Spring Breakers

I am so damn confused.

No, no, no reader...Spring Breakers doesn't have an intricate plot or anything that confused me. And no, it was made logically so it's not really like a WTF-did-I-just-watch type of film. 

I am confused because I cannot decide on whether or not I liked it. It does so many things right; it does so many things in such an interesting way, that deep down I feel like I actually did like it. But on the surface the movie is trash (and I'll get to that in a bit) and I feel like if I enjoyed it then it's simply just as a guilty pleasure.

Honestly, at the time of me writing this sentence, I have no idea what score I am going to give this movie. Therefore, this review is going to be a little bit different than my others. It's going to be an internal dialogue that I have with myself trying to figure out and answer the age-old question: would I recommend this movie? (Certainly not to my mother I wouldn't)
To start out this conversation with myself, I will address the fact that sometimes I really cannot help but shake my head at America's youth these days. OK, OK, there is certainly a time and place for most things, but some of the stuff that goes down in Spring Breakers is just down-right nuts, and that's just in the first half when they are actually at Spring Break. I mean I like partying just as much as the next person but just some of the things that Harmony Korine, the director of the film, captures on camera makes me have two reactions: 1) What stupid, stupid, stupid children and 2) If that's my competition in the work force then I think I will go far. From this point of view, Spring Breakers is almost a tragic movie; one that shows just how far the youth of America has fallen into the gutter. And that's one of the spots where I am most confused about the film...was Korine trying to make a statement about the youth of America? Or was he just adding more trash to the landfill so to speak? I really couldn't tell and I think the film would have been a lot stronger from that point of view if it would have taken a stand on the side that a large portion of the youth of America needs to get their s**t together. But now I'm just going off on a tangent I suppose...

Meet the girls (left to right): Brit, Faith, Candy,
and Cotty (and yes I made this an Extra Large picture, so sue me!)

"You're all arrested for being TOO attractive. 
And because naturally that's how you break out 
of the Disney starlet mold...by getting arrested." 
Too bad that that's Lindsay Lohan's real
 life story...ouch.

My next HUGE problem with the movie, and it kind of plays off my last point is that the girls in this movie are quite possibly the dumbest characters ever made. They may all have IQs under 70, with the exception of Selena Gomez who seems to have this crazy thing called a "conscience". She bails about halfway through the movie because everything is getting too intense for her and I loved her character all the more for that decision because it was real. With that being said, she is also the character who goes on and on about how their lives suck (why because you have to go to class and receive an education? Oh you poor things!) and how this Spring Break trip is changing them and showing them what life is really about and that they should live here forever (partying 24/7? Really? You think that this is real life?). So I guess her character may have an IQ of...let's say, 80? Without giving anything away, the other three stay and get into some really deep stuff. If you thought your Spring Break bro-cation was "crazy", you got nothing on these girls. But that's why they are so damn stupid, and trust me people, I have met some really stupid girls in my life. As a final example of how terrible these girls are: in order to go on Spring Break, they need money, so what do they do? Rob a restaurant (which they very vulgarly and graphically act out later in the movie) and trash it in order to take the cash in the cash register as well as all of the patrons' money. How much lower can you go? Trashing someone's business and robbing others of their hard earned money so that you can go and act like neanderthals? Clearly it struck a negative cord with me.  

James Franco steals the show y'all!! He's got guns
and cornrows y'all! Spring Break forever y'all!

As I continue with my inner dialogue (and trust me, this is now 6 hours after the movie ended and I'm still not sure what I want to give it) I realize that this movie is split up into two parts: pre-James Franco and post-James Franco. His character's introduction changes the entire movie and even the plot. Before him, this is just a tale of these dumb-ass girls escaping their "boring" lives and doing a bunch of dumb-ass stuff. Once Franco is introduced, the movie gets much darker (but also funnier) and this is where the girls' spring break trip cranks up from 11 to 21. BUT...this is also where the movie is at its best. I was far more interested in the plot once James Franco's, Alien (yes that's really his name), started introducing the girls to his ridiculous and dangerous lifestyle. And it provides us with what is my favorite scene so far in 2013. I don't want to ruin it, but basically it's James Franco + a piano + a Britney Spears song + a montage of sorts. It's fantastic and I LOVED it and all of it's poignancy and corniness.

And here I come to the part of why I actually liked Spring Breakers. Yes, it has the hottest ex-Disney Channel starlets breaking out of their shell (particularly Vanessa Hudgens...can anyone say three-way?). Yes, it's got gratuitous nudity, drugs, and language. Yes, it has an awesome character in James Franco's Alien. But its crowning jewel is its style. I've never seen any of Harmony Korine's other movies, but I hear they are similar. This movie, whether you are hating it or loving it, will mesmerize you. Once the credits rolled and I realized the film was over I felt as if I had been hypnotized for an hour and a half. Korine's method of editing, use of color, soundtrack, and camera angles may not be for everyone but for me they were something like I have never experienced before. Very reminiscent of Drive actually (although that movie is far better). 

This is so very wrong, but then why do I get the feeling like I have
to see it again?

Alright, so I'm about a paragraph away from giving this movie a rating and I'm still on the fence. Spring Breakers is trash on film, there is no doubt about that. But at the same time, there is something so compelling...so enticing about it that I feel like I have to see it again. On the surface I want to say, "No. This movie is garbage. Don't see it." but deep down inside there is a part of me that keeps whispering, "You liked it." And honestly? I did like it. It's characters are terrible people and borderline mentally disabled. For the first half it is an orgy of cursing, drugs, drinking, and partying. But it's that second half, the post-James Franco era, where I feel like the movie started to actually say something important; something about being careful what you wish for and recognizing when your life really isn't all that bad. Would I recommend this to everybody? Not at all. In fact, I think this will be a movie where so many people will have different opinions on it that it doesnt even matter what I rate it. Some people will be appalled by it, some people will hate it, some people will be in the middle, others will like it, some will love it. 
I will say this: if you have been curious about seeing it at all, then go see it. I guarantee you that you dont know what type of vacation you are in for. 

Pros:

• Harmony Korine's style is fantastic 85% of the time. I was hypnotized, transported, mesmerized...whatever you want to call it. All I know is that I want to experience it again
• I really think that despite the fact that it is a movie of smut itself, it is trying to say something important about the state of youth in the U.S. and what we view as "fun" and "cool" these days and how sometimes that is not always OK
• Great soundtrack. Every song fits near-flawlessly and I'm not even a dub-step fan
• James Franco's Alien is awesome. He is hilarious, but there were times were I was also totally convinced that Franco could be a hardcore gangster. He has a swagger to him that is impossible to deny
• Once Alien is introduced, the movie finds a plot direction and is all the better for it
• The James-Franco-singing-Britney-Spears scene is my favorite so far in 2013. I would almost go as far to say that it will be iconic
• Selena Gomez's character, while still mentally challenged in my opinion, is the smartest and most realistic of the four girls
• I'm not complaining about these girls being in bikinis the whole movie. Just sayin'

Cons:

• The other 15% of the time, Korine's style is overdone and annoying. In particular, he has a fetish with repeating phrases ("Spring Break forever y'all) and sounds (a gun locking and loading) over and over to the point where they aren't effective anymore
• At times it feels like there is smut just for smut's sake. I get that it is Spring Break, but really...is EVERYONE doing cocaine? Is every girl topless? Do all girls who are standing within a 3 foot proximity of each other ALL make out? Would a gangster really fellate his own loaded guns if they were stuck in his mouth? Doubtful
• The girls' characters are terrible, terrible people. Not to mention stupid. They are a bunch of brats and  I really could have cared less about their outcome for the first half of the movie
• The ending is atrocious, stupid, and does not coincide with the way the characters in the movie act at all. It left a very bad taste in my mouth because of its absurdity and out-of-left-field nature

Rath's Review Score: 7/10