Bikini girls with machine-guns

Spring Breakers (R)
Starring: James Franco, Selena Gomez
ON ITS title alone, Spring Breakers would have to meet just about every market.
The teen audience would be assured, and the male of the species would surely line up at the box office.
Actually, this subversive little film is uniquely designed not to appeal to either group … or just about anyone else, for that matter.
It’s an extraordinary kaleidoscope that sees four teenage girl armed robbers knock over a local restaurant, then hit Florida for Spring Break.
They meet up with an unrecognisable James Franco – as gun-toting ne’er-do-well Alien – and it’s game on, girlfriends.
Yes, there is, as you’d expect, plenty of slow-mo volleyball on the beach, and warm water-covered bodies in the sun.
But the script is almost absent – and when the characters do speak, there’s not much sense to be had.
Franco creates a very interesting character in Alien, who gets the best lines and drives a white muscle car with green alien highlights.
And that’s about it – the female leads don’t bring much to the party at all.
Be warned – the film richly deserves its R rating, for both sex and violence – which again cuts out its main audience.
But if bikini girls with machine-guns are your thing, then this is the film for you.
The violence is not at all cartoon-like.
In a better world, this would have been a straight to video nasty.
– Jason Beck