Spoiler Alert
Focus Features | Release Date: December 2, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerDec 8, 2022
Spoiler Alert is at its best when it's not afraid to be mawkish, sentimental, soppy, honest, and downright charming. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonDec 8, 2022
Just in time for the holidays, director Michael Showalter has gifted viewers with a good old-fashioned tearjerker, one that earns its tears without resorting to a brute force assault on your heartstrings. Spoiler Alert operates with a lot of humor and more than a little grace. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 7, 2022
Director Showalter (who mined similar territory in “The Big Sick,” one of the best movies of 2017) and screenwriters David Marshall Grant and Dan Savage display a deft touch for blending wry humor with heartfelt drama, and Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge have a natural and comfortable chemistry in a story that hits a lot of familiar notes but contains some creatively clever devices while packing, yes, a whole lot of heart. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyPatrick GomezDec 2, 2022
Anchored by the ridiculously charming Aldridge's chemistry with Parsons (distant but effective in comparison), Spoiler Alert defies expectations throughout, refusing to adhere to one genre or storytelling convention. Read full review
60
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaDec 8, 2022
Real-life tragic romance Spoiler Alert is kneecapped by the plainness of its storytelling, and only marginally saved by its performances. Read full review
50
IndieWireDavid EhrlichNov 28, 2022
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. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshDec 1, 2022
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. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreDec 13, 2022
By the time the interminable finale reaches, over-reaches and gracelessly makes its exit, we’ve lost track of anything we found sweet, funny, charming or touching that came before it. Read full review
63
ObserverEmily ZemlerDec 2, 2022
Dan Savage adapted Ausiello’s 2017 book with David Marshall Grant, and the resulting screenplay is cute, weepy and unfortunately lacking in chemistry. Read full review
50
Original-CinJim SlotekDec 6, 2022
Ultimately, Spoiler Alert is earnest, emotional, good-hearted and edgeless. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comKatie RifeDec 9, 2022
This is a nice film. A sweet film. A film you can watch with your mother-in-law. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisNov 28, 2022
Both Parsons and Aldridge surrender to the material, and we are moved as Kit and Michael come to a deeper understanding and appreciation of their love for each other. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubManuel BetancourtNov 28, 2022
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. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckDec 6, 2022
At times Spoiler Alert feels like an edgy, clever film that plays wittily on the main character’s lifelong obsession with TV. At others, it feels like a more formulaic, holiday-themed tearjerker — the passing years are marked in a Christmas card montage! — that wrings our tears in unsubtle ways. Read full review
80
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rachel HoDec 14, 2022
What struck me most about Spoiler Alert was its nuanced look at a loving relationship. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJan 26, 2023
Ineffective leading duo and rote script hamper otherwise affecting true story of a couple tackling terminal illness Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyNov 28, 2022
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. Read full review
50
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonDec 2, 2022
The film is strongest when it falls silent, allowing the actors to communicate their thoughts with a look. Read full review
40
TheWrapDan CallahanNov 28, 2022
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. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeNov 28, 2022
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. Read full review
75
Washington PostKristen Page-KirbyDec 6, 2022
Ultimately, the movie tells a story about two lives: complicated, filled with both love and pain, but well and fully lived. Read full review
90
We Got This CoveredErielle SudarioFeb 2, 2023
Spoiler Alert is a film that tells a story of a not-so-perfect relationship that will make you laugh, cry, and feel like you're part of Michael and Kit's life. Read full review
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