Spin Me Round (2022)

Despite bad reviews, Jack and I didn't hate this spoof of a romance novel wherein Amber, the manager of an Olive Garden-type chain restaurant in Bakersfield, joins a group in an all expenses paid trip to Italy to meet the handsome founder. Alison Brie stars as Amber and co-wrote the script with director Jeff Baena. Alessandro Nivola is the effusive founder and Aubrey Plaza his mercurial assistant. Lil Rel Howery and Ego Nwodim are Amber's boss and best friend, respectively. The ensemble in Italy includes Molly Shannon (hilariously annoying character), Lauren Weedman, Zach Woods, and Ben Sinclair. There are plenty of laughs and, yeah, sometimes it slows down a bit, but I'll allow it. My regular readers know I am generous with my appreciation of cinema.

Pino Donaggio is credited as composer but this soundtrack isn't streaming anywhere that I can find. There is a list of songs, however.

The gorgeous location shots in Liguria and Pisa, Italy, and LA are thanks to Sean McElwee.

Brie, Baena, and Weedman were last blogged for The Little Hours. Plaza, who is married to Baena, was in that, too, but was most recently in these pages for Best Sellers. Howery was last blogged for I Love My Dad, Nivola for The Art of Self Defense, and Shannon for Wild Nights with Emily. After I wrote about Woods in Damsels in Distress, his work included 53 episodes of Silicon Valley. 

Nwodim, best known for 78 episodes of Saturday Night Live, was also in four of Brockmire and two of Love Life, among her dozens of credits. Sinclair created, produced, and starred in 52 episodes of High Maintenance (combining Vimeo and HBO) as well as other roles. Donaggio has scored hundreds of projects, mostly in his native Italy. The only one of McElwee's projects I have seen is Morris from America.

As noted, Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging a slow-moving 44%, and its audiences, at a nearly motionless 29, do not want anyone to see this. After we rented it on Apple TV/iTunes August 27, the screen recommended other low rated movies, some of which we liked!