Mark Reviews Movies: SPIN ME ROUND

Spin Me Roud, IFC Films

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | August 18, 2022

Director Jeff Baena and star Alison Brie's screenplay for Spin Me Round amounts to a broad premise in search of some kind of narrative and comedic form. The setup involves putting a group of eccentric characters together on an Italian getaway that isn't anything like any of them hoped to have—and might be far weirder or more sinister than they could have imagined. That's a solid enough concept, but there's an aimlessness to this story that keeps its comedy, as well as its purpose, at a decided distance.

The plot revolves around Brie's Amber, the manager of a California franchise of a popular chain of Italian restaurants (There's little mistaking the real-life one from which the movie gets its inspiration). She has worked at this place for nearly a decade, save for a brief break when she attempted to open a restaurant of her own with a boyfriend, who took her money and ran. Since then, Amber has become complacent about her career and her non-existent love life.

Her boss (played by Lil Rel Howery) has arranged for Amber to attend an exclusive learning experience for the chain's best managers at the CEO's villa in Italy. Having never been to Europe (or much of anywhere, for that matter), Amber is thrilled for the trip, and while watching a commercial featuring company CEO Nick (Alessandro Nivola), she admits to her roommate (played by Ego Nwodim) that part of the thrill is that she's secretly harboring some hope for romance on her Italian vacation.

The main gag here is that the chain's "institute" experience, much like the company's food (pre-packaged, doused in sauce from a plastic bag, and cooked in a microwave), isn't exactly as advertised. Craig (Ben Sinclair), the group's chauffer and supervisor, has a creepy way of filming everyone and everything, and the only adventures the group can participate in are ones arranged as field trips. The van from the airport passes the idyllic villa from all the brochures in order to drop off Amber and her fellow students at a generic motel, where hers is a scenic view of a row of garbage bins.

Amber's classmates are an odd bunch, too. Among them are Deb (Molly Shannon), whose suitcase is lost by the airline and who takes Amber's invitation to borrow some of her clothes as a sign of deep friendship, and Dana (Zach Woods), who is obsessed to an uncomfortable degree with the chain restaurant, and Fran (Tim Heidecker), who once appeared on a TV cooking competition and thinks he knows better than everyone else (Ayden Mayeri and Debby Ryan play the mostly undefined final pair in the class). That the two men have gender-neutral names comes across as a cheap joke at first, but the semi-payoff to it at least lets us know that Baena and Brie have had some notion of a plot from the start.

That doesn't feel like the case for most of this movie, which invests itself in the curiosities of its extensive cast, only to dismiss them for a whirlwind romance between Amber and Nick. He's as handsome and charming as advertised, which means we keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. That joke has to do with a woman of whom Amber reminds him. Without giving away the dark gag, it's a bit strange that Amber starts focusing on the strange behavior of Nick's assistant Kat (Aubrey Plaza, having obvious fun), the suspicion that the CEO is a womanizer, and the fear that all of this is some sort of elaborate kidnapping scheme instead of the obvious red flag that Nick hands her.

This story slowly begins to tease us with the elements of a mystery and a thriller, as Amber investigates what Kat and/or Nick are up to with her and the other women, as well as how it all connects with some other eccentrics (Fred Armisen plays an egocentric artist, and that's the extent of the joke). As with the names of the two male students, the screenplay inserts some foreshadowing—a warning about wild boars and a discussion of a local pornography industry—that proves the screenwriting duo know the final punch line from the start.

It's the central joke's shaggy, wandering setup that prevents us from seeing much of a point to the payoff beyond the obvious shock value. Spin Me Round has the relaxed air of a vacation without any specific plans or objectives. That's a fine goal for the participants to enjoy themselves, but as a means of making a comedy, it's a dead end.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products