Maybe it’s just because I got laid off, maybe it’s because the job market is a nightmare, or maybe because Liz Gillies is just so charming — this film really resonated with me. And I think I actually really liked it.
Spread is about Ruby, a loud, self-righteous but creative soul trying to find her dream job as a journalist. After getting fired from her last job for speaking her mind, she ends up temping at a failing adult magazine called Spread. While this is the last place she wanted to end up, she soon starts learning how to make the best of her new situation and really owning her new role. Liz Gillies is Ruby and she is just so naturally charming and plays characters that usually really remind me of myself — Ruby being one of them. Gillies balances cool and charming with characters that only she can play. If anyone else stepped into the role it would become comically cliche and just not all that entertaining or endearing. Ruby is really ambitious but also tactless (a mood), and wants to succeed in any industry save for the one she is currently in, and she just is such a delight to watch. She has a lot of good ideas and she really makes an impression on her boss at Spread, allowing her to grow and become the professional she wants to be.
It’s nice to see the whole success in unlikely places story arc play out. The supporting cast is also great, and I love Ruby’s relationship with her dad. While it doesn’t mirror every detail of a dysfunctional relationship a weird girl has with her dad, it certainly captures the heart of it and I think it’s a great relationship to explore. I think actual awkward but trying relationships between children and their parents should be depicted as it humanizes people’s parents. Also the dad is Diedrich Bader so you can’t go wrong — that guy is a comedic gold mine.
Spread also handles the adult industry relatively well, and most of the jokes are pretty tasteful. It ties in feminism, why people get into sex work, and the loneliness epidemic with the sex work industry and has some fun with social media. I also like the very 1970s vibe to the whole movie, really adds to the atmosphere and builds a tangible world that might be unfamiliar for those of us unfamiliar with the industry. There’s some sex toy jokes, but Ruby also rolls with the whole thing well. It depicts sex work authentically, without romanticizing it or demonizing it — just showing it as a job, which I think is one of the best depictions possible.
It’s a fun movie, with a little bit of empowerment and sex positivity tossed in. Spread is definitely not for the whole family, but it is for the Gen Z’er and Millenial who really is fatigued with the job industry and trying to find their voice and their place in the world.