SPREAD (David Mackenzie). 97 minutes. Opens Friday (August 14). For venues, times, and trailers, see Movies. Rating: NN
Wonder if Spread’s producer and star, Ashton Kutcher, drew on his relationship with Demi Moore for the role of Nikki, a New Age gigolo who whores himself out to rich cougars so he can squat in their Hollywood Hills pads and take them shopping for his Prada threads.[rssbreak]
Yet even Kutcher can’t give depth or complexity to a stiff character who relies on his stiff one to get ahead. Nikki’s a lanky piece of wood whose expressions are limited to an insipid smirk and eyes that self-consciously wander away from his co-stars’ even while he’s bedding them in the raunchiest ways.
Director David Mackenzie (Young Adam) has little to work with in a script that fails to crack the surface of L.A.’s gold-digging subculture. Instead, Spread opts for typical rom-com territory, where Nikki is enamoured of and must spar with his female doppelgänger, an enchanting Margarita Levieva. The film becomes Kutcher’s Trouble In Paradise without coming close to the satire of Lubitsch’s film.
The terrific Anne Heche is surprisingly endearing as Nikki’s initial prey, an emotionally tortured sugar mommy whose pain is self-inflicted. As for Kutcher, at least you believe him in the role. He’s probably the most popular example of a real-life, vacuous, talentless stud who gets by on his looks and the people he’s bedded.
