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Michael Showalter, best known for the mid-’90s MTV show, The State, and the Wet Hot American Summer franchise, has been building a reputation for making offbeat and somewhat subversive rom-coms like The Baxter, They Came Together, and The Big Sick. But following his acclaimed Oscar-nominated The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Showalter appears to be graduating to the realm of romantic drama as indicated by the trailer for his upcoming release from Focus Features, Spoiler Alert, starring Jim Parsons, Ben Aldridge, and Sally Field.
In the first few seconds of this early look at Spoiler Alert, we see immediately that Parsons is playing somebody who is nothing like his signature role as Sheldon Cooper on CBS’s massive hit sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. In this adaptation of television industry journalist Michael Ausiello’s 2017 memoir, Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, Parsons plays Ausiello, with the film depicting his relationship with photographer Kit Cowan (Aldridge), who passed from a rare form of neuroendocrine cancer in 2015.
The Spoiler Alert Trailer Shows a Couple Before Life Takes a Turn
The trailer picks up during a mid-dinner conversation at a posh restaurant with Parsons’ Michael breaking down his own profile: “Middle child, two brothers, we’re actually very close, but they live in different states.” Aldridge’s Kit interjects, “Only child,” to which Michael says, “Childhood obsessions – Christmas…” “Magic!” Kit excitedly finishes his sentence.
Then we see shots of Michael and Kit checking each other out on a neon-lit dance floor, and we hear Michael’s voice-over: “My name is Michael.” Their meet-cute exchange: “You’re a great dancer,” says Kit, “You’re a terrible liar,” Michael responds. “And that’s Kit,” Michael’s disembodied voice tells us.
“I always imagined that my life was like a typical romantic comedy,” Michael continues as we see a bit of the beginning of an intimate scene. “You’re so confident, like you took off your clothes like a stripper at a bachelorette party. I basically shower with clothes on,” Michael quips to Kit’s laughter.
We get more glimpses into Michael and Kit’s budding relationship as we see Kit’s reaction to Michael’s overwhelming collection of Smurfs memorabilia, “Oh my god, they’re in here too,” Kit says as he enters the bedroom, and we see him sit on a Smurf plush toy.
“From the Director of The Big Sick,” a black and red on white title card informs us, and we see Michael telling Kit, “I think you’re gonna break my heart.” Kit introduces Michael to his parents, played by Sally Field, who starred in Showalter’s Hello, My Name is Doris, and Bill Irwin, who both have a funny moment reacting to being told Michael is Kit’s boyfriend. “I think it’s great, kid,” informs Irwin. “We might not look like it, but we actually are kinda hip. We were gonna go to Woodstock, you know.”
A run of Christmas pictures with the couple posing with the tree and lights in their New York apartment throughout the years are shown, and we are given the most crucial plot point there is: Kit is ill and dying. “I’m not off the ledge, Mike – I’m seeing a doctor tomorrow.” We then see them in the office of a physician, played by Shunori Ramanathan, who says, “I’m afraid the news isn’t good.”
“I was always afraid that Kit would break my heart, and he eventually did – he broke it open.” A montage of bonding moments follows, culminating in Field doing what she does best, providing an Oscar moment: “You have to run a race in front of you because that’s all there is!” Fields stress to her son.
“Looking back, this is less of a rom-com and more of a love story,” Parsons’ voice-over re-appears to declare. We then see our protagonist have his own Oscar moment yelling, “Give my husband a bed!” at a nurse in the hospital. Aldridge’s Kit even comments, “Well, that was Oscar-worthy,” to Michael’s quip, “worked for Shirley MacLaine.”
Lush shots of Michael, Kit, and Field on the beach follow, with Michael’s voice-over again popping up: “And like all love stories, it never actually ends,” and the trailer wraps up, again with back and red letters on white that stare “Only in Theaters, December 2,” and “Screenplay by David Marshall Grant & Dan Savage.”
After the failure of Bros, which was billed as the first gay rom-com from a major Hollywood studio, Spoiler Alert may have its work cut out for itself to connect with mainstream audiences, but its sincerity and the strength of Showalter’s filmmaking chops may yet give it the edge. There’s also the popularity of Parsons to consider, especially as this has him playing what looks like an actually normal, grounded human being.
After years of his ISTJ (introversion, sensing, thinking, judgment) behavior as Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, movie-goers are likely to find Michael, despite his sad predicament, to be a very appealing persona to spend an hour and 52 minutes with.
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