Spoiler Alert: Tragic Gay Love Story is Death-They-Do-Part Déjà Vu — Original Cin – Original Cin

Michael in Spoiler Alert is an agreeable if insecure sort. He was a fat kid, and still lives in his head in some sort of ‘80s/’90s sitcom, where all the horrible, dysfunctional things that go on with his family and his hellish school life come with an incongruous laugh-track. This gimmick is so jarringly removed from the events in Michael’s and Kit’s life, it all but brings the movie to a halt every time.

We don’t get to know that family. But Kit’s parents – to whom he has yet to come out – are an adorable white-bread couple (gamely played by Sally Field and Bill Irwin) whose job it is to demonstrate their unconditional love when the story calls for it.

Ultimately, Spoiler Alert is earnest, emotional, good-hearted and edgeless.

Spoiler Alert. Directed by Michael Showalter. Starring Jim Parsons, Ben Aldridge and Sally Field. Opens in theatres, Friday, December 9.