "ass," "crap," "s--t

Diet Coke is a recurring product mentioned verball

Characters smoke pot; it's depicted as a sign of c

Parents need to know that Spoiler Alert is a terminal-illness romance dramedy based on TV Guide writer Michael Ausiello's memoir Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies. The film opens by making viewers aware of where the story is going -- but, still, bring tissues. Michael's (Jim Parsons) relationship…

Positive Messages

Themes of love and loss are addressed through the lens of gratitude.

Positive Role Models

When Michael's ex-boyfriend gets a terminal illness, he steps up and helps manage his care, making sure his final days are the best they can be. Parents are shown as loving and supportive, including when their child comes out to them.

Diverse Representations

A gay couple (played by gay actors Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge) is portrayed with authenticity over a long period of time. Screenplay was written by Dan Savage and David Marshall Grant, who are both gay, and gay/queer friends and allies are part of the characters' life, including Black female friends. Main characters are White. Discussions of identity are part of dialogue, but they're not the sole focus. Boundaries are set and respected. But a disability story (terminal illness) is used to further a non-disabled character's narrative.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

The sad, difficult road of trying to fight cancer is depicted.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Plot revolves around a long-term romance. Passionate and affectionate kissing. A sex scene shows a close-up on characters' faces. Sexual situations in which clothes are coming off, but camera cuts away before showing sex. Cheeky art that implies sex. Men shown bare-chested and in underwear.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

A few uses of words including "ass," "crap," "s--t," and "turd ball." "Oh my God!" used as an exclamation. Sexual lingo used in a joking way: "jerking each other off," and "getting laid."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Diet Coke is a recurring product mentioned verbally and visually. Other brands mentioned as a punchline.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters smoke pot; it's depicted as a sign of character growth. Character taught how to smoke pot on camera. Drinking, including at a bar. References that one character smokes pot all the time and that another drinks too much wine. Joke about Vicodin.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Spoiler Alert is a terminal-illness romance dramedy based on TV Guide writer Michael Ausiello's memoir Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies. The film opens by making viewers aware of where the story is going -- but, still, bring tissues. Michael's ( Jim Parsons ) relationship with his boyfriend (and later husband), Kit ( Ben Aldridge ), is depicted affectionately and authentically, with passionate kissing, a hot and heavy "first time" (the camera cuts away after showing some playful foreplay), and an intimate sex act that keeps the focus on the characters' faces. Characters smoke marijuana, and, by movie's end, drinking and getting high are equated with maturity. Expect a bit of strong language ("ass," "s--t," "oh my God") and sexual lingo ("jerk off'). To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

In SPOILER ALERT, TV journalist Michael ( Jim Parsons ) sees his life as a 1980s family sitcom, in which hardships are met with laughs and hugs. When he meets photographer Kit ( Ben Aldridge ), they become a picture-perfect couple. Then, just as they hit a rough patch, Kit gets a worrisome diagnosis that threatens their happy ending. The movie was adapted from Michael Ausiello's autobiographical novel Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies.

Is It Any Good?

Terminal-illness romances are nothing new, but this dramedy gives the subgenre fresh life by putting a gay male couple at the center of the story. Directed by Michael Showalter, who covered similar subject matter in The Big Sick (also based on a true story), every beat in Spoiler Alert is true to what audiences are used to seeing in romances. The meet-cute. The awkward/nerdy main character and the gorgeous love interest. The sharing of insecurities and haunting life events. An obstacle to overcome, like parents who may not be accepting. And a moment or two of passion before the camera cuts away without actually showing anything too risqué. Showalter combines romcom conventions with a more dramatic genre sometimes referred to as "sick lit" cinema -- i.e., book-based romances in which at least one partner in the central couple is dying. And he completely delivers: Spoiler Alert goes toe-to-toe with cancer comedies, romantic comedies, and terminal romances. Audiences typically adore these films, while critics are more "meh," and Spoiler Alert is no exception. But in this case, being a B movie is perfect.

The film's very averageness fosters the normalization of mainstream LGBTQ+ stories. It's impossible not to wonder: What if Hollywood had always shown queer characters and their stories this way? How might the world be different? How many lives would be better? And how many people might still be alive? It's no coincidence that one of the movie's screenwriters is Dan Savage , who started the "It Gets Better" campaign to encourage queer kids to hang in there. Even in 2022, in a time where more and more folks understand that "love is love is love," normalizing a gay romance in the media could help create positive and lasting change.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the popularity and criticisms of romance movies where one partner has a terminal illness. Why do you think audiences respond to these stories? Do you think these types of films romanticize dying or make being ill seem in any way appealing? How does Spoiler Alert compare to others you've seen?

How are queer characters and relationships depicted in Spoiler Alert ? Why is positive diverse representation in the media important?

How are marijuana use and drinking depicted? Michael begins by not drinking, smoking, or taking drugs. By the end, he does. Why do we need to be aware of the way media portrays alcohol and drugs and how that might affect our own behavior?

Michael's relationship with Kit shapes and changes Michael's life, which is why it's cinematic. If you were to make a movie about an important moment that changed your life's path, what would it be?

Think about the interaction between Michael and Kit's friend Ruth, and describe yourself in one word.

Movie Details

• In theaters : December 2, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : December 20, 2022
• Cast : Jim Parsons , Ben Aldridge , Sally Field
• Director : Michael Showalter
• Inclusion Information : Gay actors, Female actors
• Studio : Focus Features
• Genre : Drama
• Character Strengths : Gratitude
• Run time : 112 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : sexual content, drug use and thematic elements
• Last updated : May 25, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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‘Spoiler Alert’ Review: Ben Aldridge Steals the Show in Michael Showalter’s Shaky Dramedy

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If it wasn’t already clear from its title, Michael Showalter ’s Spoiler Alert is a film that attempts to grapple with the stories that we tell ourselves to make meaning out of the many upheavals in our lives. In this case, it is one that begins when two people fall in love. Initially, it rather dutifully follows the basic formula of a meet-cute. Awkward yet endearing introductions give way to the greater depths and pitfalls of emotional connection. However, hanging over the entire experience is the fact that this film is not a love story that has a happy ending. Adapted from the 2017 memoir Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies by Michael Ausiello , it is not compromising the experience to tell you that that is exactly what happens in the end. After spending years with the man he thought he would grow old with, Michael ( Jim Parsons ) is going to lose Kit Cowan ( Ben Aldridge ) to cancer. All the various treatments and doctors will not be able to put off this inevitable outcome. Each joyous joke the two share carries with it the tragic potential that it may be the very last mirthful memory that they will ever get to laugh at together.

As such, every moment of comedy becomes increasingly painful as the film gently guides us toward the death it warned us was coming. The story, as written by David Marshall Grant and Dan Savage , is one of bittersweet reflections that thrives in the moments of more measured melancholy. From the scene where Michael and Kit share a heartfelt yet confessional conversation to even the one where they say nothing at all while looking out at the horizon together, it makes for an experience that sufficiently earns its emotional impact. What begins to increasingly compromise this is how the film repeatedly pulls us out of this more sublime state of being by breaking through the tranquility with fraught and increasingly forced diversions. Taking the form of everything from oddly clunky narration to scattered sitcom reenactments of Michael’s childhood, the film frequently indulges in spelling things out in a manner that works better on the page than it does on the screen. Many of the performances do manage to be compelling and prevent these narrative intrusions from compromising the experience entirely. Still, significant moments are made saccharine in a manner that rings hollow when it shouldn’t. The jokes largely land, but the film frequently gets in its own way.

The true standout that holds it all together is not Parsons, even as we see the story through his eyes, but Aldridge. Having been most familiar with his work from when he was in the enduringly outstanding series Fleabag , there is something delightful about seeing him take on a more central role here that also makes it even more exciting for when he’ll be in the upcoming Knock at the Cabin . It is not just how he carries many of the comedic scenes on his charisma, but how he is able to draw us into the more devastating moments as well. Even when the dialogue is rather ham-handed, he manages to give it a great deal more heart than one could ever think was possible. That he is the “hero” that gets referred to is not to put Kit on a pedestal. Rather, we see him as a truly complete person with his flaws and fears gradually teased out. None of this more complex portrait would work nearly as well without Aldridge taking hold of it. The vibrancy and joy with how he brings Kit to life only makes it all the more crushing as we see him authentically capture how that is being snuffed out.

RELATED: ‘Spoiler Alert’ Trailer Shows Jim Parsons in Tear-Inducing Rom-Com Based on a True Story

The longer the film went on, the more it became clear that it ought to have looked more at his character both in an emotional sense and a thematic one. While the story was written from the perspective of Michael, there is a persistent sense that he is somewhat overbearing. There are a number of moments where Kit will try to speak up for himself and what he wants to see happen only to be overridden. This is clearly meant to convey how Michael is trying to gain control over the situation and is, completely understandably, having a hard time dealing with all this. Where it becomes messy is when this emotional emphasis begins swallowing up any insights we could get into any of the other characters.

We get introduced to Kit's charming and compassionate friend Nina ( Nikki M. James ) early on, though there is next to no interest the film has in who she is as a person or how she feels about the whole situation. Even his parents Marilyn ( Sally Field ) and Bob ( Bill Irwin ) are made largely one note. Looking to Showalter’s earlier film, The Big Sick , it is night and day in seeing how the family aspects are explored. While Spoiler Alert is clearly less interested in this aspect of the story, it subsequently lessens the impact when we don’t come to know who many of these people are. While Field gets some potentially interesting scenes where her character goes on runs with Michael, they are far too fleeting and prove to be a regrettable waste of her talents.

As the story becomes increasingly filtered through Parsons’ performance, there is far too much that ultimately gets lost in the process. There is still much to appreciate in the quieter moments, but it is the more blunt ones that fall flat. One moment, which is highlighted in the film’s trailer, sees Parsons shouting at a nurse to “get my husband a bed” to convey Michael’s desperation and helplessness. This is turned into an odd joke with the remark that this moment was “Oscar-worthy.” While awards are not the sign of a good performance, this moment is far from likely to get any as it sees Parsons noticeably straining to hit the right emotional notes and falling short. The scenes that are more stripped down and less showy are where he is able to be more natural. Alas, the film can’t help but be showy. The reference to the Oscars is part of how Michael, an entertainment journalist, has made sense of his life through what he himself has watched on the screen. This crosses from being lightly intriguing into the film almost sabotaging itself when, in a climactic scene, we are pulled right out of what is happening into a fantasy. It is painfully blunt what this is meant to mean and the execution almost dooms the entire thing when it rips us away from the more honest conclusion. Yet somehow, even with its many flaws, the way Aldridge brings life to this story of death ensures Spoiler Alert remains whole despite its story nearly breaking itself to pieces.

Spoiler Alert is in theaters now.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Spoiler Alert’ on Prime Video, an Engrossing Cancer-Weepie In Which Jim Parsons Will Make You Cry

Where to stream:.

• Spoiler Alert

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‘mary & george’ series finale recap: “war”, stream it or skip it: ‘interview with the vampire’ season 2 on amc, where louis and claudia go in search of fellow vampires in post-wwii europe, stream it or skip it: ‘eileen’ on hulu, a dark, sexy noir-thriller starring anne hathaway and thomasin mckenzie.

Spoiler Alert ( now streaming on Amazon Prime Video ) finds former The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons tackling another leading-man film role. He follows 2020’s The Boys in the Band with this adaptation of Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies , Michael Ausiello’s memoir about his relationship with his husband, who fought cancer before passing away in 2015. Parsons co-stars with Ben Aldridge – whose ballooning career includes a stint on Fleabag , playing Thomas Wayne in Pennyworth and a major role in M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin – and together, they find more than enough chemistry to keep this weeper of a dramedy afloat.  

SPOILER ALERT : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Michael (Parsons) and Kit (Aldridge) are in a hospital bed. Kit’s skin is pale and blotchy, and tubes trail from his prone body. Michael’s curled up next to him. Then Michael narrates, and I paraphrase very very loosely: this is the sad part, the ending tacked on to the beginning to hook us before we jump back 14 years to happier days. Michael was a staff writer at TV Guide, which means nowadays, he’s almost certainly freelancing. TV Guide was his dream job, because he revels in everything television. He even imagines the flashbacks within the primary flashback, about his childhood, as an ’80s sitcom with him as the misfit star with two annoying brothers, a single mom and a late father. He was a chubby kid, but now he’s a tall dweeb, a descriptor levied upon him by a woman who’s drunk and best friends with Kit. Kit, who Michael meets in a dance club. Michael, who doesn’t dance, is in a dance club pretty much against his will, and it’s kismet, because he’s soon kissing the guy he just met rimshot thank you good night please tip the wait staff.

Michael is demure, buttoned up. Kit is confident, outgoing. But they click. They end up back at Kit’s place, and Michael blanches – he lost a lot of weight since childhood and is insecure about his body, he says. Cut to the sitcom set, where young Michael (Brody Caines) says the kids at school tease him, calling him Dead Dad Mike the Fat Fudgepacker. Kit understands. They can just talk. And talk, they do. After the second date – if you can call almost hooking up after meeting at a club a “first date,” although we shouldn’t get hung up on technicalities – Michael agrees reluctantly to go back to his place this time. Reluctantly, because his place is positively exploding with Smurfs shit. Figurines, posters, bedsheets, a four-foot Papa Smurf statue, ALL the Smurfs shit. It’s not a gamebreaker for Kit, though. I mean, they’re really clicking. Even though Michael still believes, “You always felt like premium cable to my network sitcom.”

And so This Movie is Their Story. We learn that Kit still hasn’t told his parents that he’s gay, and when they drive down to NYC from Pennsylvania after Kit has an emergency appendectomy, he ends up blurting out that he’s gay in front of Michael and Sally Field, because Sally Field plays Kit’s mother, Marilyn. She’s cool with it, and so is his dad (Bill Irwin). Michael and Kit move in together, and I don’t know what happens with all the Smurfs shit, because now there’s only a few shelves of it. They spend Christmas together, which is another Michael obsession – the tinsel and trees just make him light up. They pose for a Christmas selfie and then the couples-selfie Christmas cards start piling up, 13 of them, and now it’s 2014, and they’re no longer clicking. They’re in counseling, and trial-separated. They still see each other and do couples things, but don’t live together and we feel the melancholy pall of a once incredibly loving relationship taking its final breaths. But Kit has been experiencing some discomfort. Pain. Appointments. Tests. Biopsies. Neuroendocrine cancer. Aggressive. Chemo. Hair loss. Vomiting. Ups. Downs. Ups. Downs. Michael is there for all of it. There’s still a lot of love here. And yes, we’re going to be bawling before this is over.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Spoiler Alert is Bros crossed with Terms of Endearment (or maybe the wildly underrated Ordinary Love ). 

Performance Worth Watching: Parsons is one of those sensitive actors who, when he cries, you have no choice but to cry too, goddammit. 

Memorable Dialogue: Kit heads into Michael’s bedroom and Michael turns to his ridiculous statue and says, “Oh, Papa.”

Sex and Skin: Kissing, straddling, out-of-frame fondling.

Our Take: Not judging! I have a lot of Star Wars shit. To each their own shit, I say.

Anyway. In 2022, gay men staked their claim on the rom-com ( Bros ), group-vacay-com ( Fire Island ), and now, the cancer weepie. Big year! (In all sincerity!) And these movies generally outdid any heteronormie riffs on the genres. Spoiler Alert is a tender, sweet, occasionally silly story with familiar structural bones balanced by Parsons and Aldridge’s rock-steady and deeply empathetic performances. We enjoy spending time with them, even when things aren’t great. The actors cultivate a dynamic that touches on some very real emotions without becoming overly melodramatic. Their interplay is gently witty and subtly sexy. You can easily see why one falls in love with the other, and the other falls in love with the one.

You might take or leave the gimmickry at hand – the sitcom flashbacks are clever but hamper the narrative flow, and the narration is a touch intrusive. But director Michael Showalter ( The Big Sick ) and screenwriters Dan Savage and David Marshall Grant handle Ausiello’s story with a gentle, caring, loving touch. They maintain an unwaveringly earnest tone that allows Parsons and Aldridge to explore the complexities of long-term relationships without falling into mawkishness. Where other movies might indulge glibness or Oscar-clip force, Spoiler Alert opts for subtlety and clarity. And if you’re not feeling the ache at least a little bit, it might be time to call the coroner.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Spoiler Alert is conventional in some ways, but lovely and heartfelt in many others. 

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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'Spoiler Alert' : The Heartbreaking True Story Behind Jim Parson's New Romantic Movie

In his memoir Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies , writer Michael Ausiello wrote about his relationship with husband Kit Cowan, who died of cancer in 2015

Jim Parsons ' latest movie has a touching true story behind it.

Spoiler Alert is an adaptation of Michael Ausiello's 2017 memoir Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies about how the television journalist fell in love with photographer Kit Cowan in the early 2000s. They later married on March 21, 2014, and Cowan died at 43 of a rare form of neuroendocrine cancer on Feb. 5, 2015.

At the time, Ausiello wrote in a tribute to Cowan on TVLine (which he founded) that "as you can imagine, my heart is broken. But it's also filled with immeasurable gratitude for the 13-and-a-half years that I was lucky enough to spend with this extraordinarily loving, funny, talented, complicated man."

In the film, from The Big Sick director Michael Showalter, Parsons plays Ausiello, who, after the heartbreaking diagnosis, sets aside relationship issues with Cowan (played by Ben Aldridge) to help him in his final months. Sally Field and Bill Irwin star as Cowan's parents Marilyn and Robert.

Ausiello, 50, told Today.com about the similarities and differences from their real love story and the one depicted onscreen in Spoiler Alert .

"The movie is a version of my life story. It isn't my life. So that also makes it easier when I was on set every day. I was always aware that we were making a movie. I never felt like I was watching my life unfold again before my eyes," he said, adding, "Even though, yes, I knew we were making a movie, there absolutely were times where it took my breath away [with] how similar it felt the actual experience."

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He also confirmed that the Smurfs memorabilia collection shown in the film are his real-life treasures — and only a "fraction of the overall" haul.

Ausiello told Today.com that he's still close with Cowan's parents: "I do keep in touch with them. I visit. I'm not there nearly as much as I used to be because Kit's not here. But I love Bob and Marilyn. They're my family ... I adore them and in many ways, I see them as two of the heroes in this story."

And, the writer say he's "absolutely open" to finding love again today. He said, "Whether I will be lucky enough to find someone that I love as much as Kit, or half as much as I love Kit, I should be so lucky. But my heart is definitely open."

Parsons, 49, recently told Variety that his husband Todd Spiewak encouraged him to option the rights to Ausiello's memoir and make it into a movie. (The actor/producer and Ausiello were also acquaintances for years as the journalist covered him during his Big Bang Theory days.)

"My husband watched me read it, which means he watched me sob through it. And he said, 'Do you think it would make a good movie?' I said, 'I don't know.' And he read it, and he said, 'I think it would,' " said Parsons.

He also explained it was "really thrilling" to share a story that is "such a full view of a gay relationship." Said Parsons, "It was such a full view of two people who really love each other, two souls that come together and go on this journey together, the ups and downs of that, the coming apart and coming back together and, ultimately, being able to really get about as clear a view of another human being as you can possibly get."

Spoiler Alert is in select theaters Friday, then everywhere Dec. 9.

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‘Spoiler Alert’ Review: Jim Parsons Flunks His Chemistry Test in Rom-Com Tearjerker

As TV journalist Michael Ausiello, in an adaptation of his own memoir, Parsons brings no big bang to the love story with co-lead Ben Aldridge

The tonal demands of a romantic-comedy tearjerker prove far too much to handle for director Michael Showalter in “Spoiler Alert,” an awkward and uncertain adaptation of TV critic Michael Ausiello’s memoir, which deals with the illness of Ausiello’s longterm partner Kit Cowan.

Many of the scenes here seem to have been shot in a spirit of tense desperation; the comedy doesn’t land, the romance takes too long to get going, and the tearjerking scenes are spoiled by a meta framework that makes Showalter’s job even more difficult.

“Spoiler Alert” starts with Ausiello (Jim Parsons) embracing a very sick Cowan (Ben Aldridge, “Pennyworth”) in a hospital bed, and this leads to a flashback to their first meeting 14 years or so earlier. We see Ausiello at his job at TV Guide, where he is asked to write more about “Fear Factor” instead of “Gilmore Girls,” and then we see him out at a club where he meets Cowan.

The first third of “Spoiler Alert” is very uneasy because everything depends on the chemistry between the two lead actors, and nothing seems to be happening between them but squirming and discomfort. In the scenes where they kiss, Parsons’s character is supposed to be feeling awkward because of his own personal issues, but this just reads as awkwardness between the actors, as though they had never been introduced and were made to plunge into a big love scene right away.

As “Spoiler Alert” goes on, the real drama comes from the feeling that Aldridge keeps trying to reach Parsons as an actor to create a relationship between their characters, but Parsons keeps twisting himself away from it on a physical and emotional level. Aldridge will look at Parsons with convincingly growing love in close-up, and then Parsons will stare back as if he isn’t actually looking at his leading man but at someone or something else.

The introduction of Sally Field and Bill Irwin as Cowan’s parents is very welcome because they immediately bring a sense of life and believable behavior to their scenes, even doing some overlapping dialogue, and this comes as a relief because so much of “Spoiler Alert” before their entrance has a purgatorial look where even the background actors don’t seem to be moving or living any kind of life at the clubs or restaurants the characters frequent.

“Spoiler Alert” was co-written by actor David Marshall Grant and venerable sex advice columnist Dan Savage, and there are a few moments where it feels like Savage has tried to inject a bit of sexual reality into the portrayal of the main relationship between Ausiello and Cowan, which flounders briefly because their sex life is inhibited by Ausiello’s issues with his body.

Once Cowan is diagnosed with a deadly illness, “Spoiler Alert” briefly transitions into more dramatic scenes but keeps abandoning a more serious tone. “Give my husband the bed!” Ausiello cries, echoing Shirley MacLaine in the ultimate romantic-comedy tearjerker, “Terms of Endearment,” which Ausiello humorously references right after his meltdown.

There is a scene toward the end of “Spoiler Alert” where things look very bad, but both Ausiello and Cowan start to laugh and kid around, and it is easy to imagine how effective this sort of reversal of expectations might have been if only Showalter could have found a smoother and more lifelike balance for the movie as a whole and gotten Parsons to connect to Aldridge as a scene partner on a deeper level.

When Field’s Marilyn is told about her son’s illness, her calm and very tough reaction flies against our expectation of some “big scene” breakdown for Field, who was so memorably enraged and frightened on Broadway with Irwin in Edward Albee’s “The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?” and who is so noted for both dramatic and comic breakdown scenes. What seems clear as “Spoiler Alert” comes to a close is that it had potential as a tough and funny romance, but the execution of this delicate material is so haphazard that even the best moments are cancelled out.

“Spoiler Alert” opens in select U.S. theaters Dec. 2 and nationwide Dec. 9 via Focus Features.

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Spoiler Alert Reviews

No All Critics reviews for Spoiler Alert.

John Krasinski pays tribute to his mom in 'IF' with a 'perfect' Tina Turner dance number

Spoiler alert! We're discussing minor details about the plot of John Krasinski's PG-rated family film "IF" (in theaters now).

“IF” is indisputably the starriest movie of the year, with vocal cameos from Matt Damon , George Clooney , Jon Stewart and nearly two dozen other celebrities.

But the person who shines brightest is Tina Turner , whose music is featured prominently throughout the kid-friendly adventure. When we first meet Bea as a young girl (Audrey Hoffman), she’s dressed up as Turner and putting on a living room concert for her adoring mom (Catharine Daddario) and dad (John Krasinski).

Years later, after her mom’s death from cancer, 12-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming) has lost all sense of joy and wonder. That changes when she meets a group of misfit imaginary friends (known as IFs), who are exiled to a “retirement home” under New York’s Coney Island when their kids grow up and forget about them. Bea offers to help and lift their spirits, culminating in a euphoric dance number set to Turner’s “Better Be Good to Me.”

John Krasinski wanted Tina Turner's 'Better Be Good to Me' to be an 'anthem' for the 'IF' movie

The soaring anthem, which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, is taken from Turner's 1984 comeback album “Private Dancer.” Krasinski, who also wrote and directed “IF,” wanted to use the song as a tribute to his mom, Mary, who is a major Turner fan.

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“I remember vividly dancing in the kitchen with my mom to Tina Turner,” Krasinski recalls. “There’s something so emotional to me about sharing music intergenerationally. That’s something that was really special to me and that I really wanted to be in the movie. I love the idea that it's not a song you would think this girl would love, but she loves it because of the people she loves.”

Turner died last May at age 83 after a long illness . To get the rights to use her song, Krasinski wrote directly to the eight-time Grammy winner’s estate, sending them the scripted scene and offering to get on Zoom to pitch the number.

“The first thing I did was write an email saying that this is the heart and soul of the movie,” Krasinski says. “Tina’s song is basically the anthem for imaginary friends. (The IFs) are the ones saying, ‘Better be good to me and don’t forget me.’ Her song was the absolute perfect one for our movie, and they got it. They were so understanding and so supportive, I can’t thank them enough.”

Taylor Swift fans should look out for this Eras Tour Easter egg with Ryan Reynolds

In the dance number, Bea and the imaginary friends re-create the “Better Be Good to Me” music video. The scene was shot over two days with Fleming, 17, and a bunch of dancers wearing motion capture suits. Ari Groover, who played Turner in Broadway's "Tina" musical, also makes a brief appearance as the rock legend.

“I had so much fun,” says Fleming, who knew of Turner before the movie but didn’t know her catalog.

The actress' enthusiasm for Taylor Swift also found its way into "IF." Toward the end of the film, Bea is walking up the street with her new friend Cal (Ryan Reynolds). Moviegoers can only hear the tail end of their conversation, in which they excitedly discuss wearing bracelets all over their arms.

That is, of course, a reference to the pop star’s blockbuster Eras Tour , where fans frequently trade Swift-themed friendship bracelets . Reynolds has attended the tour multiple times with his wife, Blake Lively , who is also Swift's close friend.

“John told us when we were shooting that scene that there was no dialogue and the audience couldn’t hear us, so it didn’t matter what we said,” recalls Fleming, who has tickets to attend the Eras Tour for a second time this fall. “So I started talking about Taylor Swift, because that’s my default topic, and it wound up making it into the movie. I love her.”

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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a 2024 American supernatural comedy film directed by Gil Kenan from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jason Reitman. It is the sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and the fifth film in the Ghostbusters franchise. The film stars Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Celeste O'Connor, and Logan Kim reprising their roles from Afterlife, alongside Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and William Atherton reprising their characters from the earlier films, with Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt joining the cast. Stay for the mid-credit scene. Shirley is a 2024 American biographical drama film written and directed by John Ridley. It depicts the 1972 presidential run of Shirley Chisholm, who was already the first Black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. The film stars Regina King in the title role, alongside Lance Reddick, Lucas Hedges, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Christina Jackson, Michael Cherrie, André Holland, and Terrence Howard.

• © Rene Stanley

Top Podcasts In TV & Film

'MoviePass, MovieCrash' traces how a ticketing app bombed at the box office

Like films about wecrash and fyre festival, stylish hbo doc tells classic story of a big idea falling hard..

“MoviePass, MovieCrash” details how Stacy Spikes (front) and Hamet Watt (pictured in 2011) got pushed out of the company they co-founded.

San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images/HBO

You don’t have to be Will Hunting to figure out the math in a 2017 subscription offer from the ticket subscription service MoviePass was going to be problematic for the company.

Remember the deal? For just $9.95 a month, you could see a movie a day, every day, with virtually no restrictions. Given that the average movie ticket price that year was right around $9, one can see how this “too good to be true promotion” was going to be a disaster for MoviePass, with the company burning through tens of millions of dollars a month to make up for cash losses, and eventually enacting changes to the subscription plan that infuriated everyone from customers to theater chains to MoviePass employees.

How did it come to this? The HBO documentary “MoviePass, MovieCrash” takes us through the rise and fall and rise from the ashes of an app that went from being the fastest growing subscription service since Spotify to a flop that was losing some $150 million a year. Directed with just the right amount of stylistic flair (including terrific and helpful graphics) by the talented Muta’Ali, “MoviePass, MovieCrash” is a worthy companion to documentaries such as “Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga,” “WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn,“ and the Fyre Festival documentaries. It is a classic story about two guys who seemed poised to grab the American Dream by the tail, only to have two other guys wrestle it away from them and burn the whole thing down through sheer hubris and greed.

Oh, and the first two guys are Black, and the latter two guys are Caucasian. Unfortunately, that, too, is an all-too-familiar story about the American business experience. (Just Google “Black Inventors Who Don’t Get the Credit They Deserve.”)

“MoviePass, MovieCrash” focuses primarily on a few pivotal years in the mid-2010s, but we do get a brief history of the company, which was founded in 2011 by Hamel Watt and Stacy Spikes, the latter of whom had been senior vice-president of marketing for Miramax by the age of 30 and had worked on hits such as “Scream” and “Trainspotting.” In its nascent years, MoviePass was hailed in the media as a buzz-worthy idea, but the business plan was met with resistance from movie theater chains, including AMC, and the company struggled to push its subscriber count past 20,000.

By 2016, Mitch Lowe and Ted Farsnworth had maneuvered into positions of power at the company, with Lowe becoming CEO and Farnsworth making the media rounds and positioning himself as a visionary game-changer. Spikes and Watt were edged aside — first pushed off the board, then fired from the company they had co-founded. Says Lowe, who for some reason agreed to be in the documentary: “Oh God, these old stories. This is a company, not a family, and we’re here to make the company successful.” (At least Farnsworth was smart enough not to go on camera.)

By this point, the doc has clearly established Spikes and Watt as the wronged anti-heroes in this story, and Farnsworth and Lowe as the villains. It’s hard to argue with that. “MoviePass, MovieCrash” takes us through the heady, giddy period in which the subscriber count skyrocketed from 20,000 to 100,000 in 48 hours thanks to that $9.95 promotion, with the numbers climbing to 3 million by 2018. Problem was, the app kept crashing and the home office was severely understaffed — and it didn’t help matters that while the rank and file were scrambling to deal with thousands of complaints, Farnsworth was living it up like he was in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” and the company was hosting lavish events, e.g., Dennis Rodman showing up in the MoviePass helicopter to promote the company at Coachella in 2018.

Says the utterly clueless Lowe: “I sensed a resentment by the MoviePass employees [about the Coachella event]. Each individual has their various roles and not all roles get to party.”

Mitch Lowe, MoviePass CEO during the company’s crash, appears in the documentary to offer some clueless observations.

Vivien Killilea/Getty Images

The debacle continued. MoviePass invested in the disastrous John Travolta “Gotti” film, which has a 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes. In 2018, a class action lawsuit was filed, alleging MoviePass was blacking out certain popular movies. A year later, another class action suit alleged MoviePass was using bait-and-switch tactics. In 2022, Mitch Lowe and Ted Farnsworth were indicted by the Department of Justice on one count of securities fraud and three counts of wire fraud. They pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

Says “Shark Tank” star Daymond John: “It’s like they were the god- - - - Mike Tyson of f- - -ing movies. How do you burn through $250 million? What is f- - -ing wrong with you? Are you crazy?”

Spoiler Alert: In 2022, co-founder Stacy Spikes reacquired the company. And how about this: In 2023, MoviePass had its first profitable year, ever. There’s a chance this story will have a happy ending after all.