Sometimes the tone is a little too cute but Showalter and his writers have a persuasive ability to defuse the looming threat of sentimentality with comedy.

Spoiler Alert is a delightfully effective melodrama, one that pulls few punches and isn’t afraid of wearing a plethora of emotions out in the open for all to see.

This is a nice film. A sweet film. A film you can watch with your mother-in-law.

This could easily have become a cynical and manipulative tear-jerker. However, director Michael Showalter nimbly avoids mawkishness in much the same way he did with The Big Sick, and the result is both tongue-in-cheek and touching.