Thing I do admire the movie for is that it takes the concept of a
spring break movie but turns it into something more serious and
something with some more substance to it. Too bad that the substance
just isn't anything all that great or interesting.
Sure, the movie feels fresh and original with its approach but it just doesn't really seem to know what it wants to do with all of its creativity and originality. The end result is a too shallow movie, that doesn't really make a clear point about anything and is lacking a convincing enough main plot line and likable, well enough developed, characters.
Seems to me that you should mostly take this movie as a social commentary, of today's youth and the spring break type of mentality. It shows how good girls go bad, in just about the worst way imaginable. That all would have been fine, if only the movie indeed would feel like a more realistic one, with both its story and characters. But the movie doesn't seem to want to be taken literally. It seems to be more about the subtext and deeper meanings behind some of the lines, characters and imagery. It however ultimately does a poor job at conveying any type of message to its audience really, since it never handles its story and concept in an effective enough way.
It's hard to feel involved with the movie, especially once it starts throwing all sorts of stuff at you. The movie is a still pretty straightforward and an easy to follow one at first but the second half almost feels like a totally different movie of its own. And just not a very good or interesting one really. It seems to me that all of the stuff the movie did and said in its second half easily could have been told in 15 minutes as well. Instead, the movie starts repeating and repeating itself, over and over again, without ever building up to- or reaching a satisfying enough conclusion with anything. It fails to make an impact with its story and messages, or at least for me it did.
It never becomes a truly terrible movie to watch as well though. It remains a pleasant enough movie to watch, despite some of its themes (seriously, this is not a comedy at all and I also don't know why it gets listed as one), purely due to its visual style. I liked the look of the movie and its cinematography, though at the same time it also gave the movie a sort of messy feeling to it, which you could also blame the editing for. But overall, I still liked it, for this particular movie and you could say that this movie is a bit of a case of style over substance but the style is still strong enough to keep you interested, all throughout.
I also liked James Franco's performance in this, though he mostly seems to be doing a sort of Drexl Spivey impression. He still manages to bring some much needed life to this movie and his character is probably the only true interesting one out of the entire movie, even while you never really get to know him that well.
It remains a very uneven movie though. It's too messy with its story and storytelling, not interesting enough with its plot or characters and it fails to get any of its messages across in a clear- and effective enough manner.
5/10
Sure, the movie feels fresh and original with its approach but it just doesn't really seem to know what it wants to do with all of its creativity and originality. The end result is a too shallow movie, that doesn't really make a clear point about anything and is lacking a convincing enough main plot line and likable, well enough developed, characters.
Seems to me that you should mostly take this movie as a social commentary, of today's youth and the spring break type of mentality. It shows how good girls go bad, in just about the worst way imaginable. That all would have been fine, if only the movie indeed would feel like a more realistic one, with both its story and characters. But the movie doesn't seem to want to be taken literally. It seems to be more about the subtext and deeper meanings behind some of the lines, characters and imagery. It however ultimately does a poor job at conveying any type of message to its audience really, since it never handles its story and concept in an effective enough way.
It's hard to feel involved with the movie, especially once it starts throwing all sorts of stuff at you. The movie is a still pretty straightforward and an easy to follow one at first but the second half almost feels like a totally different movie of its own. And just not a very good or interesting one really. It seems to me that all of the stuff the movie did and said in its second half easily could have been told in 15 minutes as well. Instead, the movie starts repeating and repeating itself, over and over again, without ever building up to- or reaching a satisfying enough conclusion with anything. It fails to make an impact with its story and messages, or at least for me it did.
It never becomes a truly terrible movie to watch as well though. It remains a pleasant enough movie to watch, despite some of its themes (seriously, this is not a comedy at all and I also don't know why it gets listed as one), purely due to its visual style. I liked the look of the movie and its cinematography, though at the same time it also gave the movie a sort of messy feeling to it, which you could also blame the editing for. But overall, I still liked it, for this particular movie and you could say that this movie is a bit of a case of style over substance but the style is still strong enough to keep you interested, all throughout.
I also liked James Franco's performance in this, though he mostly seems to be doing a sort of Drexl Spivey impression. He still manages to bring some much needed life to this movie and his character is probably the only true interesting one out of the entire movie, even while you never really get to know him that well.
It remains a very uneven movie though. It's too messy with its story and storytelling, not interesting enough with its plot or characters and it fails to get any of its messages across in a clear- and effective enough manner.
5/10
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