“The Spin” Strikes Balance Between Grounded and Heartwarming

The Spin (Michael Head, 2025) 4 out of 5 stars

Based upon a semi-autobiographical story of co-writer Mark McCausland, The Spin tells the tale of Dermot (Brenock O’Connor, Double Blind) and Elvis (Owen Colgan, Lulu and the Electric Dreamboat), both music enthusiasts who run a less-than-successful record shop in Omagh, Northern Ireland. From the jump, ddirector Michael Head (Bermondsey Tales: Fall of the Roman Empire) offers up a welcome dose of lovely imagery, taking smart advantage of the setting in every sense. The premise takes no time getting up and running, yet feels far from rushed. There’s a bittersweetness to the humor of ignorant would-be patrons dipping into the shop, somehow repeatedly mistaking it for anything but a music store. Thus, it’s not remotely surprising when landlady Sadie (Tara Lynne O’Neill, The Last Rifleman) demands they pay the three-month backlog of overdue rent and they have no funds with which to comply.

Both Dermot and Elvis are heavily invested in the shop and keeping it afloat out of a love of music, but they also have internal lives and motivations beyond it. Elvis’ struggles extend to maintaining a relationship with his young daughter, despite what is indicated to be a long run of disappointments, particularly from his ex-wife. Meanwhile, Dermot doesn’t just desire to sell music but make his own, yet his local performances, much like the record shop, aren’t met with much interest. Early on, he expresses a hope to travel beyond Ireland and make an attempt at a music career in America. At the outset of the film, these dreams seem unlikely, the odds almost impossibly stacked against them, yet they’re completely relatable and presented deftly enough that they don’t come off as trite. It endears us to these unlucky leads while also setting up very believable stakes.

The turn that then follows seems almost too good to be true. Dermot discovers extremely valuable records for sale online, listed for a price that—between him and Elvis—they just might be able to scrounge together and make off with a fortune that can solve all their problems. The hitch: the seller lives a far-enough distance that they’ll need to take a day’s journey (possibly several days’) by car.

Over the course of this road trip, there’s a litany of things hanging in the balance. Numerous diversions sidetrack and delay the quest: what pocket money they do have dwindles rapidly; back home, Sadie isn’t waiting her previously agreed-upon ten-day period for payment and starts renovating the shop anyway; and there’s the growing concern that the boys may not reach the seller in time and the whole journey may wind up being for nothing. Somehow, though, the anxiety that these obstacles stir in a viewer is balanced with an organic, grounded tone. It’s nerve-wracking, but not so much that you don’t enjoy the ride, the aforementioned pit stops, or the captivatingly scenic landscapes and charm of roadside garages and pubs. There are a few moments along the way that drag and underscore a point perhaps a little too far, but those are few and far between and help the film avoid straying into the saccharine.

The journey winds to a conclusion that feels both satisfying and believable, walking an unusually fine line between a realistic and classic happy ending. Not, in fact, too good to be true, but still gratifying, with the characters having sincerely grown from where they started. The Spin delivers exactly what it promises: a good-natured road-trip comedy with friendship at its heart.

Robin C. Farrell

Robin C. Farrell is a video editor, videographer, author, podcaster, and nerd. She has earned editing and writing awards from the Tellys, TIVA-DC Peer Awards, and film festivals, self-published her first book, Resistance Rising, and is an editor and writer for Star Wipe Films, annually participating in film race competitions. When she’s not working, you can find Robin playing D&D, exploring coffee shops, or dreaming up new projects.