‘Spoiler Alert’ features Parsons in a new role

Above: Jim Parsons stars in the movie "Spoiler Alert," which opens Friday. (Photo/Focus Features)

If you know the name Jim Parsons, it’s likely because of the sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.”

For 12 seasons, Parsons played Sheldon Cooper, a brilliant physicist whose social presence is … well, let’s just say he’s a bit awkward. Or as some people like to say, he’s on the spectrum.

Since the sitcom wrapped, though, Parsons has gone on to other things, including appearing in the 2020 remake of “The Boys in the Band” (which was based on a Broadway revival that featured Parsons in the cast).

Now Parsons is starring in “Spoiler Alert,” a movie directed by Michael Showalter and adapted from Michael Ausiello’s nonfiction book “Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies.” The movie opens Friday.

Parsons plays Ausiello while Ben Aldridge plays his partner Kit Cowan, who died in 2015 from a rare form of cancer. Sally Field stars as Cowan’s mother.

Patrick Gomez of Entertainment Weekly wrote, “Showalter ultimately succeeds because he never loses focus of the heart at the core of his story.”

Randy Myers of the San Jose Mercury News wrote, “It’s heartfelt, genuine, funny and yes, terribly sad but it also celebrates love and life, even when it’s dealing with a tragic illness.”

Amy Nicholson of the New York Times was less enthusiastic. “A bigger problem,” she wrote, “is that the so-called sincere dialogue is either blunter than a soap opera (‘It’s his mother. He told her not to come. I’ve never even met the woman.’) or hammier than a Hawaiian pizza (‘Hey honey, I’m cancer! I mean, I’m home!’)”

I wonder, though, what Sheldon Cooper thinks.