Some misfires are far more interesting than others, and that’s certainly the case with director/co-writer Jeff Baena’s “Spin Me Round,” a restaurant-themed romp that starts off in rom-com land, veers off into territory hinting at the strange and disturbing darkness of a “Midsommar” or an “Eyes Wide Shut,” and winds up somewhere in between, coming across as half-baked and undercooked.
Apologies for the foodie puns, but it’s appropriate for the intriguing setup from the gifted and wonderfully offbeat Baena (“Life After Beth,” “Horse Girl”) and co-writer and lead actor Alison Brie, who has such an endearing and versatile screen presence that she should be enjoying even bigger stardom than her impressive career has already yielded. Brie’s Amber is the manager of a Bakersfield, California, branch of an Olive Garden-esque chain restaurant called Tuscan Grove, where she’s worked for the last decade. In a perfectly rendered TV ad for Tuscan Grove, the handsome and dashing Nick Martucci (Alessandro Nivola) talks of the down-home, authentic Italian, family-recipe legacy of the Tuscan Grove menu and tradition—but the reality is, everything is prepared in mass, fast-food fashion, e.g., the Alfredo sauce comes in pre-packaged vacuum bags.
