“If you believe in this spirit thing, the miracle will happen, and then you’ll want it to happen again tomorrow… It can happen every day, you’ve just got to want that feeling.”
– Bill Murray in SCROOGED
That’s right – it’s time to feel the moment and that holiday spirit thing. It’s time for Spoiler Free Review’s 12 days of Christmas 2022 edition! We will be posting our favorite holiday experiences with 12 reviews and illustrations of movies, TV, and music. So sit back, enjoy some spiked eggnog, and enjoy to SFR’s 12-days of Christmas 2022! 🎅
A powerful story about overcoming fear and grief, SPOILER ALERT rips out your heart and tears it into a thousand pieces, just to show you that it is, in fact, possible to put it back together again.
Frankly, for the first half of the film, all I could think was: here we go again, another traumatic gay love story with two straight-passing, white men. But, I was pleasantly surprised by the latter half, which landed a gut-wrenching, but honest, climax and resolution.
Based on the autobiography by Michael Ausiello about his journey with his husband’s cancer diagnosis, this film succeeds because it does not seek to sensationalize or commercialize his story; instead, it seeks to bring life to a story about death. Jim Parsons and Ben Aldrige deliver sincere and subtle performances that give this movie a Hallmark charm. Although the pacing started to drag, Sally Field, as the mother-in-law, revives the energy and stakes with a fantastic and boisterous performance.
With its heart-wrenching writing, earnest ensemble work, and genuine depiction of queer love, this movie joins an elite group of post-modern romantic comedies (including SOMEONE GREAT and PALM SPRINGS) that do not glorify love but appreciate it.
I would recommend this movie the same way I recommend MARLEY & ME or BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN: cautiously and with forewarning of potential projectile sobbing.
Experience the emotional destruction of SPOILER ALERT now in theaters.
