Spin the Bottle (1998) Poster

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7/10
5 friends get together for lake side fun
Sainsdy16 July 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I must admit, I didn't read anything about this film before I watched it so I had no idea what to expect. The opening scene with the young kids playing together, that was beautifully filmed and the story opened up from there without too many complaints for the rest of it. I loved the connection between all five main characters, the way they worked off each other for either positive or negative resolutions. There was a very good scene with Ted and Rachel about half way through that really explored Ted's background, well written. I probably wouldn't have chosen Mitchell Riggs to play Ted. No offense but he was too plain for this roll, lacking passion. As someone who was suppose to bully his friend all through school I would have expected someone with a little more of an edge, just hidden slightly and coming out at the end, well that just didn't happen. As someone who was bullied at school, I could not foresee Ted really bothering me all that much. The remaining main characters each added their own bit, loved it.
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7/10
a little too much sex, good acting.
Hunky Stud7 November 2013
it is a little hard to believe that they can have sex with each other without being found out by others since they share a small place.

i can't believe that it was released in 2000, it felt as if it just happened. overall, it is a good entertaining film, i thought that it was those kind of film which i can play on the internet and watch it at the same time. but i was wrong, i had to rewatch the whole thing again because they do lots of acting through talking. lots of things happened in a short time.

i don't like that guy with piercing on his face, it should be a real handsome guy with nice body, then it will be more believable.

those people indeed have chemistry, it feels like they really know each other for a long time.
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Holter Graham sizzles in this movie!
mstahl2928 September 2006
This is a great movie because of the relationships of all involved as they come together again. I love all the people, but I wouldn't have chosen Mitchell Riggs to play the main character Ted. He is rather bland in both looks and acting compared to everyone else. Holter Graham makes the whole movie worth watching with his rugged good looks.I wish more time was spent on Holter's character Jonah than on Ted. The three girls have a good relationship, yet jealousy thing going too, which is good.The relationship between Ted and Jonah is more explored here than in other movies of this type, (say The Secaucus Seven)and that is another plus about this movie. Watching Ted and Jonah together takes the male friendship thing to a new sexier level if permissible by guys.
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1/10
Too naive to be 2000 year movie
newstudent20 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This movie shows us the reunion of 5 childhood friends. Something has changed, something did not. It is sad to watch this film, because you know from the beginning almost everything.

Depressed girl, engaged couple who, after living together a long time quarrel like teenagers. Slutty bad girl. Every one act like they are children. There is even a phrase about it: "I think that personality is formed at age of 3. And then we all those 3yearolds". In this movie – they are.

And actors don't help this film. I really didn't like this film. But childish memories at the beginning (titles) was great and well filmed.
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8/10
A very surprising end for me.
Scott9102 July 2004
Warning: Spoilers
..............spoilers within.....................

It all happened during the reunion of 5 childhood friends - Ted, Bev, Alex, Rachel and Jonan. The movie is set in a lakeside cabin that they used to play in when they were kids. Ted and Bev were just engaged and Ted feels very uncomfortable about this reunion for some unknown reasons. Alex seems to be sexually aggressive and starts to flirt with Ted upon their arrival. Rachel is still traumatized by the break up with her boyfriend. And when Jonan finally shows, the three girls are immediately attracted to him. They keeps on talking about Jonan's piercing, his perfect figure and possibility about sleeping with him.

After dinner, Jonan suggests they play "spin the bottle" and everyone agrees. And during the game, almost everyone gets a chance to kiss each other: Ted and Alex, Alex and Jonan, Jonan and Rachel.... Personally I think this is the best scene of the whole movie. You could clearly see the jealousy, embarrassment and sexual tense between these 5 people.However, after Ted gets the chance to kiss Jonan, he suddenly leaves the game without any reason.

After the game, Jonan manages to sleep with both Bev and Ted. And we learned that Ted and Jonan had a history back then. Apparently Ted chose to protect himself and abandoned Jonan when people found out about them, which caused Jonan to hate Ted for a very long time. And this is the reason why Ted feels uncomfortable about this reunion: he was afraid Jonan would not forgive him. When Jonan tells Ted that he forgives him,Ted is released . And we could tell that Ted was still in love with Jonan, even when Jonan tells him about sleeping with Bev, he was not very angry.

Later, Ted and Bev confess with each other about both sleeping with Jonan. And Bev is furious.

The next morning during breakfast, Bev let all her anger out on Jonan and everyone is surprised to learn about their affairs. Both Jonan and Bev ask Ted to make a choice. And Ted chooses Jonan. Bev got furious again and storms out of the cabin. Alex and Rachel also leaves. Just when i think the movie is gonna end rather ideally - from a gay man 's perspective :-), comes the unexpected. After everyone leaves, Jonan tells Ted that he is going to leave too and seems very repulsed by Ted. Ted is confused. And Jonan tells Ted that he's never stopped hating Ted. Ted's coward behavior made his entire life miserable. And the whole thing is just a revenge. Then he leaves.

In the end of the movie, Ted, we could tell, though devastated, feels happy that he is finally able to embrace who he is.

In general, the movie has very good plot. I really start to care about these characters. Though the end of the movie was a bit too much of a surprise to me, I still liked it.

My rating : 8/10.
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9/10
A deceptively well written film that may teach you something.
ksmith8184 January 2005
Warning: Spoilers
At first this movie did not impress me, it was doing what other movies do and going where other movies go. That changed when Rachel gave a speech to Ted about oatmeal. You see Ted ate oatmeal because his parents said it was good for him, he even ate it when his parents weren't there because what was expected of him became what he expected of himself. This piece of sharp, well written dialog that gave me a bit of a look into the meaning of this one person's life told me that this movie which could of just been about one person's revenge was actually a look into who these people where and why they did what they did. From that point on I started to appreciate this movie and what it could teach me. Even though I was a little disappointed by the ending, I do understand why it ended that way and am a little bit happier that everyone ended up just a little bit happier than they were coming into the film.
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Life is a Spin......And not just of a bottle........
arizona-philm-phan6 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
For what has, to me, turned out to be a good little film that just could NOT develop a following, it's surprising how often I pull it from my quite large DVD collection and take it for a "Spin." From a gay romantic angle (of much interest to me), it is definitely no "Just A Question Of Love" or "Shelter" or even "Boy Culture." No, romance is not the main focus of this little work. What we have, instead, is the individual performance of each ensemble player lifting this production to a sum which is more than a total of its (well, actually their) parts. And, frankly, this is unexpected since, with the exception of Heather Goldenhersh (Rachel), the remainder of our lead cast of five have little to show in the way of both pre- and follow on starring-in works. Be that as it may, this cast "clicked" in their work as individual characters and in their interplay with one another.

My positive review at this late date won't do anything particularly worthwhile for this film and its place in movie history (yes, I'm bad for not acting sooner). BUT......if you're not a homophobe (look it up), and are considering a film rental or a new/used purchase, I'd say you probably won't go wrong giving it a try (plus I'd predict a not long availability life for this DVD in future).

PS: As two other Customer Reviewers have mentioned, the DVD Special Features "Director/Writers Commentary" is both revealing and witty. In it you will learn, for example, how puzzling it was to set up the male/male anal sex, lovemaking scene. Apparently no one on set seemed to know (yeah, sure) a suitable "alignment" for the "top" and "bottom actors. The resulting face-to-face (missionary), legs fully extended position which was shot might be considered more ascetically (or Ratings) acceptable but....come on guys....having the bottom's legs at least bent at the knees, or even better, locked at the ankles over the top's backside, would have at least lent some realism. Still, can't say this shot's outcome isn't romantic; it is that.

****
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10/10
Best reunion-type film I have seen
politis21 July 1999
Extremely well-written comedy with serious message behind it. Five childhood friends get together for a reunion as young adults. The script in a very original and clever manner lets the characters build upon memories from childhood to learn things about their present selves. I'm surprised this isn't more widely known.
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