'Spin Me Round' Review: A Great Cast In A Lukewarm Quirk-Fest [SXSW 2022]
By the time the aptly titled ‘Spin me Round’ stops spinning, audiences aren’t quite sure what movie they just watched.
Searching for a gem during festival season can be a daunting task, as many of them are not the hidden diamond-in-the-rough they hope to be. It’s a lottery at best, determining which screening you can catch, and often sacrificing one you really wanted to see because your schedule is so jammed. When Spin Me Round was announced at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, it seemed as close to a guarantee as you could get to a memorable comedic experience. It had the comedic pedigree of former Community and Glow star Alison Brie behind the script. Her cowriter, Jeff Baena is no stranger to indy-comedies either, having written several including I Heart Huckabees. Baena and Brie have worked together before in Horse Girl, and clearly enjoyed the experience.
In front of the camera is an absolute treasure trove of comedic talent, including Brie as Amber, a regional manager for a chain of restaurants not dissimilar to the ‘Italian authenticity’ of the Olive Garden. The owner of Amber’s location (Lil Rey Howery) tells Amber she’s been chosen as one of the lucky managers to attend a management course in Italy, studying the culture and eating delicious food all while staying at a charming and authentic villa. To her surprise, when Amber arrives, the trip is as authentic as the gluttonous alfredo sauce they plop onto the plate at her restaurant; depressing and tasteless. She and her fellow ‘lucky’ management team members also discover they aren’t even allowed to leave the roach motel they’re locked into unless it’s a supervised visit into town, and suddenly this dream opportunity seems like a nightmare.
The sad thing is, where the film began to get rolling in terms of the comedic roller-coaster was it’s first sign of weakness. The rest of the cast should have led to the exciting loops and butterfly inducing drops in the ride, but instead they came off like a rusty bolt indicating what’s to possibly come. With the combined talents of SNL alum Molly Shannon, Ego Nwodim and Fred Armison, the improv mastery of Tim Heidecker and the seasoned sitcom resume of Zach Woods and Aubrey Plaza (who also happens to be married to Baena), it felt as if you could hand them instructions to IKEA furniture and those gifted comedians could make it funny. Sadly, this wasn’t the case. Granted Plaza’s character, Kat, was played more for sexually charged mystery than laughs, but many of the other characters were meant to be the over-the-top awkward caricatures surrounding Brie’s more centered Amber, and the simply did not work. They were a distraction more than anything. This may be why Brie and Plaza’s characters stand out, they were really the only ones not playing things for laughs. There’s often more strength in a comedic performance when it’s not forced, and many of the characters the cast were given were extremely forced, and you felt like you had seen a version of all of them before. This was a major fault of Brie and Baena’s writing, and yet another predominant reason why the film felt incongruous.
It seemed as if the audience was supposed to root for Amber, but the film was not crystal clear on why… was this trip for her to feel reinvigorated in life? Was she supposed to find love? Was she supposed to discover that this career is not who she really is? In fact, it may have been all of those, but combined with the distractions of the collection of quirks the rest of the cast were force-feeding us, the film, and Amber’s story became less and less appetizing.
Admittedly, the story does have some intriguing twists if you choose to ignore the little nuggets of non-comedy. When Amber and the rest of the lucky management training team meet the kingpin of tasteless Americanized Italian food, Nick Martucci, it arguably hooks you for the first time. Fresh off another stellar and subtle dark comedic performance in Art of Self Defense, Alessandro Nivola plays Nick, seemingly finding his niche as a self-assured seedy leader in these independent comedies. Nick was one of the only characters who was meant to be funny, and was successful in doing so, and that goes back to the original point; Nivola rarely played Nick for laughs. We all know people who think they know everything, and we’ve seen people who hide behind money and success to sound more important than they are. As Nick begins to seduce Amber, the story was at it’s strongest level of intrigue, as we knew deep down there was something wrong with the situation, and eagerly awaited the reveal. The dynamic between the trio of Brie, Plaza and Nivola should have been the focus all along.
It became even more intriguing when Nick, of course, acts increasingly suspicious and off-putting. This was the major point of investment in Amber’s well-being, and Brie is very good at playing a character overwhelmed or put off by awkward situations surrounding her. The only time Amber feels comfortable was when she was with Kat, and the potential romance between the two women is yet another moment that the writers should have latched on to. Instead, it was just that, a mere moment. The remaining third act was an absolute mess. The plot became unhinged, any meaningful connection Amber had with any other character was lost. Predominantly, it felt as if Brie and Baena weren’t sure what movie they were making. Sure, it was comedic in a sense, but in the third act it shifted tone so often that, even reaching outside genres like thriller and mystery to the point of absurdity. There was not enough set up throughout the film to support any of the big moments in the climax, and many of the twists and turns simply fell flat.
The largest disservice was Plaza’s Kat was never seen or heard from again. There was no closure at all with that particular subplot. While the true conclusion to the film does show an arc for Amber, it simply wasn’t enough, especially with how big and ludicrous the climax was forged to be.
With such star power behind them, when Beana and Brie truly find their voice as creators and have a much more streamlined script, it is going to end up being something special, but as of right now, they need to be less ambitious and streamline their efforts.