It might explain the sort of emptiness I got from this movie.
I'm not sure if I have any true authority to say how good this movie is, because...I really don't know how to feel about it. It's got stars from other works that I like to avoid, it's directed by some guy I have never heard of, and it's a party movie. It's not a kind of movie you'll ever find me watching unless it's a strong exception. And with the way I've been hearing about this movie, I figured that it was either going to be a huge disaster or something else.
This movie is something else. It's an incredibly unique experience.
Most of the uniqueness comes from its story; in that it has one, but it's barely even there. Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine(the Director's wife, therefore, the one actress you've never heard of) decide they want the wild, partying life in Florida, which is shown in the first five minutes of the movie with Dubstep music blasting(which, I'm pretty sure the only reason why they chose that kind of music was to make sure people walk out of the movie before they see the rest). They are short on money, so, three of the girls rob a store in order to solve that problem. On the trip, they end up in jail for being found with illegal substances, and the person who rescues them is Alien, played by James Franco, only to take them on the further end of the wild life.
I can really only remember two of the characters in this movie as they were the only two characters of the five to show any kind of uniqueness from the rest of the main characters. Selena Gomez plays Faith who comes from a religious background, and she leaves the scene when she feels like it's starting to become too much for her. The other character I remember is James Franco's Alien, as he has a unique name and a big part as the overly into himself chav that everybody seems to like even though he's really just a sad miserable person who has a lot of money. Nobody, not even himself, sees him this way, so they figure him as some kind of prodigy. The other three characters are the rest of the girls, and they feel pretty interchangeable, but, I suppose that was sort of the point as it shows what kind of person would take on this sort of life style.
It may sound like there's a concise story from the description I gave, and while it is easy to follow, most of the movie is made up of just showing us stuff. The first half is to show us the light hearted, partying life-style that these girls find themselves in while the second half drags on about their downfall. It's less about the personal journey for the characters and more about lingering on the life-style these people have taken.
Maybe that explains this sort of empty feeling I got from this movie. I guess it's not that I don't "get it" but more about how far removed I am from these kinds of people or from people in general. It makes me wonder if people my age really do long for this kind of life-style, and if so...they probably should see this movie. I was sort of expecting something life changing, but I left feeling a bit confused.
The movie is interestingly made as the cinematography involves close-ups of...well, pretty much everything. I think it's suppose to give off a vibe of feeling like an extra friend tagged along and decided to film everything. And how the movie presents its scenes is like watching an entire act all at once. The scenes are made up of cutting back and forth between the things that happened later and earlier in the act. It can be really effective at times as we get a glimpse of how a character talks to one person while talking an other about the same thing, but having a different tone. The movie wants us to see this divide between how people felt back then and in the future. It'll even show scenes that was shown earlier but in a different context. It can work, but there'll be many times when the film is overly repeating itself to drive in a point.
And I suppose the point was that the kids finding themselves into these lives only lead them into this sort of existential emptiness, but nobody wants to point it out because...well, they're supposed to be having fun, dammit! And this is fun! It's what Spring Break is all about!
It's going to take a while for this movie to settle in to help me describe on how I felt about this movie. Maybe reading other people's interpretations and reactions might help me learn something, it'll just take time. But if it's one thing, I know that this movie is definitely going to stick with me for a while because of how interesting it was. Because of how unique its style and presentation and subject matter is, it's going to be something that is remembered. That alone is at least worth something. So, if anything, it's a movie that I'd recommend if only because of the polarizing experience that it gives.
