SO WEIRD, but six weeks later I'm still thinking about this story of college girls on spring break who happen to meet a white rapper/drug lord. It starts with beaches, boobs, beer, and bongs, and then goes completely sideways. The viewer realizes that time isn't linear, and people aren't at all who they seem.
The rapper, who goes by the name Alien, is played by James Franco (last in the title role of Oz the Great and Powerful) with a gold grill across his teeth and corn rows in his slightly graying hair. The girls are played by Disney princesses Selena Gomez (she was born in 1992, this is the first time I've seen her in anything--) and Vanessa Hudgens (b.1988, it says she was in Thirteen (2003) which I liked a lot, but I remember only the stars), joined by Ashley Benson (, new to me) and the senior member of the group, though playing their contemporary, Rachel Korine (b.1986) wife since 2007 of director/writer Harmony Korine (1973). A cult favorite, Harmony (a man) doesn't play it safe. The only one of his pictures I've seen is Mr. Lonely (2007) which was odd but never boring, and Rachel was in it.
Interesting bit of trivia: the girls' college, supposedly in the northern US, was actually filmed at New College in Sarasota Florida, a stone's throw from St. Pete Beach and environs where the bacchanal takes place.
Imdb lists five songs but there's an album out on iTunes and elsewhere that includes some tracks by composer Cliff Martinez (most recently scored The Company You Keep).
This should be out on DVD in July, so check it out if you like weird, sick, and twisted set to rap music. It's not a comedy and definitely not for kids. Rottentomatoes averages are 66% from critics and 51 from audiences. It's hard to say Jack and I enjoyed it but we're not sorry we saw it.
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