Spin Me Round

There's a certain kind of guy who operates with disarming vulnerability, revealed only later as manipulative. People like this are often heads of companies, they give heartfelt Ted Talks, sometimes they start cults. In "Spin Me Round," Nick (Alessandro Nivola) is such a man. He is the CEO and founder of Tuscan Grove, an Olive-Garden-type franchise, where you can get a three-course meal for $13.95, and the sauce is poured onto the rigatoni from a giant squeeze bag. Nick has a dazzling smile, an easy air, and he tears up when he mentions his dead sister. It's so obvious from the outside that Nick is not on the level, but to the inexperienced Amber (Alison Brie), he's dazzling. His so-called vulnerability hypnotizes her.

"Spin Me Round," directed by Jeff Baena, and co-written by Baena and frequent collaborator Brie, is filled with such complicated yet subtle characterizations, characters so familiar you feel a shock of recognition upon meeting them: "Oh, okay, I know who this person is." You then sit back and enjoy the ride. For the most part, the ride is a fun one. "Spin Me Round" is part travelogue, part comedy, part female-self-empowerment narrative and part Henry Jamesian cautionary tale (an American woman is thrust into the corrupt European elite). This is a lot to fit together, and Baena doesn't quite manage it. The film is best when it comments on the style on display, showing us the familiar and then undercutting it. The poster for "Spin Me Round" is an imitation of the cover art for a romance novel, complete with fiery sunset and heaving bosom. Subversion is the name of the game.

Alison Brie plays Amber, who manages a Tuscan Grove in Bakersfield, California, where she grew up. She has been in the job for nine years, and doesn't seem at all happy about it. At one point, her brittle smile fades, revealing an expression like a dead-eyed silent scream expression. Amber's life is passing her by. This all changes when she is picked to attend a manager's conference at something called the Tuscan Grove Institute in Italy. The managers will learn about Italian cuisine in a gorgeous setting. Amber has never been out of America. She is beyond excited.

Immediately upon arrival, she realizes something is not right. She is forced to surrender her passport to Craig (Ben Sinclair), the bearded burly conference organizer, with a not-quite-nice gleam in his eyes. The managers were supposed to stay in an Italian villa. Instead, they are put in a cheap motel. Amber's room looks out on a row of dumpsters. Even stranger, the managers are given a curfew and not allowed to leave the grounds. The cooking demonstrations are given in the nondescript conference room in the motel.

The other managers are played by a murderer's row of talented actors. There's Deb (Molly Shannon), who latches on to Amber as her new best friend. There's Fran (Tim Heidecker), who considers himself an expert in Italian cuisine, and bores everyone to tears. Jen (Ayden Mayeri) is bubbly and clueless (she holds a cucumber up to her mouth, waggles it like a cigar, and says, "Look, I'm Karl Marx!"). Susie (Debby Ryan) has brought ecstasy and does it with Jen. Instant soulmates. And finally, there's Dana (Zach Woods), in love with the Tuscan Grove franchise, and in awe when he meets Nick the CEO.

At Nick's side is a mysterious figure named Kat (Aubrey Plaza), who seems at first to be his assistant, glumly smoking cigarettes outside, and giving the confused Amber meaningful glares. One day, Kat invites Amber to play hooky. Amber is thrilled. Kat then drives her to the seaside, where Nick's yacht is docked, and leaves her there to spend the day sailing with Nick. Amber is thrown off, but Nick glimmers with vulnerable tears and is charmingly self-deprecating. He asks her off-putting personal questions, which Amber answers. He's testing the boundaries. There are red flags everywhere, but Amber is blissed out. When they return to shore, Kat sits waiting in the car, scowling like a thundercloud.

It is impossible, at this point, to avoid the thought of Ghislaine Maxwell. Is Kat Nick's procuress? Is Amber being delivered into the hands of a predator? Is Amber unaware that, for all intents and purposes, she is being trafficked? Amber gets deeper into the inner circle: Nick invites her to a party, and Kat buys her a sexy gown. Everyone at the party is rich, and they too take a disturbing interest in Amber. Multiple people tell her she seems so "open-minded," even though Amber doesn't project that at all. Meanwhile, back at the motel, the cooking classes continue, Deb lurks outside Amber's door, and Dana slowly begins to see that Tuscan Grove is perhaps up to no good.