SPRING BREAKERS

Selena Gomez’s ‘nice girl’ image will be relinquished in this low budget film which explores the dark and sinister side of humanity. Four girls (Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine) travel to Florida on their Spring Break looking for adventures away from their mundane life at college. They befriend a rich thug (James Franco) who promises them plenty of money and drugs and ultimately leads them on a destructive path to crime.

These bikini-clad girls are captivating in this strange and haunting look at American youth culture, where scenes involving excessive use of drugs, alcohol, obscene language and sexually explicit material may repel many viewers. Not a mainstream movie but one which will have a cult following.

If this film’s objective is to shock and offend it has been an overwhelming success. (MM)

**1/2

BY MARK MORELLINI