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Spin Me Round
Spin Me Round
	Release poster
Directed by	Jeff Baena
Written by	Jeff Baena; Alison Brie;
Produced by	Jeff Baena; Alison Brie; Mel Eslyn; Chris Parker; Dylan Sellers;
Starring	Alison Brie; Alessandro Nivola; Molly Shannon; Lil Rel Howery; Aubrey Plaza;
Cinematography	Sean Mcelwee
Edited by	Ryan Brown
Music by	Pino Donaggio
Production; companies	Duplass Brothers Productions; Limelight;
Distributed by	IFC Films; AMC+;
Release dates	March 12, 2022 (SXSW); August 19, 2022 (United States);
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Spin Me Round is a 2022 American dark comedy film^[1]^[2] co-written by Jeff Baena and Alison Brie and directed by Baena, the final film he directed before his death in 2025. It premiered at the 2022 South by Southwest festival on March 12, 2022. It was released on August 19, 2022, by IFC Films in theaters and by AMC+ on video on demand.

Plot

Amber is a dissatisfied manager at Tuscan Grove, an Italian chain restaurant in Bakersfield, California. After being recommended by her boss, Paul, Amber receives an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy to participate in Tuscan Grove's special management program, as well as an opportunity to meet the company's charismatic founder and CEO, Nick Martucci. Her friend Emily is excited for her trip, predicting that she will find love. Amber travels to Italy and meets program supervisor Craig, who takes her passport as well of those of the other managers on the trip. Despite the rustic images shown online, the accommodations consist of a company-owned motel, and members of the program - Deb, Susie, Jen, Dana, and Fran - are told they cannot leave the property without permission. The group begins learning lessons about food from chef Liz Bence, who designs the Tuscan Grove menu. One such session is interrupted by the arrival of Nick, along with his assistant Kat. Nick reacts strangely upon meeting Amber, telling her that she resembles his late sister.

Kat pulls Amber out of the lesson and invites her to a bar in Lucca; however, the plan is overheard by fellow group member Deb, who then shares it with the other managers, turning the planned outing into an evening at the "bar" on the Tuscan Grove campus. The following morning, Kat wakes Amber up early and drives her to a yacht, where Nick is waiting. The two have an intimate conversation and eventually kiss. At the end of the day, Nick invites her to a party the following night, and cautions her not to tell the rest of the group what has happened, to avoid accusations of favoritism. The next day, Amber is escorted by Kat to the party in Rigoli, where she is flirted with by multiple attendees. After sharing a dance with the host Ricky's son Giorgio, she is accosted by his lover, and is pulled away from the party and taken to a club by Kat. The two kiss, but Amber stops them; Kat tells Amber that Nick is selfish, and that Amber is not the only woman that he has done this with. Amber awakens the next morning in the van Kat drove her in, but Kat is nowhere to be found. Later that day, she sees Kat driving off in the van with Susie.

Susie is not at the session the following day, and Jen soon excuses herself, leading Amber to share her suspicions that something is not right on the trip with fellow manager Dana. Dana suggests that Nick is the mastermind, but Amber refuses to believe it, putting the blame on Kat. Dana sneaks into the office on the campus and finds pictures of former members of the program, almost all of whom are women. He speculates that he and Fran were chosen because their names caused them to be mistaken for women. Amber sees Nick leaving the grounds with Jen and follows them in the van, confronting Nick at his yacht. Nick accuses Amber of trying to push him away, and reveals that he has fired Kat, calling her unstable. Amber and Dana demand their passports back from Craig, who encourages them not to "rock the boat". After Nick arrives during an impromptu group game of Mafia the next day, Dana confronts him about his impropriety. Nick breaks down, saying that he envisioned Tuscan Grove as a high-end restaurant, only for it to turn into a fast casual chain. In the evening, Dana sneaks out to a party at Nick's on-site villa, where he sees men with automatic weapons entering. He returns with Amber, and they see Liz Bence, who has not been seen in several days, bound and gagged inside. Dana leaves to rescue her, but is heard screaming. When Amber arrives, she finds Deb kneeling over his unconscious body. She returns to the motel and gets Fran; the two of them discover what appears to be Jen's dead body in her bed.

Amber and Fran return to the villa and find a barely-conscious Dana, who reveals that he was attacked by a pack of wild boars. They go into the villa to attempt to hide, but discover an orgy happening inside, attended by Nick, members of his family, Liz Bence, and attendees of Ricky's party, all filmed by Craig. The party is interrupted as the pack of boars stampede into the house, sending the guests scattering and allowing Amber to call the police. It is revealed that Jen was merely sleeping, not dead, and that Susie took a spontaneous trip to Genoa, explaining her disappearance. The members of the group return home, with Craig reminding them that they have signed a non-disclosure agreement about their experiences. Back in Bakersfield, Nick shows up unexpectedly at Tuscan Grove to ask for Amber's forgiveness, and for them to continue as a couple. She rebuffs him, and smiles as she returns to her work.

Cast

Alison Brie as Amber
Alessandro Nivola as Nick Martucci
Fred Armisen as Ricky
Tim Heidecker as Fran
Tricia Helfer as Sofia
Ayden Mayeri as Jen
Ego Nwodim as Emily
Jake Picking as Jake
Debby Ryan as Susie
Molly Shannon as Deb
Ben Sinclair as Craig
Lauren Weedman as Liz Bence
Zach Woods as Dana
Lil Rel Howery as Paul
Aubrey Plaza as Kat

Production

It was announced in May 2021 that Jeff Baena and his Horse Girl co-writer and star Alison Brie were reuniting for Spin Me Round. Like with Horse Girl, the pair co-wrote Spin Me Round and Brie played the main role. Aubrey Plaza returned to act in the film, having not had a role in Horse Girl, with Alessandro Nivola, Molly Shannon and Lil Rel Howery also announced in the cast. Filming began in Italy in June 2021.^[3]^[4] The film marked the fourth time Baena had worked with Brie and Plaza for the big screen; Plaza also gave notes on the screenplay.^[5]

Baena said that "the film is rooted in the expectation versus reality trope", which forms the basis for the main plot as well as other elements. One of these sub-plots – in which Amber (Brie) "had more sparks with Kat" (Plaza) than Nick (Nivola) – was added to the story when Baena and Brie noticed that Plaza's chemistry with the main character in another film (Happiest Season) was unexpectedly more popular than that of the character's love interest, and felt that Plaza could bring the same to Spin Me Round. As well as contributing to the theme of subverting expectations, Baena wanted to write a complicated character for Plaza to play as neither simply villain or victim.^[5]

Release

Spin Me Round had its world premiere at the 2022 South by Southwest festival on March 12, 2022.^[6]^[7] It was released on August 19, 2022, by IFC Films in theaters^[8] and by AMC+ on video on demand.^[9]^[10]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on 86 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "If it never quite lives up to its potential, Spin Me Round remains a dizzily diverting comedy elevated by Alison Brie and Aubrey Plaza's performances."^[10] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[11]