Customer Reviews

Spring Breakdown [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Look, I don't intend to sugarcoat the fact that this movie isn't anything groundbreaking or unforgettable or anywhere near being a GREAT comedy, but for a straight-to-video, never-heard-of-it type movie, I was throughly entertained. The charm of its stars, takes you for a 90 minute trip that you just can't seem to stop watching.

This movie isn't trying to win awards, their just trying to have fun and the fun the actors had while filming, is contagious.

Amber Tamblyn's turn as Ashley, the daughter of Senator 'Kay Bee' Hartmann would be Vice President, is adorable and endearing. This is one of the things that movie creators forget more often than most these days. Most movies fail to make the audience relate and CARE about their characters. The makers of SPRING BREAKDOWN didn't make that mistake here.

So when friends and lifelong nerds Gayle (Amy Poehler), Becky (Parker Posey) & Judi (Rachel Dratch) are sent to South Padre to keep a close eye on the Senator's daughter and keep her from making any election effecting mistakes, they get to relive the life they skipped over in their own college days.

Judi's (Dratch) late night mistake as she crawls into the wrong room and bed and wakes up with a gorgeous hunk, mistakenly thinking she did more than she really did, becomes a big movie long joke that I found quietly hilarious and surprisingly touching.

Also Missi Pyle has a supporting role as Padre bar hopper and resident Charlene. She's hilarious! What?! So drunk she hits on a tree. What?!

On a rainy day, SPRING BREAKDOWN is well worth the time for some escapism to help you forget all the BS going on in the world. Laugh a little.

Ever feel like the underdog who keeps getting the short end of the stick and is just waiting for your time in the sun to come?! Well these three best friends, Gayle(Amy Poehler), Becky(Parker Posey) and Judi(Rachel Dratch) know exactly how that feels.

From college til present these girls have never caught a break, and definitely never tried to change who they are for anyone else.. this is until Becky is asked by her boss, the future vice president(Jane Lynch) to attend spring break and watch over her daughter, Ashley(Amber Tamblyn), who she believes to be a crazy, party girl.

Of course, they are all surprised to find Ashley with her friends, being very much the opposite of a party girl, who shares an odd likeness to themselves. Her very purpose of attending spring break not even to have fun, but to win back her boyfriend who recently dumped her for Mason(Sophie Monk) the 'queen' of the most popular girls at spring break, The Seven.

This movie is silly, a little unrealistic, and really funny.... sometimes. I found myself either laughing-out-loud and holding my stomach or annoyed. But overall this film is light, and packs a good message...if you can get yourself to sit through the 'all-girl talent show' and Rachel Dratch's 'fling' with super hunky Justin Hartley.... you'll see it's all about not getting caught up in the trivial things in life, making good friends, and never letting anyone make you feel inferior for who you really are.. even if you're just the 'average girl'.

This delightful little comedy probably only deserves three stars, but the mean-spirited (and completely unjustified and wholly unsubstantiated) one-star review needs some evening out.

The film didn't get a theatrical release and that's not a surprise, because it's pretty minor, but it also has a good heart, a fine message, and an appealing cast (with many of the finest comedy talents in the business, some in virtual cameos). And the salsa wrestling looks great in blu-ray. Probably what works against it most is the lack of truly big laughs -- sometimes you think the cast is having more fun playing at spring break than you are watching -- but it's consistently amusing and the character-driven story is worthwhile. Parker Posey (in a role one supposes was intended for Rachel Dratch's pal Tina Fey) is particularly good...and Amy Poehler looks as fine as she is funny in a bikini. Give it a break...and a look.

Spring Breakdown was fresh and stands out among all the other goofy summer movies being produced. Sure the message isn't new, but it is great to finally see a funny movie where the women are actually relatable, 'flawed', realistic, funny, and the central characters. If you are looking for a movie just to relax and enjoy, this is it. It had me laughing more then any Apatow movie, and I'm giving it a five because it is a great movie for its genre. I highly recommend it for women, but I'm sure men would enjoy it as well.

Lots of talent in front of the camera. Great cast. I especially admire Parker Posey. She was excellent in CLOCKWATCHERS, one of my favorite films of the 1990s. Also did great work in HOUSE OF YES and DINNER AT FRED'S.

Kudos also to Amy Pohler, Seth Meyers, Missi Pyle, Jane Lynch, and Amber Tamblyn. Nope, the problem with SPRING BREAKDOWN isn't in front of the camera.

(I exempt Rachel Dratch from my kudos; her performance is less inspired. But she has story credit on the script, which explains her presence.)

The script is unfunny and unoriginal. I've seen this story many times before. Nerds grow up, and years later, are given a chance to prove themselves to be cool. ROMY AND MICHELLE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION comes to mind (same story, better film). Also shades of ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS; Parker Posey's nerdy, socially conscious character is similar to Saffie, Edina's nerdy, socially conscious daughter.

In SPRING BREAKDOWN, three nerdy friends from college, now in their 30s, go to spring break, to keep a Senator's nerdy daughter out of trouble.

In the end, we learn "a very important lesson": you should be yourself, and not care what other people think.

JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS (also featuring Posey) was a fresher comedy, in that it satirized old cliches like that.

SPRING BREAKDOWN is a meandering mess that parades tired old stereotypes. The anorexic cool girls, jokes about drinking -- LOTS of jokes in this film are based on contrasting the nerdy girls with drunken, messy people. Missi Pyle lies in a parking lot, drunk out of her mind. Rache Dratch wakes up among drunk guys in bed. Etc. etc.

Yes, old concepts can still be funny, if well handled. But there's no new twist or freshness in this film. You could write the script in your head.

This would have been a funnier film if this talented cast had tossed the script and improvised the comedy. Seriously. Posey's improvisations in Christopher Guest's mockumentaries are funnier than her character in SPRING BREAKDOWN.

Gayle O'Brien (Amy Poehler), Becky St. Germaine (Parker Posey), and Judi Joskow (Rachel Dratch) were losers in college. Savouring the idea that one day they would be the well off ones with hot husbands that the cool kids wish they could be, instead they find themselves in their 30's and still losers. When Becky gets a job from her boss Senator Hartmann (Jane Lynch) to secretly watch her daughter Ashley (Amber Tamblyn) while she's at Spring Break, Gayle and Judi tag along.

In the early 21st century, we saw the rise of what became known as the new Frat Pack. This was a group of guys who made comedies together and featured Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson, and Vince Vaughn as the prominent members. Spring Breakdown seems like a jumping off point for a sort of female version of that former Frat Pack. As it would seem only natural that Tina Fey was intended to play the part of Becky St. Germaine, they pulled something similar to what Adam Sandler has done with his cronies with Kevin James taking the place of Chris Farley, here they replaced Fey with Parker Posey. So how does the female iteration of the Frat Pack fare?

Not very well. Spring Breakdown seems partly like an homage to Revenge of the Nerds part 2, and for those of us who like Revenge of the Nerds, we know that the second movie isn't the one that you really want to pay homage too. The writing doesn't do much to flesh out the characters in any way that would make people feel for them any more than people would feel from the many caricatures you can find in an SNL skit. While the jokes might have looked good on paper, they would have been better served in a skit, rather than in a full length movie they can't sustain.

The acting is serviceable, particularly from the always good Parker Posey, but the writing doesn't give any of the actresses much to lean on. Amy Poehler's character is nothing more than a walking amalgam of her many SNL characters lumped into one character. Rachel Dratch, a comedienne best known for Debbie Downer on SNL, is an actress best suited to skits and guest stints on TV shows. Even some of the smaller characters, such as Seth Meyers closeted William and Missi Pyle's Charlene, can wear on the nerves in there brief appearances in the film.

There are some laugh out loud moments in the film, but more often you're laughing at the people in the movie for appearing in this mess. I can't recommend this movie, which to me is sad because I always enjoy Amy Poehler, Parker Posey, and Jane Lynch typically in anything they're appearing in. Unfortunately, this film is a fairly big miss.

Great movie to watch with some of the girls. The ladies in this movie just make me laugh. I would recommend this movie for anyone.

We quickly received the movie in time for our vacation and we enjoyed the movie. It was entertaining, but for adults.

I just wanted something silly that featured some fun women. I got it with this. The excellent cast made the silliness all the more enjoyable.

Now I have work to do, but this provided an ideal mind-cleansing (as in, it emptied my brain of all thought, in a welcome way).

I am still quoting this movie. I don't know why it is not a cult classic. Because it should be. Dratch, Poehler and Posey steal the show in this incredible raucous tale of late-in-life spring breaker. I laughed til I cried, I cried til I laughed. The saddest part of this whole thing is that if this movie starred Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sans and Andy Samburg, it would've been a hit. Seriously, comedy is still a boys club and there ain't nothin' anyone can do about it. Except buy this movie. And show your friends. And make it a cult classic.