[Movie Review] Spring Breakers

The filming of Spring Breakers seem like it got more advertising and promotion than the actual movie. Everyone remembers photos last year all over magazines of former Disney stars in bikinis filming scenes of drinking, partying, and shooting guns. The film has been criticized as being too racy before even a trailer was released. Its young stars, who are known for their previous teen projects, and being called out by the press for being too controversial. This was all decided before anyone knew anything about the actual characters. As Selena Gomez has said in interviews, there is the movie that the media thought they made and the actual movie they made, which are actually pretty different.

Spring Breakers starts off in a college town. Friends since kindergarten Faith (Selena Gomez), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson) and Cotty (Rachel Korine) are trying to get out of their boring town for spring break, but haven’t saved up enough money. Faith is disappointed because she wanted to see more than just the town that she is from. Candy and Brit have the idea to knock over the chicken shack in their town with Cotty as the getaway driver. After doing this, they all bus down to Florida, enjoying the fruits of their (illegal) labor by drinking, doing drugs, and scootering around. They eventually get arrested for the partying, but instead of spending two more days in jail, rapper Alien (James Franco) bails them out.

This is where things become uncomfortable. Faith, who (un) ironically deals with remaining faithful to her religion and doing what is seen as “right,” is uncomfortable around Alien and his lifestyle. She believes that she came on this trip to have fun with her friends, but doesn’t view this as fun anymore. Cotty, Candy, and Brit are infatuated with Alien and his lifestyle, and there is no clue how far they will go down the rabbit hole.

While the media has portrayed this film as a bunch of young girls partying in bikinis, there is a much deeper story to it. The film explores the girls’ morals, their breaking points, and their motivations in life. It also explores the glorification of the gangster lifestyle. The voiceovers in the film, which are voice mails that the girls leave their family members while on vacation, explore some of the inner thoughts of the girls and the type of people they present to their family. Each girl is a bit different, but you begin to question who views this as a break or an induction into a new lifestyle.