Ben Aldridge | Scott's Film Reviews-1,425 + Reviews posted so far!!!

Spoiler Alert-2022

Director Michael Showalter

Starring Jim Parsons, Ben Aldridge, Sally Field

Scott’s Review #1,399

Reviewed September 15, 2023

Grade: A-

Spoiler Alert (2022) comes dangerously close to being classified as a Hallmark Television Movie of the Week tearjerker with standard cliches and a predictable storyline. While the ending is no surprise the film works incredibly well and fires on all cylinders.

I laughed, cried, and felt an enormous connection to the central characters in what could become a seasonal holiday watch.

I recently reviewed another film that on the surface sounded saccharin and contrived but pulled me in nonetheless. The lesson learned is not to make assumptions about the quality of films.

The direction is conventional but the story and characters absorbing and heartwarming with spectacular acting, especially among the two lead actors, Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge. An added gift is the appearance of Sally Field in a supporting role as an overbearing but lovable mom.

In 2001, Michael Ausiello (Parsons), a writer for TV Guide, begrudgingly goes to a gay nightclub with his best friend in Manhattan. There, he meets photographer Kit Cowan (Ben Aldridge), and the two instantly connect.

As they begin dating, Michael struggles with insecurities about not being attractive enough for Kit, since he was an overweight child. Kit is athletic and good-looking, oozing confidence. Michael was a ridiculed kid watching soap operas with his mother and creating a pretend sitcom family.

He also overindulges in the Smurfs collection.

They both admit their fears of being in a long-term relationship since neither of them has been in one before, but they decide to continue dating.

Hurdles then plague the couple as Kit must come out to his parents, Bob (Bill Irwin), and Marilyn (Field), to explain who Michael is, and ultimately they all must face Kit’s stage IV cancer diagnosis.

I recognize how Spoiler Alert doesn’t possess the most original screenplay, written by David Marshall Grant and LGBTQ+ advocate Dan Savage and based on a story written by real-life Michael Ausiello.

The tried and true story point of a gay male character struggling to come out to his parents has been done for decades in LGBTQ+ films.

The insecure partner feels inferior to the more confident partner and it affects their relationship story point has also been before. Michael is convinced that Kit will dump him for someone else.

Hell, we’ve seen both of these cliches as recently as 2022 in Bros. a fantastic LGBTQ+ mainstream film that used both.

In Spoiler Alert they work because of Parsons and Aldridge and the chemistry they have together and the nuanced delivery of the characters separately.

While they each want love and a relationship neither is desperate. As they banter back and forth Michael awkwardly removes his clothes during their first intimacy the actors playfully frolic immediately at ease with one another.

Many cute scenes follow.

Events then grow serious as we move beyond Kit’s uneven coming out to his parents (of course they embrace Kit and Michael instantly!) and dive headfirst into Kit’s cancer battle.

The film makes no secret that Kit will die of cancer. It’s practically shown in the opening scene as he and Michael lie in a hospital bed together and Michael narrates the story.

It’s called Spoiler Alert for a reason. But instead of ruining the film it only enhances the love story to come. We know that Kit and Michael become soul mates and the pleasure is watching them grow and flourish together.

Since Michael’s mother, and presumed best friend, died of cancer only strengthens the investment in the character.

As Kit becomes weaker, my fondness for the two men becomes stronger. The maturity and love for one another are apparent especially when Michael selflessly invites a man whom Kit had an affair with to say goodbye to Kit.

It’s a touching scene but not as touching as the scene where Michael and Kit’s parents sob over Kit’s hospital bed.

Yes, Spoiler Alert (2022) may have manipulated me with a conventional film but Parsons and Aldridge have better chemistry than most opposite-sex couples.

I thoroughly enjoyed my way through the film without dry eyes.

Knock at the Cabin-2023

Director M. Night Shyamalan

Starring Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge

Scott’s Review #1,361

Reviewed May 14, 2023

Grade: B+

Most M. Night Shyamalan films follow a pattern in which there is either a twist ending or a thought-provoking message to stew over during and following the film. They also include a supernatural element. That’s why his films intrigue and keep certain audiences coming back for more.

The director’s films are never boring and his fascination with the odd and macabre aspects of life is contagious.

Knock at the Cabin (2023) is just such a film with a suspenseful premise immediately eliciting intrigue if the trailers do it justice. An isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere is the perfect setting for a horror film as the character’s vulnerability is evident.

The film is based on a 2018 novel called The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul G. Tremblay.

Featuring the impressive inclusivity of a white male same-sex couple with a young adopted Asian daughter got my attention immediately. Much credit to those involved for straying from the tried and true and risking the label of a ‘gay movie’.

Married couple Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge) are happily vacationing at a remote cabin in rural Pennsylvania with their daughter Wen (Kristen Cui). One day, while collecting grasshoppers Wen is approached by a hulking man named Leonard (Dave Bautista) who befriends her.

When Leonard and his friends take the family hostage they demand that the family make an unthinkable choice to avert an apocalypse. At first, thinking the group is psychotic, the family slowly starts to question what is real and what is not while the clock rapidly ticks toward doomsday.

The win with Knock at the Cabin is there is not a dull moment during the one hour and forty minutes running time. Shyamalan uses lots of closeup camera work that keeps the level of peril at a maximum.

Within the first few minutes, a gleeful Wen goes from chattering with her grasshoppers to suspiciously eyeing the approaching Leonard. The audience sees him in the background and it’s a powerful moment of apprehension.

Who is this hulking behemoth and why is he coming to her family’s cabin? Wen and the audience ask the same questions.

Soon the perspective shifts to the other characters led by Andrew and Eric. Though armed, the strangers seem nice enough. There is a nurse named Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird) and a young mother named Adriane (Abby Quinn). Sure, there is a convict named Redmond (Rupert Grint) but he seems reformed.

The couple ponders whether the strangers have innocently fallen into some weird message board cult or are completely nuts. Through the use of backstory scenes, the audience learns that Andrew and Eric have not always had it easy being shunned by Andrew’s parents and harassed in a bar.

Could the strangers be targeting them for their lifestyle and trying to cause them harm?

Leonard makes them watch footage of the apocalyptic destruction commencing but is the footage real or staged?

The thrilling aspect of Knock at the Cabin is the audience asks the same questions that Eric and Andrew do. As far-fetched as it seems should they believe the strangers? Would you have your significant other or child sacrificed to save the world?

I’m not sure if the conclusion paid off for me or if I completely understood the wrap-up but I adore the strong message of love and connection. I was anticipating more of an ‘aha’ moment or something more powerful.

While none of his subsequent films have matched his masterpiece breakthrough The Sixth Sense (1999) they each have enough mustard to warrant a viewing.

Knock at the Cabin (2023) offers a wonderful dose of diversity that makes the experience timely, relevant, and meaningful. A subpar ending only slightly hampers what is otherwise a thrill ride.

I’ll immediately think of this film if ever I am in a cabin in the middle of the woods.