Film Review: Bikini Girls with Machine Guns in Mesmerizing ‘Spring Breakers’

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CHICAGO – Already hailed as this generation’s “Fight Club,” Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers” is a mesmerizing piece of satire, a journey into the dark side of teenage excess. And what’s a better symbol of excess than the ritual of spring break? But lest you think this is like MTV’s watered-down version of pop bands and bikini girls, Korine has something much more intense in store for you. With a pumping, brilliant score by Cliff Martinez (“Drive”) and Skrillex, an outstanding supporting performance from James Franco, and some of the most ridiculous behavior you’ll see on screen all year, “Spring Breakers” is thoroughly entertaining and kinda brilliant.

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 4.0/5.0
Rating: 4.0/5.0

“Spring Breakers” lets viewers know what they’re in for immediately. There’s no warm-up as pounding dubstep music screams from the speakers (make sure your theater of choice plays it LOUD) and Korine, with perfect cinematography from the great Benoit Debie (“Enter the Void”), uses his camera like a leering teenage boy at a beach party in Daytona. There are pornos that don’t have as many slow-motion shots of boobs bouncing as “Spring Breakers”. Beer bongs, cocaine, marijuana, general molestation – it’s a vision of spring break that would send your grandparents into cardiac arrest.

StarRead Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Spring Breakers” in our reviews section.

And it’s exactly where four girls without the money to get to spring break want to be. The “heroines” of “Spring Breakers” are Cotty (Rachel Korine), Brit (Ashley Benson), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), and the sweetest girl of the bunch, satirically-named Faith (Selena Gomez). Guess which one is the most religious? Korine is having a blast just in the casting of these four girls about to get in a mess of trouble. Don’t think for a second that he doesn’t know exactly how controversial it is to throw the stars of “High School Musical” and Disney’s “Wizards of Waverly Place” into this carnal chaos. He’s using their former personas to turn our expectations of them inside out. Even using a Britney Spears song not once, but twice is part of Korine’s clever blend of pop culture and this film’s twisted worldview.

I’m getting ahead of myself. Cotty, Brit, Candy, and Faith really want to go party down at Spring Break, this mythical place where they claim they’ll be able to find themselves and “meet some really nice people” (calls home to worried parents about all the nice people they’re meeting should truly disturb those of us with kids). The problem is the girls don’t have the funds. Bake sale, right? Try robbing the Chicken Shack. Cotty serves as the getaway driver, Brit & Candy put on ski masks and hold up the restaurant’s patrons and manager at gunpoint, advising each other to just pretend it’s a video game. They’ve got the cash, time to head to the land of sun, skin, and sin.

StarContinue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Spring Breakers” review.

“Spring Breakers” stars Ashley Benson, Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Rachel Korine, and James Franco. It was written and directed by Harmony Korine. It opens in Chicago on March 22, 2013.

Spring Breakers
Spring Breakers
Photo credit: A24 Films

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