“Spin Me Spherical,” directed by Jeff Baena, is a kooky romp the place unworldly vacationers journey over their very own fantasies of Europe. It follows the misadventures of Amber (Alison Brie), the supervisor of a sequence spaghetti restaurant who has tasted so little of life that her desires are an countless sea of factory-made Alfredo sauce. To Amber’s delight, she is chosen for a piece retreat the place a small group of hand-selected staff (together with Tim Heidecker, Zach Woods, Debby Ryan, Ayden Mayeri and Molly Shannon) will obtain private classes within the identification of recent herbs on the very Italian villa the place the chain’s suave founder Nick Martucci (Alessandro Nivola) shoots commercials rhapsodizing about all-you-can-eat pasta.
These rewards show to be as inauthentic as the corporate’s meals. Baena and Brie, the co-writers of the script, efficiently merge their subversion of “Eat Pray Love” with an replace on the sexual harassment screwball comedy that cycled out of favor shortly after Melanie Griffith caught it to these Monetary District fits. Brie, making full use of her doe eyes and harmless smile, performs her heroine as so glamour-starved that she’s keen to miss clues that the native Lotharios — American expats, not Italians — view her as an affordable minimize of meat. Amber is wooed and patronized in the identical breath, most actually at an erotically charged soiree the place the host (Fred Armisen) clocks her crimson robe and launches right into a lip-synced rendition of “The Woman In Pink.” His consideration hits her like a corked Chianti, however she lacks the understanding to declare its dangerous style.
Baena calls upon Pino Donaggio, a composer whose credit stretch again to Nineteen Seventies euro thrillers, and the cinematographer Sean McElwee to alert the viewers to not take these shenanigans severely. Amber’s arrival in Italy is hailed with the sort of sweeping symphony one would possibly anticipate to listen to in a World Conflict I romance over a shot of a dumpster. Likewise, the movie is ludicrous in its giant strokes and pointed in its particulars, notably Amber’s tense relationships with Deb (Molly Shannon), a clingy work colleague, and Kat (Aubrey Plaza), a jaded assistant who squires the American to dates with their boss. Though Plaza’s character makes it clear it is a story about complicity and manipulation, Baena retains the tone foolish, barely striving for scares even when creepy masks slink into view. He’s content material to let the music take over — and so are we with its sly needle-drops that pull from heady italo disco and giallo horror scores.
Spin Me Spherical
Not rated. Runing time: 1 hour 44 minutes. In theaters and out there to lease or purchase on Apple TV, Google Play and different streaming platforms and pay TV operators.