Critics Seem To Really Love 'Spring Breakers'
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Spring Breakers seems to be a pretty love it or hate it movie, but the critics by and large are loving it. Like, really, really loving it. In fact, our gal pal Manohla over at the Times seems to actually be in awe of the film, and that is one woman it is hard to impress.
See what she, and other critics, are saying below.
"The beer doesn’t flow, it floods: over heads, writhing torsos and the bared breasts that wiggle like puppies and wag at the camera like the middle fingers that more and more revelers raise. Welcome to the party, dude, Mr. Korine seems to be saying (or is he snickering?), now sit back, relax and enjoy the show. He proves an excellent ringmaster and a crafty one too. In “Spring Breakers” he bores into a contested, deeply American topic — the pursuit of happiness taken to nihilistic extremes — but turns his exploration into such a gonzo, outrageously funny party that it takes a while to appreciate that this is more of a horror film than a comedy." - The New York Times
"What we're seeing may be the fantasy of four undergraduate friends—Brit, Faith, Candy, and Cotty—jonesing for a primal escape. In a casting coup, the girls are played by Disney and Teen People princesses—erstwhile Zac Efron andJustin Bieber paramours Vanessa Hudgens andSelena Gomez, along with Pretty Little Liarsstar Ashley Benson—who don't so much toy with their good-girl images as set them ablaze. " - The Village Voice
"Already swollen with girl-on-girl flirtation, criminal fantasy and naive dreaminess, the movie explodes into Tampa Bay–set skankitude, where our leads are never out of bikinis, even when flung in jail for trashing a hotel room. They’re bailed out by Alien (James Franco, more alive than ever in the film’s only actual performance), a cornrowed, heavily armed wanksta rapper who nakedly desires them for his posse." - Time Out New York
"Left-field writer-director Harmony Korine's new picture is quite the weirdest, wildest beast we've seen in this year's Venice competition – a college-kid caper that's not so much a case of Korine moving to the mainstream as him showing us just how woozy and debauched the mainstream can be. Gomez stars as Faith, the God-fearing good girl who takes a vacation with her more hedonistic buddies Candy (Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson) and Cotty (Rachel Korine, the director's wife). Unable to fund the trip by legitimate means, the quartet elect to rob a fast-food joint and light out for Florida. "I'm starting to think this is the most spiritual place I've ever been," coos Faith in voiceover while the visuals provide a slow-motion montage of jiggling butts and copious drug use. In Korine's world, the sacred and profane have a habit of blurring." - The Guardian
"It’s clear from the off that this is going to be something very different for Korine, with a slow-motion opening sequence of topless co-eds drinking beer bongs on the beach that could be lifted straight from a 'Girls Gone Wild' tape or a sleazy music video, albeit one with high production values." - IndieWire
