Spread isn't a bad movie. It isn't all that good, but its not bad. Spread is about great looking twenty something guy (played by Kutcher) who has no home, no car, no job, manages to live the good life by drifting from one sugar mama to another. He hits on an older woman, makes her take him home with her, and then somehow weasels his way into her life in order to have a roof over his head. When doesn't work out, or he and his sugar mama break up, he just goes back out and finds another one and does it all over again. He is, in every since of the word, a player. He has a formula to approaching women, to getting them into bed, to getting them to let him stay at their home. Everything he does is methodical, emotionless, but it appears otherwise. We are let into this little program through voice over narration by Kutcher. All the time he is living with and sleeping with these older women (we are just shown his time with his sugar mama played by a great looking Anne Heche, Ellen's now straight ex-girlfriend) he is hooking up with the hotter, younger girls when his sugar mama is out of town. His idyllic existence is rocked when he meets a girl (played by Maragarita Levieta -- the girl from Adventureland that I told you about a few months ago) who he has feelings for and who appears to maybe be doing the same thing he is doing.
Ashton Kutcher is good looking enough to pull this role off. However, I'm not real sure if he's a good enough actor. I thought he was hilarious in That 70's Show, and I've been pretty entertained by most of his movies, but most of them are comedies. This movie is definitely not. It's actually kind of dark. It's just a little weird seeing him play a serious, playboy type. I don't know if it was my own prejudice or if Kutcher really was uncomfortable in the role, but it was a little difficult for me to take him seriously.
Kutcher aside, everyone of the other stars pulls their weight and does a good job. This movie has a very real, indie quality to it, which helps the audience identify with the situations and believe what is going on a little better. There is one scene in particular that involves a sort of mutual, nervous seduction, that I thought was great because it seemed so real! I could really feel the characters' nervousness, their sexual tension. Nothing explicit happens, but it was the most poignant scene in the whole movie.
Like I said, this movie has a indie feel to it, which turns a lot of people off. The action is pretty slow moving, and a part from a few sex scenes, there isn't a lot of action at all. The ending is "happy" per se, but there is a bit of a twist that was unexpected. I don't feel totally comfortable recommending this movie to anyone but those who really like Ashton Kutcher and want to see him in something different, love dark character driven indie films, or those who are intrigued by the LA lifestyle. Otherwise, you find yourself both bored and frustrated with the lack of anything happening, and the lack of resolution in the end.
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