‎Spring Breakers (2012) directed by Harmony Korine • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Spring Breakers

2012 Directed by Harmony Korine

A little sun can bring out your dark side.

After four college girls rob a restaurant to fund their spring break in Florida, they get entangled with a weird dude with his own criminal agenda.

James Franco Selena Gomez Vanessa Hudgens Ashley Benson Rachel Korine Gucci Mane Heather Morris Ash Lendzion Sidney Sewell Thurman Sewell

94 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Grooveman ★★★★★ 31

"This is the fuckin' American dream. This is my fuckin' dream, y'all! All this sheeyit! Look at my sheeyit! I got... I got SHORTS! Every fuckin' color. I got designer T-shirts! I got gold bullets. Motherfuckin' VAM-pires. I got Scarface. On repeat. SCARFACE ON REPEAT. Constant, y'all! I got Escape! Calvin Klein Escape! Mix it up with Calvin Klein Be. Smell nice? I SMELL NICE! That ain't a fuckin' bed; that's a fuckin' art piece. My fuckin' spaceship! U.S.S. Enterprise on this shit. I go to different planets on this motherfucker! Me and my fuckin' Franklins here, we take off. TAKE OFF! Look at my shit. Look at my shit! I got my blue Kool-Aid. I got my fuckin' NUN-CHUCKS.…
Review by Adam Cook ★★★★ 67

Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers is a neon haze of warped wish fulfillment and debauchery as four college girls live the modern American Dream during one long hedonistic nightmare known as spring break. The annual spring break has become something of a rites of passage for America’s youth, glamorised and immortalised by film and MTV. Korine’s latest, and arguably most accessible film in years, embraces the iconography of the yearly pilgrimage whilst lightly satirising the vapidity of American youth and their distorted values.

The film follows four college friends as they rob a Chicken Shack with water pistols in order to pay for their spring break trip to Florida. The BFF soak up sun, drink and drugs as the days and…
Review by Larry ★★★★½ 26

A beach party in the vein of Enter the Void. A mansion that glows pink like the neon letters in Drive. An hour and thirty minute party montage that oozes neon liquid and blares broken sound. A transcendent audiovisual trip into the depths of the American youth.

Its Spring Break.

Bitch.

Compulsive trash humper and arthouse demigod Harmony Korine has somehow created one of the most visually and viscerally intense films of this generation. Uh huh. The film about Disney stars in bikinis is one of the most abrasive and colorful trips in recent cinematic history. Yes, youre reading that right. Spring Breakers is in your face and gets deep under your sunburt crispy skin; an abusive and addicting picture…
Review by davidehrlich ★★★★½ 7

"y'all are my motherfucking soulmates."

like a Ke$ha video directed by Terrence Malick (*Do* The Wonder?), a dubstep belly shot of the american nightmare. Forever.

although, re the too-obvious Ke$ha reference above, Pussy Riot would also fit the bill (the Brony-baiting masks certainly raise that flag). first viewing was dominated by concerns with capitalism and carnal myopia, but i suspect that future visits will focus more on power dynamics and holy shit ashley benson.

also, there's a show-stopping sequence at the film's mid-point that involves a piano and an unexpected pop song and... cinema forreeverrrrr
Review by DirkH ★★★★ 38

I'll be honest. The first time I saw this I hated it immensely. But I was also oddly intrigued. When I watched this it was in a theatre during a sneak preview and after about fifteen minutes the first people started to walk out. After about half an hour, about half the audience had left. Those that remained were noisy, disinterested and annoyed, venting their frustration on the film.

In retrospect, this rubbed off on me and I guess I associated the experience with the film. But still those luring neon lights kept begging me to give it another watch. And when a mate of mine invited me to come over and watch what he called 'this generation's defining film',…
Review by PTAbro ★★★★ 19

Despite my misgivings, it turns out Spring Breakers isn't some sneaky in-joke by Harmony Korine making fun of people dazzled by bright colors and wanting to have a good time. Well, it is, but it's less of a joke than an elegy; not a diatribe against Dionysian debauchery but instead a tragic story of the subversive co-opting of youth culture by commercialism and the effects it has on people snookered by it from the cradle to the (early) grave. Everything I assumed about Korine's M.O. throughout his oevre has been thrown into doubt thanks to the heart on display here.

Spring Breakers isn't really about 4 girls getting in over their heads. Sure, the girls are 'on display' (in all…

Recent reviews

Review by marisa ★★★

LOOK AT MY SHIIIT
Review by Andrew Dodderidge ★★★★★

"I think that's the secret to life - being a good person".
Review by Joe

James Franco plays a Floridian African American and Selena Gomez plays a teenager
Review by Dov Doviak ★★★★½

I absolutely loved this film when I first watched it, but after marathoning Korine's first four films (all for the first time), I was floored all over again. Ditching the, for lack of a better word, ugliness his films were known for completely, Korine incorporates his directorial and narrative flourishes into the vibrant, supersaturated setting seamlessly. Though toned down, the uncomfortable, voyeuristic atmosphere that makes his films so intoxicating is definitely present, juxtaposing the unsettling dramatic tension with the candy-coated dreamland surrounding it incredibly effectively. Combining the broad cultural study of Gummo and Julien with the personalized thematic arcs of Mister Lonely, I would say that Spring Breakers is Korine's most mature film to date. It lacks the visceral power of his early work out of necessity (drowning cats or stealing dead babies wouldn't exactly mesh with all the gloss and gleam), but that's pretty much the only criticism I'm willing to give.
Review by Aaron T. Rex ★★★★★

I'm tempted to go five stars, this film leaves you with such a feeling. Not quite sure what to do with it, but it's unique and special, that's for sure.

I'll do it.
Review by federicaugh ½

Fake deep. That's all.
Review by pachow ★

This was a weird mix of genres. Felt like Terrence Malick was directing at times, but it was a bit more plot (and gratuitous nudity) driven... Not great, but it does provoke a little bit of contemplation.
Review by Christopher Lein ★★★½

Rides the line between stupidity and genius so hard that I don't really know on which side it falls.
Review by Ilikemovies ★★★★★

A hazy nightmarish slap to the face.