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Spread

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Spread (2009)

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Reviews Counted:37

Fresh:6

Rotten:31

Average Rating:3.8/10

Consensus: Despite occasional detours into surprisingly dark territory, Spread overall is an ineffectual celebration of vacuous Los Angeles high life rather than a deconstruction of it.

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Comedies

US Box Office: $122,948

Synopsis: Spread tells the story a high-end lothario, Nikki (Ashton Kutcher), who has slept his way into a life of privilege. He shares his secrets with us as he hosts parties and beds scores of women, all... Spread tells the story a high-end lothario, Nikki (Ashton Kutcher), who has slept his way into a life of privilege. He shares his secrets with us as he hosts parties and beds scores of women, all while living it up at the Hollywood Hills home of a middle-aged female attorney, Samantha (Anne Heche). Everything is going well for Nikki until he meets a gorgeous waitress named Heather (Margarita Levieva), who, unbeknownst to him, is playing the same game that he is. Nikki and Heather find themselves sexually charged by a game of one-upsmanship that has them dining at fine restaurants and crashing posh parties, until the truth of their lives forces them to choose between love and money. Inspired by classics like Shampoo, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and America Gigolo, Spread profiles a sexual grifter and his prey.

Los Angeles serves as a character unto its own in this film, providing slick and luxurious backdrops during Nikki’s high times, and seedy, fleabag motels when Nikki has nowhere else to turn. Nikki runs the gamut of Hollywood dreams and nightmares. The supporting cast is rounded out with gorgeous women like Emily (Rachel Blanchard), who is drawn in by Nikki’s good looks and charm but is left feeling cold and used, and Nikki’s best friend, Harry (Sebastian Stan), who struggles with their co-dependant relationship, always needing to bail Nikki out when he runs out of women to depend on.

Directed by David Mackenzie (Hallam Foe, Young Adam), Spread is an iconic look at the lure of sex, money, and access that Hollywood offers to the beautiful people, and the karmic price that Nikki must ultimately pay to live that lifestyle. --© Anchor Bay [More]

Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Anne Heche, Margarita Levieva, Sebastian Stan

Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Anne Heche, Margarita Levieva, Sebastian Stan, Rachel Blanchard, Maria Conchita Alonso, Sonia Rockwell

Director: David Mackenzie

Director: David Mackenzie
Screenwriter: Jason Dean Hall
Story: Jason Dean Hall, Paul Kolsby
Producer: Ashton Kutcher, Jason Goldberg, Peter Morgan
Composer: John Swihart
Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for Spread

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Spread's strength lies in its dark, comic undertones but alas, its third act collapses into sentimentality.

Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | comment Comment
08/21/09
Cara Nash
Cara Nash
FILMINK (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ashton Kutcher is unwilling (or unable) to make himself the object of the same judgmental lens through which he has "Punk'd" other celebrities.

Full Review Source: DVD Review | comment Comment
11/23/09
Felix Gonzalez Jr.
Felix Gonzalez Jr.
DVD Review

...worth a look primarily for Kutcher's magnetic central performance...

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
11/23/09
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

The shortcuts are maddening, but so is Spread as a whole. Just because the lead character is an insipid, mean-spirited waste of time doesn't mean the movie has to follow suit.

Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com | comment Comment
11/19/09
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
DVDTalk.com

Spread eventually reveals a gloomy raincloud of a moral meditation about unhealthy lifestyles and self-delusion.

Full Review Source: GreenCine | comment Comment
11/17/09
Aaron Hillis
Aaron Hillis
GreenCine

one of those ridiculously shallow movies that finds it smugly cute to depict a worthless, pretty-faced prick taking advantage of women and treating it as a science

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
11/10/09
Jason McKiernan
Jason McKiernan
Filmcritic.com

Sexy-but-shallow grifter dramedy is too mature for kids.

Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | comment Comment
11/09/09
S. Jhoanna Robledo
S. Jhoanna Robledo
Common Sense Media

click to read the full review

Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses | comment Comment
09/11/09
Joseph Proimakis
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses

Shooting in widescreen while conveying a sharp sense of verticality, [director David] Mackenzie gets us dizzy from the wealth of playthings on display, from swimming pool to private parts.

Full Review Source: minnpost.com | comment Comment
09/01/09
Rob Nelson
Rob Nelson
minnpost.com

In certain ways, Spread feels like the adaptation of some lost Bret Easton Ellis novel, before he got into drugs and wild, satiric hyperbole, crossed with a story strand from The Real World. Sorry, that's not a good thing.

Full Review Source: Shared Darkness | comment Comment
08/22/09
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Shared Darkness

The film becomes unintentionally funny when he falls for another hustler (Margarita Levieva) with even less conscience, their grand passion leading to ludicrous behavior and soap-opera dialogue.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
08/20/09
Andrea Gronvall
Andrea Gronvall
Chicago Reader

Trite but self-important tale of a professional boy-toy in contemporary L.A.,...nothing more than a wallow in old-fashioned melodrama.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
08/20/09
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
08/20/09
Stephen Garrett
Stephen Garrett
Time Out New York
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
08/19/09
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

The film doesn't quite come off, though lots and lots of clothes do during its randy, random 97 minutes.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
08/18/09
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

There are a few elaborate stedi-cam shots that were pretty outstanding. It's too bad that nothing interesting was happening during these shots.

Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment Comment
08/16/09
Austin Kennedy
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine

More sordid and melodramatic than sweet or sharply comic.

Full Review Source: Cinematical | comment Comment
08/16/09
Jette Kernion
Jette Kernion
Cinematical

Mildly engaging with slick cinematography and a sexy cast, but it's often like its protagonist himself: superficial, shallow, lazy and lacking an emotional core.

Full Review Source: NYC Movie Guru | comment Comment
08/15/09
Avi Offer
Avi Offer
NYC Movie Guru

Although Kutcher deserves some ­credit for trying to spread his professional wings, it quickly becomes clear that he's in over his head.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
08/14/09
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News

A witless homage to Shampoo and American Gigolo that's brain-dead on arrival.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
08/14/09
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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