'Spontaneous'

"Spontaneous" may be the best teen-oriented black comedy since 1989's "Heathers."

That might sound really specific, and perhaps it is, though I've seen slews of "Heathers"-esque films in the intervening decades. Maybe Cory Finley's "Thoroughbreds" is a little better, but I had a lot higher expectations for that film. "Spontaneous" is more like a land mine; I didn't see it coming.

We might have suspected something because the leads were of uncommon quality. Charlie Plummer is going to have a Leonardo DiCaprio-style career if those remain available in a disrupted Hollywood. Katherine Langford is exceptional in "Knives Out." First-time director Brian Duffield is an unknown quantity, but his source material, Aaron Starmer's 2016 young adult novel of the same title, is well regarded. Still, I had no idea.

It kicks off with a literal boom, as random high school seniors suddenly begin to spontaneously combust. No one can say why. No one can predict who's next. A sense of urgency grips Dylan (Plummer) who confesses his love for sassy cynic Maya (Langford). They become lovers in a dangerous time, as more and more of their friends begin to inexplicably blow up.

Of course, they joke about it. What else are they going to do while they wait for (sound familiar?) government scientists to find a cure? All the seniors are quarantined and poked and prodded and studied. While Dylan and Maya lean into eat-drink-and-be-merry mode, some of their peers descend into perpetual mourning, while others pretend (sound familiar?) that nothing has changed in their lives. As ridiculous as the situation seems, Duffield is able to find genuine poignancy in the heightened uncertainty of these young people. While the film never becomes morbid -- its key feature is the way Langford and Plummer play off each other -- it is sensitive.

For the most part, the movie is clear-eyed and even brave but wilts a little when it offers up "live life to the fullest" cliches. The more specific and focused it is on the details of these kids'provisional lives, the better it is, the more we feel its relevance to our own uncertain times. It's probably best received as I received it, with relatively low expectations.

But the more I think about it, the more I believe in my lede.