Spontaneous

I like this kind of premises, they deprive the characters of their ontological certainty and force them to deal with that in some way or another, something very appropriate for this year in particular. That said, the ace of this film are the two protagonists, they have such great chemistry that I think could enjoy their high-school romance even without the spontaneously exploding classmates. Unfortunately, the last act loses direction and doesn’t match the quality of the previous sixty minutes. The epilogue is good, though. (14/12/2020)

If you like high school comedies and unlikely romances between an outsider and a nice girl who’s not a prickly prima-dona, Spontaneous will give you both, plus a bloody plot with a concept that ranges from the great to the unsurprising all the way to the helpless. Director Brian Duffiled does a decent job and, especially in the first half, delivers an ingeniously executed dose of entertainment, while the two protagonists are also great in their moderation, and their nerdy movie quotes (they mention E.T. and, of course, David Cronenberg, the uncrowned king of exploding heads) are brilliant, too. Unfortunately, the last act doesn’t manage to bring together all the sketched motifs and ends up being a very routine rip-off of generic psychological probes into the torn teenage soul that doesn’t know how to keep its own shape. Katherine Langford is great, though, and if the film managed to stay on the wave of the original narrative style of the first half, it would be one of the best high school comedies ever – and with exploding heads to boot. 65% (15/10/2020)

At first, this seemed like a film that I would rate highly, but the likably cynical main character gradually turned out to be more of a poser, the mix of genres didn't help it either, and there was too much melodrama about true American values towards the end, so two stars it is. (04/07/2021)