Film Review: SPIN ME ROUND: Good Actresses Get Caught Up in a Meandering Plot [SXSW 2022]

Spin Me Round Review

Spin Me Round (2022) Film Review from the 29th Annual South by Southwest Film Festival, a movie directed by Jeff Baena, written by Jeff Baena and Alison Brie and starring Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Tricia Helfer, Lauren Weedman, Debby Ryan, Lil Rel Howery, Fred Armisen, Alessandro Nivola, Zach Woods, Ayden Mayeri, Molly Shannon, Tim Heidecker, Jake Picking, Ego Nwodim and Ben Sinclair.

Spin Me Round has a basic premise that sounds great on paper. A California woman goes to Italy and finds herself immersed in weird situations that get stranger the more the picture goes on. It seemed like an idea for a can’t miss dark comedy. Jeff Baena is the director of Spin Me Round and while I haven’t given a recommendation to any of his previous films (which include 2014’s Life After Beth), I really wanted to like this new picture. However, despite featuring an interesting cast, the new movie doesn’t live up to the potential that the premise suggested it could have.

Alison Brie stars as Amber who works as a manager for an Italian restaurant known as Tuscan Grove (any similarities to Olive Garden are purely coincidental, I’m sure). She is told by her boss (Lil Rel Howery) that she can go on an all expenses paid trip to Italy for professional enrichment. Amber’s female friend/roommate (Ego Nwodim) tells her it will be a great experience. It all sounds perfect until she gets there and the “enrichment” consists of less than stellar living arrangements and spending time in a boring conference room.

Other people have been selected for this experience as well, including the quirky Deb (Molly Shannon) whose luggage was lost at the airport. Enter Nick (Alessandro Nivola) who is the head honcho of Tuscan Grove. He immediately shows interest in Amber because she resembles his sister as he tells his assistant Kat (a Jeff Baena film regular, Aubrey Plaza, who is also Baena’s wife). We then get some interesting interaction between Amber and Nick on a yacht.

Amber and Kat share some time together as well as they go riding around town and drinking. These moments give Brie and Plaza some moments to shine as actresses and they play off each other with remarkable precision. The plot thickens as other managers from Amber’s group start disappearing, though, and the movie reveals some crazy scenarios throughout. This trip that Amber embarked on always seemed too good to be true and the movie slowly displays the intentions of the characters, particularly those of Nick.

I was disappointed that Kat disappears from the action and the movie gets bogged down in heavy scenes that have odd revelations. I won’t give anything away but this film also features a seemingly Eyes Wide Shut-inspired sex scene that kind of helps sum some of it up: Wealthy people can be perverts. There are other topics touched upon here that were certainly unexpected but to avoid more spoilers, I’ll leave them for you to discover.

The supporting cast is in fine form. There are too many actors on board here to single them all out but Ben Sinclair intrigues playing group leader Craig who, for some odd reason, collects people’s passports. Zach Woods gets some prominent screen time in this picture as well playing a key character named Dana who works extremely well for the plot. Woods gets some moments to truly shine as a result. Shannon is also particularly well cast as the peculiar, but intriguing, Deb who yearns for some passion in her life. Fred Armisen and Tricia Helfer as a couple of swingers also stand out.

Alison Brie is decent in her role. She brings a sense of humor to her character who is mostly relatable as she seems like she is the only normal person in the picture at times. However, Brie doesn’t sufficiently carry the movie through to its conclusion. That may be the reason the film has so many characters. I’m sure Brie could carry a movie on her own but this isn’t that picture.

While Spin Me Round can certainly keep your interest at times, it’s ultimately too weird for its own good. Baena is a unique filmmaker and it’s hard to hold a grudge against him for trying to do something different. But, Spin Me Round is ultimately too oddball to appeal to the majority of mainstream moviegoers though it could find an audience of people who have been to Italy themselves and will admire the film’s use of its locations.

Rating: 6/10

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