{ "id": "epj6zee4xj", "slug": "spin-me-round", "title": "Spin Me Round", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.black-comedy-and-satire-films", "label": "Black comedy and satire films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.black-comedy-and-satire-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.black-comedy-and-satire-films.yr-1998-2024", "label": "Released 1998 to 2024", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.black-comedy-and-satire-films.yr-1998-2024" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "United States · 2021 and later: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021", "label": "United States · 2021 and later", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Spin Me Round is a 2022 comedy directed by Jeff Baena, co-written with star Alison Brie, about a chain-restaurant manager whose Italian company retreat turns chaotic; released by IFC Films, mixed reviews.", "snippet": "Spin Me Round is a 2022 comedy directed by Jeff Baena, co-written with star Alison Brie, about a chain-restaurant manager whose Italian company retreat turns chaotic; released by IFC Films, mixed reviews.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.black-comedy-and-satire-films.yr-1998-2024", "markdown": "# Spin Me Round\n\n**Spin Me Round** is a 2022 American comedy film directed by [Jeff Baena](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeff-baena) and co-written by Baena with its lead actress, [Alison Brie](https://www.edgepedia.org/alison-brie). It follows Amber, the longtime manager of a Tuscan Grove chain restaurant in [Bakersfield, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/bakersfield-california), who is sent to her company's culinary \"institute\" in Italy for what she expects to be a glamorous, possibly romantic retreat, only for the trip to devolve into chaos.[1](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/spin-me-round) • [2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/spin-me-round-movie-review-2022) • [3](https://www.amcplus.com/movies/spin-me-round--1055394) The cast includes Alessandro Nivola, Aubrey Plaza, Molly Shannon, Fred Armisen, Lil Rel Howery, Tim Heidecker, Zach Woods, Debby Ryan, Ayden Mayeri, Ben Sinclair, Lauren Weedman, Tricia Helfer, and Ego Nwodim.[4](https://www.amcglobalmedia.com/2022/04/22/ifc-films-and-amc-take-north-american-rights-to-sxsw-all-star-comedy-spin-me-round-directed-by-jeff-baena/) • [3](https://www.amcplus.com/movies/spin-me-round--1055394)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and writers | Jeff Baena, co-written with lead actress Alison Brie[1](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/spin-me-round) |\n| Plot | A chain-restaurant manager wins an all-expenses trip to her company's culinary institute in Italy; a hoped-for romantic getaway turns dangerous and chaotic[3](https://www.amcplus.com/movies/spin-me-round--1055394) |\n| Lead roles | Alison Brie as Amber, Alessandro Nivola as Nick, Aubrey Plaza as Kat, Molly Shannon as Deb[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spin_me_round) |\n| Release | Premiered at SXSW in March 2022; IFC Films released it in theaters, on VOD, and streaming on AMC+ beginning August 19, 2022[4](https://www.amcglobalmedia.com/2022/04/22/ifc-films-and-amc-take-north-american-rights-to-sxsw-all-star-comedy-spin-me-round-directed-by-jeff-baena/) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spin_me_round) |\n| Runtime and rating | 104 minutes; MPAA rating NR; TV-MA on streaming[1](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/spin-me-round) • [3](https://www.amcplus.com/movies/spin-me-round--1055394) |\n| Production | Duplass Brothers Productions and Limelight; producers Jeff Baena, Alison Brie, Mel Eslyn, Dylan Sellers, and Chris Parker[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spin_me_round) |\n| Reception | 47% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 87 reviews; 34% on the audience Popcornmeter[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spin_me_round) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and premise\n\nAmber has managed a Tuscan Grove restaurant in Bakersfield, California, her hometown, for nine years and is not happy about it; the film presents her life as passing her by.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/spin-me-round-movie-review-2022) When she is selected for an all-expenses manager's conference at the Tuscan Grove Institute in Italy, she imagines European glamour and romance.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/spin-me-round-movie-review-2022) • [3](https://www.amcplus.com/movies/spin-me-round--1055394) The trip proves very different from the getaway she imagined, and possibly more dangerous.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spin_me_round) Common Sense Media describes the story as one in which the retreat places Amber in the romantic clutches of the company's CEO, played by [Alessandro Nivola](https://www.edgepedia.org/alessandro-nivola) as a smarmy, handsome executive who seeks liaisons with young female employees.[1](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/spin-me-round)\n\nThe film mixes registers as it goes. RogerEbert.com's review calls it part travelogue, part comedy, part female-self-empowerment narrative, and part Henry Jamesian cautionary tale about an American woman thrust into corrupt European elite circles, and notes that its poster imitates the cover art of a romance novel as part of the film's strategy of setting up familiar styles and then undercutting them.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/spin-me-round-movie-review-2022) [The A.V. Club](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-a-v-club) likewise calls it a \"genre-elusive comedy of errors about a corporate retreat.\"[6](https://www.avclub.com/jeff-baena-spin-me-round-movie-interview-1849431821)\n\n## Origins and writing\n\n**A real article as a starting point.** Baena conceived the idea after shooting *The Little Hours* in Italy. Back in the United States, he read an article about an Italian franchise restaurant in America that sends its top managers to an institute in Italy; the manager profiled had expected a life-changing experience, but the villa shown on the program's website turned out to be mere background, the group stayed in a run-down dorm, and after the head chef made them a bolognese there was little left to do. Baena found the setup funny and took it as a jumping-off point, applying what he called a reductio ad absurdum of how bad the experience could become.[7](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/outline-over-screenplay-jeff-baena-on-spin-me-round-interview/)\n\nHe began writing the project as an outline in 2016, then set it aside. After he and Brie made *Horse Girl* (2020), their first co-written film, he shared a 14- or 15-page outline with her, and the two fleshed it out together.[7](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/outline-over-screenplay-jeff-baena-on-spin-me-round-interview/) Brie said Baena had been kicking the idea around since before *Horse Girl*, with the master beats plotted out, and that from there she dug into the characters and the story's arc, wanting the characters to dictate what genre they were in as the movie ebbed and flowed with their emotions.[8](https://observer.com/2022/08/alison-brie-on-co-writing-spin-me-round-and-creating-the-roles-shes-searching-for/)\n\n**How COVID changed the process.** Baena traditionally works from 28- to 30-page outlines rather than screenplays, summarizing what characters say without spelling it out. The film was scheduled to shoot in the summer of 2020, but because Italy was a coronavirus hotbed, production was delayed by a year. He and Brie used the extra time to write an actual screenplay, which also made financing easier. When they finally shot it, they had two weeks of prep, filmed in 22 days, and in Italy were limited to eight-hour shooting days instead of twelve; Baena said these constraints added a frantic energy, and that there was no time or room for the improvisation he had used on earlier films.[6](https://www.avclub.com/jeff-baena-spin-me-round-movie-interview-1849431821) • [7](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/outline-over-screenplay-jeff-baena-on-spin-me-round-interview/)\n\n## Production and release\n\n*Spin Me Round* is the fourth collaboration between Brie and Baena, who first met on the set of the sitcom *Community*; their earlier work together includes *The Little Hours* (2017), shot in Italy, and *Horse Girl* (2020).[9](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/alison-brie-spin-round-fate-084452126.html) • [10](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-03-12/alison-brie-jeff-baena-spin-me-round-sxsw) The film premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in March 2022.[10](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-03-12/alison-brie-jeff-baena-spin-me-round-sxsw) In April 2022, IFC Films and AMC+ announced they had acquired North American rights, with a planned summer 2022 release in theaters, on VOD, and streaming exclusively on AMC+.[4](https://www.amcglobalmedia.com/2022/04/22/ifc-films-and-amc-take-north-american-rights-to-sxsw-all-star-comedy-spin-me-round-directed-by-jeff-baena/) It opened in limited theaters and on streaming on August 19, 2022.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spin_me_round)\n\nThe film draws on Baena's regular ensemble. Brie described the group, including [Molly Shannon](https://www.edgepedia.org/molly-shannon), Fred Armisen, and Baena's wife [Aubrey Plaza](https://www.edgepedia.org/aubrey-plaza), as the \"Jeff Baena players.\"[6](https://www.avclub.com/jeff-baena-spin-me-round-movie-interview-1849431821) [Duplass Brothers Productions](https://www.edgepedia.org/duplass-brothers-productions), which had produced *Horse Girl* with them, came aboard again, alongside Limelight.[8](https://observer.com/2022/08/alison-brie-on-co-writing-spin-me-round-and-creating-the-roles-shes-searching-for/) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spin_me_round)\n\n## Reception\n\nCritical response was mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 47% Tomatometer from 87 reviews and a 34% Popcornmeter score from more than 100 audience ratings; the site's critics consensus calls it a \"dizzily diverting comedy elevated by Alison Brie and Aubrey Plaza's performances\" that never quite lives up to its potential.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spin_me_round)\n\nReviewers repeatedly singled out the same strengths and weaknesses. Common Sense Media credited the cast's \"well-honed comedic skills\" for genuinely funny bits while judging that the screenplay and plot meander and underdeliver on the film's several themes, a work trip gone wrong, a #MeToo nightmare in the making, and a raunchy sex romp among them.[1](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/spin-me-round) The Chicago Sun-Times praised the cast as \"nothing short of fantastic\" but found the film erratic, making spare use of its Italian locations and veering into broad comedy near the end.[11](https://chicago.suntimes.com/movies-and-tv/2022/8/19/23310623/spin-me-round-review-amc-alison-brie-movie-alessandro-nivola) Digital Trends called it a forgettable vacation comedy whose meandering pace its third act never fully justifies.[12](https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/spin-me-round-review/) Next Best Picture argued that the film satirizes its subject only by declaring it absurd, without a point of view on it.[13](https://nextbestpicture.com/spin-me-round/) Ty Burr, reviewing for his Substack newsletter, wrote that keeping the tone ambiguous was fine in theory but unsatisfying in practice, as the film hints at romance, comedy, and suspense without settling on one.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spin_me_round)\n\n## Themes and content\n\nDespite its humor, the film carries messages about entitled, powerful men who take advantage of women who work for them, and Common Sense Media notes that it promotes honest communication, teamwork, and standing up for integrity.[1](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/spin-me-round) The same guide flags substantial adult content for parents: a group sex party scene with partial nudity, at least a dozen uses of strong language, frequent smoking and drinking by adults, a character shown holding what looks like a gun, and people attacked and injured. It rates the film appropriate for ages 16 and up.[1](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/spin-me-round)\n\nBrie described the writing approach as compassionate toward all the characters rather than dumping on them: she and Baena saw inherent comedy in a thoroughly Americanized Italian restaurant chain sending staff to an equally Americanized program in Italy, and wanted to find what was relatable in each character before putting them in awkward situations.[14](https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/alison-brie-spin-me-round-interview-2022)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Spin Me Round – Parents' Guide & Movie Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/spin-me-round)\n2. [Spin Me Round movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/spin-me-round-movie-review-2022)\n3. [Watch Spin Me Round Online, AMC+](https://www.amcplus.com/movies/spin-me-round--1055394)\n4. [IFC Films and AMC+ Take North American Rights to SXSW All-Star Comedy 'Spin Me Round', AMC Global Media (April 22, 2022)](https://www.amcglobalmedia.com/2022/04/22/ifc-films-and-amc-take-north-american-rights-to-sxsw-all-star-comedy-spin-me-round-directed-by-jeff-baena/)\n5. [Spin Me Round, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spin_me_round)\n6. [Spin Me Round writer-director Jeff Baena on falling in love with his actors, The A.V. Club (August 22, 2022)](https://www.avclub.com/jeff-baena-spin-me-round-movie-interview-1849431821)\n7. [\"Outline Over Screenplay\" Jeff Baena On 'Spin Me Round' Interview, Creative Screenwriting (August 29, 2022)](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/outline-over-screenplay-jeff-baena-on-spin-me-round-interview/)\n8. [Alison Brie On Co-Writing 'Spin Me Round', Observer (August 2022)](https://observer.com/2022/08/alison-brie-on-co-writing-spin-me-round-and-creating-the-roles-shes-searching-for/)\n9. [Alison Brie on 'Spin Me Round' and the Fate of the 'Community' Movie, Yahoo Entertainment (September 20, 2022)](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/alison-brie-spin-round-fate-084452126.html)\n10. [A return to Italy for Alison Brie, Jeff Baena in the SXSW premiere 'Spin Me Round', Los Angeles Times (March 12, 2022)](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-03-12/alison-brie-jeff-baena-spin-me-round-sxsw)\n11. ['Spin Me Round' review: Erratic pasta-restaurant comedy doesn't quite stick, Chicago Sun-Times (August 19, 2022)](https://chicago.suntimes.com/movies-and-tv/2022/8/19/23310623/spin-me-round-review-amc-alison-brie-movie-alessandro-nivola)\n12. [Spin Me Round review: a forgettable vacation comedy, Digital Trends (August 19, 2022)](https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/spin-me-round-review/)\n13. [\"SPIN ME ROUND\", Next Best Picture (2022)](https://nextbestpicture.com/spin-me-round/)\n14. [The Secret's in the Sauce: Alison Brie on Spin Me Round, RogerEbert.com (August 15, 2022)](https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/alison-brie-spin-me-round-interview-2022)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Black comedy and satire films › Released 1998 to 2024*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/spin-me-round", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/spin-me-round.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Spin Me Round\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/spin-me-round. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Spin Me Round](https://www.edgepedia.org/spin-me-round)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/spin-me-round](https://www.edgepedia.org/spin-me-round). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Spin Me Round\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/spin-me-round. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Spin Me Round is a 2022 comedy directed by Jeff Baena, co-written with star Alison Brie, about a chain-restaurant manager whose Italian company retreat turns chaotic; released by IFC Films, mixed reviews." }