What is your dream vacation destination? For many, the likely answer to this question would be Florence, Italy. The reasons for this vary though much of it can likely be traced back to its cinematic identity in a variety of romantic films such as the enduring A Room with a View as well as less memorable thrillers like 2016’s Inferno. Whether we realize it or not, the magic of the movies can create a certain idea of a place in our minds. The latest film to set itself in the vacation destination, Spin Me Round, is also one that is hyper-aware of the association you may have of it. It then uses this to completely upend any and all expectations of what can happen there, breaking through the various dividing walls of genre classification like they were made of paper. Still, this was to be expected considering the maniacs who are behind it all.
The film reunites writer-director Jeff Baena and writer-star Alison Brie who had previously collaborated on 2020's haunting yet darkly humorous Horse Girl. Just as they did with that prior work, the duo has created a story that starts out one way before going in at least five different directions that can change from scene to scene. Billed as a romantic comedy thriller, which is as bizarre as it sounds, it centers on Brie as Amber. She is a manager of an Italian chain restaurant that resembles Olive Garden and is chosen to go on a trip to Italy, where she is meant to receive training from the company. When she is told of the opportunity, it all seems initially exciting. After all, who wouldn’t want to go on a free trip to the region that has been dubbed the “Birthplace of the Renaissance?” Amber seems almost spellbound by the promise of seeing the beautiful sights, even speculating that she may fall in love. At this point, you think that you’ve seen this all before in a romantic comedy that uses travel as its initial selling point. However, this is only the beginning of an abundantly odd experience that wrongfoots you at every twist and turn to ensure you never get even close to comfortable.
When Amber arrives, much of her welcome feels a little off. The most concerning element of this is when their chaperone for the trip, Ben Sinclair as Ben, takes all their passports. While clearly a bit confused by this, Amber continues on and meets the quirky ensemble cast of characters. There is Tim Heidecker’s Fran, Molly Shannon’s Deb, Zach Woods’ Dana, Ayden Mayer’s Jen, and Debby Ryan’s Susie, all of whom go through awkward icebreaker activities as part of the corporate training. It plays out almost like a spoof of a certain type of comedy where the characters each get a defining characteristic that they riff on. Indeed, the casting itself seems to be priming us to expect exactly this kind of movie. Placing varied comedic actors in a single location is something we have seen before. We are accustomed to the shenanigans ensuing and things escalating to ensure the laughs keep coming. Yet what makes Spin Me Round so strange is how it constantly undercuts this, even when it comes at the expense of the jokes. It puts you in a bit of a tonal limbo that is almost intentionally confrontational to its audience. The jokes are subverted in ways that seem to prioritize awkward tension that can even feel a bit sinister. While more than a bit chaotic, it is a high-wire act you can't look away from even as it delves into increasingly uncomfortable situations.
The precise reasons why everything feels so weird are best kept under wraps to preserve the experience, though, suffice to say, the film delights in deploying misdirects. All of that can make it hard to pin down in ways that could be abundantly frustrating as the coy nature of it all can easily shift into being a little too cutesy. Still, the manner in which it all plays out like a practical joke on us that remains potentially perilous is intriguing. Just as with Horse Girl, you are left constantly wondering how much to trust the fears and anxieties of the characters. Is it just that this is boring training with stuck-up people that you wouldn’t ever associate with otherwise? Or is there something more going on that is cause for concern?
The appearance of a mysterious character, played by Aubrey Plaza who once again weaponizes awkwardness to her advantage, only ratchets up the uncertainty even further. Without warning, the film will itself weaponize one genre against the other in what feels like a chaotic cinematic experiment about how far you can twist audience expectations. Somehow, this all ends up largely working wacky, if occasionally sporadic, wonders for its story. Even when this isn't entirely successful at every turn, it remains entertaining for just how all over the place it is. Brie remains a grounding force to it all as we see that she is often as confused as we are, though even she can’t reign in the randomness of everything. Every moment is utterly unpredictable and almost devoid of logic, as if the story is merely cycling through a wheel of random ideas in the movie equivalent of Mad Libs. This can all be a bit jarring, yet this is clearly by design and central to the experience. The breaking of genre is the recurring gag.
At moments, it will feel like it is sneaking along in the shadow of an absurdist Tim & Eric sketch with Heidecker himself dryly delivering multiple lines that sound like they could have been ripped from his snarky cooking show segments. His character can often feel like he was meant to be a different movie entirely that just wandered into this one. Shannon’s storyline feels similar where she is trying to track down missing luggage that then spirals into something more off-kilter with the rest of what is going on. Even when this gets resolved, it does so in a way that makes clear that this was all a side gag to the main course of the film itself. It is as if it was sampling from a broken buffet of genres, picking and choosing from various dishes that then get mixed together in a maddening medley all its own.
Just when you think you’ve developed the palette for what is being fed to you, the story will drop us into something entirely different and more dire. Some of this requires subterfuge and strategically edited scenes that keep us in the dark for quite a while. By the time we start to figure out the full scope of what is going on, all the various pieces do honestly make sense. Even then, the fraught journey to get there is a haphazard one that will likely lose many on the way.
This all makes for a film that isn't particularly interested in being cohesive in all of its setups and payoffs. While this could very much alienate many who come to it unaware of what is on the menu, if you appreciated Horse Girl then you’ll likely find something to enjoy here. The biggest detriment comes in how it drags on for a bit too long, ultimately tying itself into a few too many knots than necessary for it all to work. While not an out-and-out parody, it is all built around mixing up familiar elements from a variety of genres until it is almost unrecognizable. The best aspects of it come when it embraces this rather audacious absurdity, shattering itself into pieces that it then molds into something all its own. As a result, it can be rather messy as it glues everything back together. The outcome of it all is not a masterpiece by any means, though it is an undeniably unique work. Even as it feels like it was made as a joke within a joke within a joke that could very well get annoying, it is able to hold together just enough to avoid this. When it finally bares all and strips away the many disguises it had been trying on, it manages to be just slyly cheeky enough to get away with it.