Review of Spring Breakdown (2009) by Jennifer S — 09 Feb 2010

For anyone who wishes Judd Apatow would direct a movie with women as the central characters--well, Spring Breakdown is pretty much it. I was skeptical about this movie at first since it was straight-to-DVD, but Spring Breakdown is actually pretty hilarious. Amy Poehler, Parker Posey, and Rachel Dratch play loser 30-somethings who can't get men, worship their pets, and listen to women-centered folk music. But when Posey's character, who works for a gun-toting right-wing senator (played awesomely by Jane Lynch), gets sent to spring break in South Padre to keep an eye on the senator's daughter, the three friends get a second chance at being the cool, sexy girls they most definitely were not in college.

The plot sounds like it could go horribly awry, but the jokes are consistently funny and occasionally outrageous and gross, in the tradition of The 40 Year Old Virgin. The supporting characters--including Missi Pyle playing Charlene, a veteran spring breaker and complete alcoholic; Sophie Monk as bitchy, slutty popular girl Mason; and Seth Meyers as Dratch's obviously gay fiance--add even more hilarity to the mix. I feel like Spring Breakdown succeeds where that terrible Cameron Diaz vehicle, The Sweetest Thing, failed. Instead of having attractive, unfunny actresses getting into wacky situations, Spring Breakdown actually has funny, plain actresses getting into wacky situations and *gasp* learning to love themselves just as they are in the end.

Alright, so I could either be preaching to the choir, or attempting to convert the heathens (i.e. people who don't like women-centered comedy...you know who you are) with this review, but I can tell you this: I've seen a hell of a lot of unfunny "chick flicks" in my time, and Spring Breakdown is a cut above the rest, straight-to-DVD or not.