Spring Breakers—starring Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Selena Gomez, James Franco, and Rachel Korine—was directed by Harmony Korine, Rachel Korine’s husband. This movie brought the young teen actresses out of their “good girl” reputations and into a provocative new light. Hudgens and Gomez were formally known as Disney Channel teen stars with their roles in popular G-rated films and shows. Now wanting to break out of their Disney shell, the girls agreed to film Spring Breakers in March 2012. The Disney Channel stars are no longer “little angels” and have traded in their good reputations for grown-up “bad girl” ones. This movie is definitely not for tweens and should be viewed with parental consent.
Spring Breakers deals with four young college students on spring break, whose only obstacle is getting money. They obtain their funds through unlawful ways and go on vacation, but their bad ways do not end there. Faith (Selena Gomez), a struggling Christian Bible-thumping girl, along with her three best friends Brit (Ashley Benson), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), and Cotty (Rachel Korine) arrive at their destination wanting nothing more than a little college fun.With drugs, alcohol, and sex as the stars of their vacation, the girls find themselves locked up in jail until a strange man, Alien (James Franco), bails them out. Taking them under his wing, he teaches the girls the life of the drug business and robbery.
Spring Breakers was shot unlike any ordinary movie. Throwing an artsy-indie spin to it, the director catches the girls’ feelings through camera angles, foreshadowing, and repetition. Although the movie itself seems moronic and simple minded, the cinematography was superb. Korine found ways to portray the intensity of the girls’ crimes which, in turn, allows the audience to feel the character’s struggle.
Without James Franco as the girls’ mentor, the movie would’ve completely tanked. His humorous spin on the girls’ problems made the movie intriguing and worth watching. Franco was brilliant embodying a ridiculously funny “gangster”. He is arguably the only reason this movie got a 70 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The only strengths in Spring Breakers include the filming and James Franco’s humor. This is definitely a funny movie to see but is inappropriate for younger audiences. This movie captures the stereotypical shenanigans students off for Spring Break would commit along with the addition of violence and gangs thrown in for fun.
