PLOT: A woman wins an all-expenses trip to a company’s gorgeous “institute” outside of Florence. She also gets the chance to meet the restaurant chain’s wealthy and charismatic owner. She finds a different adventure than the one she imagined.
REVIEW: Spin Me Round is Jeff Baena‘s latest outing in the world of off-beat comedy and he’s brought many of his usual collaborators along for the ride. So is it just as weird and off-kilter as the rest of his filmography? What starts as a standard romantic comedy slowly devolves into a weird mystery. Baena has always had a knack for off-kilter comedies and here he feels like he’s at the absolute height of his talents. So if you’ve enjoyed the rest of Baena’s work, it’s hard to imagine this would be any different.
The story is fun: Alison Brie’s Amber is a manager for an American restaurant chain and works extremely hard. Her hard work is noticed as she’s sent on an all-expenses paid trip to Italy, where she’ll be attending a culinary arts program. But unfortunately when she gets there, it’s far from the lavish Italian getaway she thought it would be. Brie even gets called away to meet the handsome head of the program and rich entrepreneur, Nick (Nivola). There’s something dark about his presence right from the jump. Then, coupled with Amber’s desperation, it feels like a recipe for disaster.
Where Spin Me Round most impresses is in its cast. Not only are Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza and Alessandro Nivola phenomenal but as are the supporting players. Molly Shannon, Debby Ryan, Tim Heidecker and Fred Armisen round out the cast and each provide some really great moments. Nearly every scene, I was left going “Holy crap, THEY’RE in this movie?” But no one stands out more than Molly Shannon, who provides a hilariously on-the-nose performance. It got to the point where I was anxiously awaiting her character to return to the story. There’s a really funny moment where Lauren Weedman is lamenting the fact that, because she’s older, she’s no longer being sexually harassed by Italians. The way she describes it with such reverie is quite possibly my favorite moment from the film.
Aubrey Plaza plays Nivola’s handler and she really gives the movie a bit of chaotic energy. The way she just meanders through her duties, tells you she’s done this a thousand times, which brings a feeling of unease. She’s just as important to the whole reveal as any other aspect, even in the smallest of ways. When Nivola is then opening up to Brie, it’s hard not to imagine Plaza just sitting there, mouthing everything he’s saying, showing just how disingenuous he really is. But the fact that she entirely disappears from the film at one point feels very odd. It’s one of many reasons that her character practically feels like a figment of Brie’s imagination.
Most of Spin Me Round‘s runtime, I had no clue what the film was trying to be. This is intentional, with Brie’s Eat Pray Love trip having devious undertones from the onset. Is this really a fancy cooking program, or is the man in charge doing dark things to the guests? It’s an interesting question that I found myself pondering throughout. The best part is, Baena and Brie (who co-wrote the script together) make sure to stretch this mystery out, and the reveal plays out in an absurdly satisfying way.
Being a massive fan of dark comedies, Jeff Baena is a name I’m always excited to see pop up. Here is no different as he and his co-writer Alison Brie have brought a unique and entertaining film that manages to both parody films like it, while also carving out a path of its own. There’s a lot to like about Spin Me Round, but my biggest recommendation is to go in with no expectations. Letting the film play out, without trying to get too far ahead of it, provides a very satisfying experience.
Spin Me Round is IN THEATERS, ON DEMAND AND STREAMING ON AMC+