by Josh Sewell
While I definitely miss the theatrical experience, until recently I haven’t seen anything during this never-ending pandemic that made me wish I’d watched it on the big screen. Heck, even when I ventured to the multiplex last month to check out Tenet, I walked back to my car praying I didn’t catch COVID for something that would’ve been fine to see on Blu-ray a few months later.
That changed with Spontaneous, which opened in limited release last weekend and hit VOD a few days ago. The witty, surprisingly poignant horror comedy from writer-director Brian Duffield (based on Aaron Starmer’s YA novel) is perfectly designed for late-night weekend screenings packed with teenagers. I actually got a little sad watching it on my laptop – not because the movie’s bad, but because I could just imagine sitting in a dark auditorium, speakers blasting and listening to the crowd laugh, scream and gasp around me.
The premise of Spontaneous sounds ridiculous on the surface. However, Duffield quickly establishes the metaphorical value and crafts several likeable characters to maximize the stakes and make the danger heartbreakingly realistic.
The movie centers on Mara (Katherine Langford), a high schooler who frequently breaks the fourth wall to narrate her literally explosive senior year. She’s sitting in class, bored out of her mind, when she drops her pencil. As she leans over to grab it, she hears a loud boom and horrified screams. When Mara sits up, she realizes one of her classmates has popped like a blood-filled balloon.
As law enforcement and scientists try to figure out what caused a normal teenage girl to blow up, Mara and her friends wonder if it was a one-time occurrence. Turns out it’s not – it happens again. And again. And again. With no idea what’s causing the explosions and no cure in sight, Mara falls hard for Dylan (Charlie Plummer), a kindhearted guy with a similar penchant for gallows humor. Both of them figure if they’re not guaranteed tomorrow, they might as well enjoy today.
With a plot that goofy, I expected Spontaneous to be a forgettable, direct-to-VOD casualty. Instead, what I got was a refreshingly unique coming-of-age tale that pays homage to dark teen comedies like Heathers and Scream, but also maintains a difficult balance between heart and biting humor that would make John Hughes proud.
Langford (the Australian actress best known for her work in the Netflix drama 13 Reasons Why and as part of the terrific ensemble casts of Love, Simon and Knives Out) is brilliant in her first cinematic leading role. She’s funny, but she can also break your heart. Plus, she looks like a teenage girl you’d meet in the real world, not the unrealistic Hollywood version. The tone of Spontaneous is tough to pull off, but she juggles it masterfully.
It helps that she’s got an equally capable costar in Plummer, who landed on my radar earlier this year with Words on Bathroom Walls, another strong YA flick. He’s got movie star looks, sure. But he’s also got an awkward, charmingly dorky demeanor that makes him seem approachable. Plummer and Langford have fantastic chemistry, making their characters feel like they could actually be friends – and eventually more – because they like each other, not because the script says they have to.
Hayley Law, who plays Mara’s BFF Tess, is also fantastic thanks to her deadpan delivery, while Rob Huebel and Piper Perabo get to play a refreshing version of parents you don’t normally see in teen flicks. They’re not dumb, they’re not deluded enough to believe their daughter is a saint, but they love her and trust her enough to let her make her own decisions and mistakes.
Perhaps the best compliment I can pay Spontaneous is that a small part of me was actually disappointed any time the movie returned to its main “exploding kids” plot. I could’ve watched two hours of these characters hanging out and being regular teenagers. They’re just plain fun to spend time with.
It’s a shame the flick didn’t get a big theatrical release that it’s worthy of. However, a movie like Spontaneous is destined to find an audience over time – quality doesn’t stay hidden for long. I highly recommend getting in on the ground floor of a future cult classic. Check it out on VOD this weekend. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
Spontaneous is rated R for teen drug and alcohol use, language and bloody images throughout.
Grade: B+
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| Courtesy of Paramount |
That changed with Spontaneous, which opened in limited release last weekend and hit VOD a few days ago. The witty, surprisingly poignant horror comedy from writer-director Brian Duffield (based on Aaron Starmer’s YA novel) is perfectly designed for late-night weekend screenings packed with teenagers. I actually got a little sad watching it on my laptop – not because the movie’s bad, but because I could just imagine sitting in a dark auditorium, speakers blasting and listening to the crowd laugh, scream and gasp around me.
The premise of Spontaneous sounds ridiculous on the surface. However, Duffield quickly establishes the metaphorical value and crafts several likeable characters to maximize the stakes and make the danger heartbreakingly realistic.
The movie centers on Mara (Katherine Langford), a high schooler who frequently breaks the fourth wall to narrate her literally explosive senior year. She’s sitting in class, bored out of her mind, when she drops her pencil. As she leans over to grab it, she hears a loud boom and horrified screams. When Mara sits up, she realizes one of her classmates has popped like a blood-filled balloon.
As law enforcement and scientists try to figure out what caused a normal teenage girl to blow up, Mara and her friends wonder if it was a one-time occurrence. Turns out it’s not – it happens again. And again. And again. With no idea what’s causing the explosions and no cure in sight, Mara falls hard for Dylan (Charlie Plummer), a kindhearted guy with a similar penchant for gallows humor. Both of them figure if they’re not guaranteed tomorrow, they might as well enjoy today.
With a plot that goofy, I expected Spontaneous to be a forgettable, direct-to-VOD casualty. Instead, what I got was a refreshingly unique coming-of-age tale that pays homage to dark teen comedies like Heathers and Scream, but also maintains a difficult balance between heart and biting humor that would make John Hughes proud.
Langford (the Australian actress best known for her work in the Netflix drama 13 Reasons Why and as part of the terrific ensemble casts of Love, Simon and Knives Out) is brilliant in her first cinematic leading role. She’s funny, but she can also break your heart. Plus, she looks like a teenage girl you’d meet in the real world, not the unrealistic Hollywood version. The tone of Spontaneous is tough to pull off, but she juggles it masterfully.
It helps that she’s got an equally capable costar in Plummer, who landed on my radar earlier this year with Words on Bathroom Walls, another strong YA flick. He’s got movie star looks, sure. But he’s also got an awkward, charmingly dorky demeanor that makes him seem approachable. Plummer and Langford have fantastic chemistry, making their characters feel like they could actually be friends – and eventually more – because they like each other, not because the script says they have to.
Hayley Law, who plays Mara’s BFF Tess, is also fantastic thanks to her deadpan delivery, while Rob Huebel and Piper Perabo get to play a refreshing version of parents you don’t normally see in teen flicks. They’re not dumb, they’re not deluded enough to believe their daughter is a saint, but they love her and trust her enough to let her make her own decisions and mistakes.
Perhaps the best compliment I can pay Spontaneous is that a small part of me was actually disappointed any time the movie returned to its main “exploding kids” plot. I could’ve watched two hours of these characters hanging out and being regular teenagers. They’re just plain fun to spend time with.
It’s a shame the flick didn’t get a big theatrical release that it’s worthy of. However, a movie like Spontaneous is destined to find an audience over time – quality doesn’t stay hidden for long. I highly recommend getting in on the ground floor of a future cult classic. Check it out on VOD this weekend. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
Spontaneous is rated R for teen drug and alcohol use, language and bloody images throughout.
Grade: B+
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