Spring Breakers – Review

If you haven’t seen this movie, I can almost guarantee that it is not what you think it is. It certainly caught me off guard when it came out over a decade ago.

Spring Breakers brings ex-Disney starlets, bikinis, guns, crime, drugs, and more to the forefront in a well put together, sexy and abstract package. Okay, like, what the hell. I agree, it’s crazy. Scantily clad hotties toting guns and robbing fools? And bring in a creatively shot film with a sound cast and fitting music? What the hell.

This is probably a movie that should be a total mess, and really nothing of interest for me at least, however it’s pretty well done and features a fairly outrageous story. Maybe it’s like watching a trainwreck, but it’s mostly entertaining and pretty while it does its thang.

As the opening slow-mo party scene shows you, this is about college kids partying as hard as possible. But… this story comes with criminal twists at least.

Candy (Hudgens) hits the bong. It helps her and Brit (Benson) in class as they focus on their upcoming spring break trip instead of their teacher’s Jim Crow lecture. Faith (Gomez) spends her evening feeling the power of Jesus in a prayer group. Cotty (Korine) joins the girl’s crew for party time. They hit up a house party and toke off bongs made of children’s dolls, play blacklight dice games, drink and enjoy the surrounding chaos.

Then the next morning… it’s time!! They stack their money, sing Nelly, dance in the hallways and get ready for Florida. Oh shit. They are short on cash. Not even hallway there…

So, what are these smoking hot party monsters going to do in order to escape their monotony and see something different? I mean, think of the parties… in Florida!! Everyone else has already left their sleepy college town, and this crew refuses to give up. The determination is real.

But what secrets do they know? Where may some money be stashed away? Maybe they just need to get that fucking cash, and go to spring break. Act like it’s a video game, ya know? Don’t be scared of anything. Arm up. Mask up. Hit the streets.

So, these wild ass girls are down to do nefarious criminal deeds just to GO to spring break. So, what the hell is going to happen when they actually get there?? Certainly nothing can go wrong with attitudes like these. Come watch things go fully off the fucking rails.

There is something hypnotic about the flow of Spring Breakers, and it’s more than the bikinis. It is an arthouse sleazy crime film that is somehow hard not to get caught up in. The film’s scenes play out in a dreamlike manner, with narrative continuing as visuals change from one moment to the next, and new scenes overlapping with the last constantly, dialogue flowing through all seamlessly.

I suspect viewers will either vibe with this movie or hate everything about it. For me, I stand by it, it ain’t that bad and was surprisingly well done. If you can handle the booty shaking, take the trip to Spriiiiiiiinnnnggg Brrreeeeaaaaaaaakkkkkkk.

This is a very hard experience for me to compare to most anything else. Movies listed below have elements of similarity, but are each not quite comparable outright story and vibe wise.