Spring Breakers is NOTHING like I expected

I’d only heard of this movie basically through the Bombcast and what I assumed when I heard James Franco plays a drug dealer and parties with a bunch of ex Disney stars is that you’ll get some sort of lady driven American Pie sorta thing with probably more weed jokes and less dessert molestation.

HOW WRONG I WAS. The tone was so self serious and the cinematography was almost like a horror movie fever dream that I immediately felt lost. The movie actually offended me so much in the first half hour through sheer confusion and the amount of dubstep and weird shit on the screen that I confusedly turned it off.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about it ….. so at about 2am in the morning I ended up watching the rest of it and now I think I actually kind of liked it?! Or at least think that nothing could be accidentally so bizarre that I sort of respect the whole thing for whatever message it’s going for but only God knows what that is.

I have to know what do other people think about this film and were you as blindsided as I was?

Also that Britney Spears piano interlude scene is the greatest scene in movie history.

I had mixed feelings on the ending at the time, but after sitting on it for a while, I would say that overall I absolutely loved it. I wouldn't say I was blindsided because I had no idea what to even expect. I remember seeing the trailer and thinking "that was fucking weird..." and I remember someone somewhere saying something along the lines of "I saw Spring Breakers. I'm not going to talk about it. Just go watch it."

So I watched it.

It's one hell of a mesmerizing movie because it's so weird. Because it seems like it's just going to be the dumb fucking movie about some dumb fucking teenage girls having this crazy spring break, but - I forget when it was since it's been so long since I've seen it - something clicks and, in my opinion at least, it turns into the Fight Club-esque movie where it's very clearly mocking and criticizing the very thing it's about which is this out of control youth and pop culture. I've read some other things about how it's also a criticism on white privilege and cultural appropriation, but this was long after I watched the movie so I can't really speak to how true that is.

That said, I don't think this is some misunderstood masterpiece that everyone needs to go see and blahblahblah. I just think it's a weird movie, one that really resonated with me personally, that is smarter than it lets on and you have to sorta embrace that weirdness in order to look past it

Yes, the piano interlude scene is beautiful, awful, and hilarious at the same time, I can never stop thinking about it. My girlfriend used to sing that song based entirely on that scene (she had never heard it before it) for at least four years, not exaggerating, after we saw it in 2012. Mesmerizing is actually a very good word to describe the entire movie.

Spring Breakers is one of my favorite movies ever. Spring break foreverrERrrrrRRRr... biiiitch... Look at all my shit, every scene with Gucci, it's a goldmine. It's a very entertaining movie and sometimes it gets philosophical in both a very cheesy overblown way it can't pull off, but there's also some sincerity there for us that are of similar age to the girls. Everything is so vapid, empty and disgusting, in a way I at least can relate to somewhat. The movie captures that perfectly. The dubstep drugdoin' scene where the police busts them is just a nightmare and also hilarious. Franco is a decent Riff Raff stand in but I can never stop thinking about the movie that would have been if he actually had done the film.

As you both say, it's a weird movie. It's also very unique. I think the correct mindset for this movie is late at night and preferably a little bit drunk and or stoned. It works best if in summer as well. I was not entirely blindsided by it as I was a big Gucci fan and could only think a movie with him would be extremely weird, which it is. I was very surprised by Selena Gomez doing what she does in that movie, though. I love that damn movie.

After I was done watching it I also liked Spring Breakers. I see it more as a commentary on todays Spring Break youth culture. I think a lot of people that didn't like it might simply have missed that part or didn't have any interest in engaging with it as a commentary, they might just see it as a cheap trashy movie that sold it self on sex and violence and nothing more than that.

SPRING BREAK FOR-EV-ER

Is this the movie where James Franco takes in a bunch of girls on Spring Break and ends up dying at the end? Or is that a different movie? Cause I remember something like that. Also he gives fellatio to the barrel of a gun a think.

Spring breeeeeeeeeeeeeeak

@shivermetimbers:You are correct sir

Yeah my only knowledge of this film prior to release was the bombcast laughing about it so I had no idea about any of it.

The further I get away from it the more I like it - it's definitely got me thinking about it way more than any other film I've seen this year which feels odd.

I really fucking like Spring Breakers. I don't pretend it's a good film or anything, but there are a lot of good scenes, the cinematography is pretty great, and it's fun. It's both not self-serious but also completely self-serious. And yeah the Britney piano scene is amazing in so many different ways.

Sprang Break foeva

It took me a while to admit it, but it's one of the best films of the decade. It's one of those films that I kept thinking about every few months or so that I ended up getting myself a copy.

Also, fun fact: Saints Row: The Third is mentioned in the special thanks.