Film

Spread

Name: Spread
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: 2009
Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Anne Heche, Margarita Levieva, Sebastian Stan, Ashley Johnson

Romantic comedy
Comedy
Light-hearted

A 2009 comedy-drama about a charming drifter in Los Angeles who makes his living seducing wealthy women—until he meets someone who threatens his whole system. It's a film that wants to be romantic and clever but struggles to justify its protagonist's choices. For viewers curious about how cinema handles attractive men who exploit people.

TMDb rating

2.8

If you liked this

Crazy, Stupid, Love.2011

A rom-com that also interrogates male ego and infidelity with genuine warmth. It takes its characters seriously even when they're doing dumb things, and the ensemble cast creates real chemistry.

But If you want emotional depth beyond the surface, the resolution feels a bit too neat and forgiving of bad behaviour.

American Gigolo1980

The spiritual ancestor of this story, with Paul Schrader's direction giving it real style and melancholy. It's genuinely about the loneliness behind the seduction, not just the seduction itself.

But It's a slow, deliberate film from the '80s. If you want zippy pacing and laughs, you'll be disappointed.

Swingers1996

A comedy about attractive men in LA trying to figure out how to treat women, told with heart and insider humour. It's funny without being cruel about its characters' confusion.

But The gender politics haven't aged brilliantly, and it's very much a product of the 90s in tone and reference.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Spread

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Yi Yi2000

Both films are about the moment someone stops performing and what gets revealed when the mask comes off. Yi Yi just does it with more grace and less shame.

A Taiwanese family drama spanning years, about people learning to see each other clearly. It has the same quiet thesis—that real connection requires surrendering your performance—but reaches it through observation rather than seduction.

But It's 2 hours 45 minutes of deliberate pacing with no plot arc in the traditional sense. You have to sit with small moments.

Entourage2004

HBO series about beautiful men in LA navigating success and relationships. It has the same energy—funny, superficial, but oddly invested in its characters' growth.

But It gets repetitive fast, and the show's attitude toward women can feel lazy and unrewarding over ten seasons.

Eating Raoul1982

A dark comedy about seduction, money, and what people will do for it. It's genuinely inventive and weird in ways that feel dangerous.

But It's genuinely bleak and grotesque. If you want charm and warmth, this is the opposite direction.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall2008

A breakup comedy with genuine affection for all its characters, even the ones behaving badly. It's funny because it respects the people involved.

But It relies on some broad physical comedy and sitcom plotting that won't land if that's not your taste.

Love & Other Drugs2010

Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal as a pharmaceutical rep and a woman with Parkinson's. It tries to balance romance, comedy, and real stakes in a way that occasionally works.

But The tone lurches around uncomfortably, mixing rom-com beats with genuine illness in ways that don't always track.

Don Jon2013

Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut about a man obsessed with porn learning to see other people. It's playful but genuinely interrogates male desire in smart ways.

But It's graphic about sexuality in ways that might feel gratuitous, and some find the ending preachy.

Mulholland Drive2001

Both are about beautiful people in LA who use seduction as currency, but Mulholland Drive asks what seduction really is, and answers: a form of death.

David Lynch's Los Angeles—beautiful, corrupt, built on illusion. A woman trying to make it in the city gets entangled with someone beautiful. It's formally dazzling and morally vertiginous.

But If you want clarity and resolution, Lynch will frustrate you. It's a puzzle that doesn't have a solution, by design.

In a World...2013

Where Spread is about a man who profits from being desired, this is about a woman fighting not to be reduced to her appearance. Both are about economics of attraction, but from opposite sides.

Lake Bell's film about a woman voice actor trying to break into a male-dominated industry. It's a comedy that's also genuinely angry about how women get used and seen.

But It's indie and sometimes scrappy. The budget shows, and the comedy is dry—if you want polished and big, this isn't it.