Spring Breakers, 2012.
Written and Directed by Harmony Korine.
Starring James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine.
SYNOPSIS:
Four college girls who land in jail after robbing a restaurant in order to fund their spring break vacation find themselves bailed out by a drug and arms dealer who wants them to do some dirty work.
Spring Breakers finds four college girls who all want to go down to Florida for spring break. Everyone else on campus has already left but they just don’t have enough money to get down there. Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson) and Cotty (Rachel Korine) devise a plan to rob a restaurant and everyone in it to fund their trip. They get more than enough cash, pick up their other friend Faith (Selena Gomez) and head down to Florida. Once there, they start to have the time of their lives partying, drinking, doing drugs and having sex. Unfortunately, they end up getting arrested at a party and have no way of getting out. Thankfully, a local rapper named Alien (James Franco) bails them out, but in return he wants them to help him out with some dirty work involving guns and drugs.
This is a strange film to watch in a lot of ways. The entire thing is clearly being played for laughs but at the same time it feels like everyone involved is trying to play everything off like it’s serious. Aside from the tone of the film, the way it’s edited and put together is just atrocious. There are many times where the camera cuts to random people who have nothing to do with the film, on the beach and mostly half naked, and we just see them partying. None of this has any significance other than to show as many naked girls as possible. Korine also really likes to zoom in and give close ups of all the main girls’ crotches and backsides for no reason at all. It just seems so odd for him to try and sexualize every little moment of the film.
With a film like this the main characters need to be fun and likable otherwise it just won’t work. Sadly, all four of the main girls are insanely annoying. Not only are they annoying, but Korine really doesn’t even try to give them any characteristics other than being a bunch of shallow whores. The one character they do try and give a little more depth to is Faith, but in the end she’s just like all the other girls. There’s a point where they even try to make you feel sorry for her but it doesn’t work because she knew what she was getting into and deserves anything that happens to her.
To make matters worse none of the actresses do anything to add to their characters. Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson are both just very poor here, Rachel Korine is only in the movie because her husband is the director, and while Selena Gomez does actually try, I just wasn’t sold by any of her scenes. The one bright spot in the film is Mr. James Franco. Franco puts everything into this role and actually does a really great job portraying his character. He’s constantly funny but does pull out a couple of nice scenes along the way too.
Spring Breakers is horribly edited, poorly written and thinks it’s better than it actually ends up being. Aside from James Franco’s performance there is nothing else here that I would consider to be good.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★
Jake Peffer
Originally published September 12, 2013. Updated January 6, 2021.
