Parents Beware: “Spring Breakers” Ain’t No High School Musical Remake

Why am I not surprised? Because in my 30-plus years of working in media I’ve seen it time and time again—child and teen stars go off the deep end once they enter adulthood and some eager agent/producer/director or even (sadly) their parents are all too keen to have them cash in on the latest raunchy, edgy “new thing.” Thus we have Spring Breakers, yet another coming-of-age clone of the many pics before it that celebrates the “fun” of spring break and living the life as a saucy, sultry, sleazy (the “s” section just has too many adjectives in this area) college girl. It stars a legion of goddesses who just a couple of short years ago were entertaining your 8-year-old on Disney and Nickelodeon networks (and of course, they still are in reruns that will last through the ages). Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens lead the pack.

It’s opening in limited release this week and wider toward the end of March, and while at this point my media screening is still three days away I can tell you from reading reviews from others who have been “blessed” with earlier screenings that this is definitely not HSM. Gomez’s character is a Christian named “Faith” who likes to let loose during spring break with her three buddies (Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine—the latter being the wife of the director Harmony Korine). One reviewer for the Hollywood Reporter sums the marketing up well:

...the film’s profile will be boosted by the presence of former Disney Channel cuties Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens among all the bong-hitting, boozing, coke-snorting, breast-baring, grinding bodies.

Another quote from the same review:

Like ducks to water, they ... provide girl-on-girl entertainment and flip sexual domination roles with the receptive Alien [the nickname of a male character]. It soon becomes apparent that he has nothing on these girls in terms of their appetite for excess and amorality.

Fortunately Spring Breakers is rated R in the U.S. for “strong sexual content, language, nudity, drug use and violence throughout.” (A good indication of how deep into the R-rating this movie dives is reflected in Canadian ratings of 18A in most provinces as most R-rated movies in the U.S. are rated 14A in Canada.) But you can bet this title will hit home video soon where it’s very easy for kids of any age to view R-rated movies.

We will have a full review of Spring Breakers soon.