X
- 2020
- R
- Paramount+
- 1 h 41 m
- 2020
- R
- Paramount+
- 1 h 41 m
Summary When students in their high school begin inexplicably exploding (literally…), seniors Mara (Katherine Langford) and Dylan (Charlie Plummer) struggle to survive in a world where each moment may be their last. As an unexpected romance blossoms between them, Mara and Dylan discover that when tomorrow is no longer promised, they can finally ...
Directed By: Brian Duffield
Written By: Aaron Starmer, Brian Duffield
- 2020
- R
- Paramount+
- 1 h 41 m
- 2020
- R
- Paramount+
- 1 h 41 m
Spontaneous
78
6.5
Where to Watch
Summary When students in their high school begin inexplicably exploding (literally…), seniors Mara (Katherine Langford) and Dylan (Charlie Plummer) struggle to survive in a world where each moment may be their last. As an unexpected romance blossoms between them, Mara and Dylan discover that when tomorrow is no longer promised, they can finally ...
Directed By: Brian Duffield
Written By: Aaron Starmer, Brian Duffield
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
78
100% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
78
100% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
It’s funny as hell in a drive-in splatter movie kind of way, smart and insightful and respectful in its depiction of modern-day teens, brimming with sly and satiric social commentary — and legitimately profound.
This debut feature from writer-director Brian Duffield (best known for his screenplays for Underwater, The Babysitter and Jane Got a Gun) has plenty of gallows humour to leaven the gore and tragedy, and plenty of subtexts swimming under the surface like glittering, metaphorical koi.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 47 User Ratings
6.5
62% Positive
29 Ratings
29 Ratings
17% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
21% Negative
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 47 User Ratings
6.5
62% Positive
29 Ratings
29 Ratings
17% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
21% Negative
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
Funny, poignant and thought provoking. Caught me by surprise. One of the best movies I have seen in quite some time. It does an amazing job of reminding us that none of us are guaranteed the next minute and that life can be unfair and at times inscrutable but it is the only life we have. This movie moved me and made me want to be a better person. That is rare in movies today.
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I'm slightly shocked by the lowish score I see here. Perhaps because the movie shifts times dramatically about halfway through from a horror/comedy/drama to romance to full drama. This normally would probably have been tough for me to enjoy as well but the performance by Katherine Langford was so believable that I was hooked until the end. I honestly don't think I've totally believed an actor WAS that character so much before (could be biased as I found her ridiculously cute in the film). Sure the ending not explaining why it all happened was a let down, but by that point I was more invested in Mara anyway.
Really great film in my opinion with some superb acting and a whole rainbow of emotions and tones. Definitely worth a watch!
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Making his feature directorial debut (he's written such screenplays as Insurgent and Underwater), writer/director Duffield expertly handles the complex tonal shifts, keeping us on edge even as we're laughing. We're also thoroughly engrossed in the main characters' fates, thanks to the witty, perceptive dialogue and the two leads, who bring an unforced, charming naturalism to their performances.
Bloody good.
Whenever Spontaneous starts to run out of imaginative juice, it turns a tonal corner and either puts a smile on your face or wipes it off.
Bloody, fun and achingly heartfelt, Spontaneous presents a clever and original story about life, love and how suddenly things can change.
Spontaneous allows Langford’s Mara, blasé swagger incarnate, and Plummer’s stealth charmer enough unaffected sincerity to make it stick. Onto that sticky stuff, the script applies comforting reminders: Stuff happens. We don’t know how long we have. Seize the day.
Awesome, original teen flick about kids that start to explode senior year is charming, hilarious, a little scary and wonderfully refreshing. Starring Katheryn Langford (Love Simon) as a young woman who finds love with a charming loner played by a charming Charlie Plummer during this odd epidemic. The movie treats it's subject matter in a very genuine, smart way so it's never a full horror tinged comedy but more of a horrible event happening to funny people. Engaging and edge of your seat, its definitely one of the year's best films.
****.5/5
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It was fun and certainly original, although it tends to repeat itself and sadly has two elements that largely prevented me from giving it a higher rating.
One is the fatalistic tone that the plot includes in relation to the teen experience and the other is how much its protagonist tries to be "the sardonic, cool girl".
If you're going to be petulant, you need to have a solid personality, but Katherine Langford's character definitely thinks that her attitude makes her more interesting, but it doesn't.
And believe it or not, Spontaneous is a love story and perhaps the situation of its plot makes it different and more interesting because of how bloody and unexpected the situation is, but ultimately the teaching it portrays of how we can die at any second cannot avoid certain conventional patterns.
This film s a directorial debut so the mistakes are understandable, it goes without saying this film lacked more strength in its orientation, but despite the aforementioned flaws, it entertained me long enough to get 3 stars out of me. But I still believe the film deserved a better lead character.
Behaving like a jerk, just because you can, doesn't make you cool, just **** annoying.
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The movie is so boring for me. It doesn't have any intense scenes or a scene that's very interesting. And Mara's acting is a bit annoying. It's just kinda eye-catching for potential movie viewers at first when you see the clips where there are a lot of people blowing up, but other than that it's a pretty boring movie. I'm sorry, not my cup of tea.
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Started off as a pretty good movie but I can't stand when a movie goes political out of nowhere. The movie just interjects liberal bs after liberal bs into the movie. I liked the vibe of the movie, but all the political junk had no logical place in the movie. Just some Democrat directors ruining the movie for nothing. Don't buy or rent this just gives support to bleeding heart liberal directors.
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Awards
New Zealand Cinematographers Society
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Critics Choice Super Awards
• 1 Nomination
Leo Awards
• 1 Nomination
