Somewhere in Harmony Korine's tenuous tale of teenage angst there's a point. But for some reason all I seem to remember are all those slow-motion shots on a sun-kissed beach of rowdy teenagers, drunk and highout of their minds, acting up in nothing but their birthday suits. It's 'Kids' all over again.
The film follows a fearsome feminine foursome on their mission to do whatever it takes to get enough money to enjoy spring break, that supposedly special time for American youths which sees them forget their studies to concentrate on the more important part of school life – getting absolutely wasted.
Chubby-faced cherub Selena Gomez and voluptuous Vanessa Hudgens swap the Disney channel for the Adult one, as they prowl around half-naked with two other girls on the streets of Florida's neon night time. Cash strapped, they decide, inexplicably, to hold up a diner – with water pistols! They triumph in their daring raid but are quickly jailed for forgetting to remain inconspicuous.
A gangster-rapper named Alien (James Franco) bails them out on the condition that they be his personal playthings. This is where the story gets carried away with itself. The girls' transition from independent women to teeny-bopping slaves is so sudden and incredulous that I felt cheated.
Two girls become scared of Alien's violent, excessive world and decide to go home. The other two stay and become his bodyguards as well as lovers. Alien plans to takeover the Florida coast underworld but knows this will require killing his former boss (Gucci Mane).
At this point the story dies and gives way to random horseplay, involving armed robberies, wanton murders and Alien wooing his two slave girls, in one example by singing a Britney Spears song. Other distractions include scene repetition, and Alien's incessant mouthing of 'spring break' in voice-over.
Franco, buff and braided, gives a towering performance that excuses him for the shambles that was 'Oz'. It must have been a very difficult character to get right because of how idiosyncratic it is. Every bad choice could have led to disaster. Not sure he gets the accent totally right, though, unless 'y'all' is meant to come out as 'you all' in a Southern drawl.
One pivotal scene instantly repelled me. Alien shows off his awesome arsenal in his beach house ('look at all ma she-at' he repeats) while the two girls feign interest. Suddenly they have him at gun point and force him to do what no man should have to do to his own gun. They scare him, ridicule him and take pleasure in doing so. But then there's more incredulity: they give up the act and allow themselves to be fondled by him.
If the story had courage and respect for its feminist tone, it would have been much better to run with a story of how the two girls use Alien to live a life of excess and then turn against him at his most vulnerable moment. That would be a spring break to remember.
The film follows a fearsome feminine foursome on their mission to do whatever it takes to get enough money to enjoy spring break, that supposedly special time for American youths which sees them forget their studies to concentrate on the more important part of school life – getting absolutely wasted.
Chubby-faced cherub Selena Gomez and voluptuous Vanessa Hudgens swap the Disney channel for the Adult one, as they prowl around half-naked with two other girls on the streets of Florida's neon night time. Cash strapped, they decide, inexplicably, to hold up a diner – with water pistols! They triumph in their daring raid but are quickly jailed for forgetting to remain inconspicuous.
A gangster-rapper named Alien (James Franco) bails them out on the condition that they be his personal playthings. This is where the story gets carried away with itself. The girls' transition from independent women to teeny-bopping slaves is so sudden and incredulous that I felt cheated.
Two girls become scared of Alien's violent, excessive world and decide to go home. The other two stay and become his bodyguards as well as lovers. Alien plans to takeover the Florida coast underworld but knows this will require killing his former boss (Gucci Mane).
At this point the story dies and gives way to random horseplay, involving armed robberies, wanton murders and Alien wooing his two slave girls, in one example by singing a Britney Spears song. Other distractions include scene repetition, and Alien's incessant mouthing of 'spring break' in voice-over.
Franco, buff and braided, gives a towering performance that excuses him for the shambles that was 'Oz'. It must have been a very difficult character to get right because of how idiosyncratic it is. Every bad choice could have led to disaster. Not sure he gets the accent totally right, though, unless 'y'all' is meant to come out as 'you all' in a Southern drawl.
One pivotal scene instantly repelled me. Alien shows off his awesome arsenal in his beach house ('look at all ma she-at' he repeats) while the two girls feign interest. Suddenly they have him at gun point and force him to do what no man should have to do to his own gun. They scare him, ridicule him and take pleasure in doing so. But then there's more incredulity: they give up the act and allow themselves to be fondled by him.
If the story had courage and respect for its feminist tone, it would have been much better to run with a story of how the two girls use Alien to live a life of excess and then turn against him at his most vulnerable moment. That would be a spring break to remember.