Spin Me Round Movie Review

If you want to watch a movie that uses, badly might I add, old worn-out, stale jokes from films that have come before, then I suggest you take the time to watch what writers Baena and Brie have to offer you here. It’s precisely what you’ve been looking for.

I had high hopes for what a movie with a cast like this would offer. I’ve seen some stinkers in my day, but this has got to be the worst yet. With Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Alessandro Nivola, Zach Woods, Fred Armisen, Lil Rel Howery and Molly Shannon, how can you go wrong?! Well, Baena found a way to disappoint.

The awful of it all definitely came from decisions he made while directing, but I fear a lot of the blame lands on the script he and Brie thought was polished enough to turn into a movie. Had they spent more time on the plot, instead of throwing everything against the wall to see what stuck and shoving those things into a scene, perhaps it could have been something worth watching. As it is, the only good thing about “Spin Me Round” is “I’m Not in Love” by 10cc, a great tune played during the closing credits. I love that song. I genuinely applaud you if you make it that far into the film.

The premise is that Amber (Brie), the manager of a restaurant called Tuscan Grove, an Olive Garden-type restaurant, is chosen to go on a unique retreat to Pisa, Italy. There, she’ll get to meet Nick (Nivola), the CEO and founder of Tuscan Grove. Amber will also learn some new cooking techniques and meet other managers from across the country. Having not been out much in her life, she can’t wait to get to Italy. Her friend, played by Ego Nwodim, predicts that Amber will find love on the trip. Amber firsts finds Deb (Shannon), who bothers her non-stop, almost to the point of being a stalker. It starts with Deb, whose luggage has been lost. She borrows some clothes from Amber. Shannon’s Deb is funny at first, but it gets old quickly. She’s becoming tiresome and annoying. Deb acts like and is treated like a child when she’s caught smoking. Once this happens, her character becomes an outright mental case for whom you will have no patience.

Kat, Nick’s assistant, played by Aubrey Plaza, is the most compelling character in the movie. That’s not saying much as she walks around halfdead, saying her lines as if just to get this commitment over with. But at least Plaza is somewhat interesting. With her arrival, the movie becomes a mystery of sorts. Oddly, it wasn’t set up to be one. You may think that the storyline is too shaky to pull this off at this point. Characters come in and out who have little to no link to one another and for whom you won’t care much for. Had some of these thriller aspects been built into the beginning, Baena might have pulled this off, but they weren’t and the story tanks. But before the movie ends, you first get boars and orgies. Perhaps you’ll consider this a win. After all, the filmmakers did.